From TomDispatch.com :
Tomgram:
Ward, How the Public Library Became Heartbreak Hotel
Back in the 1950s, when every domestic scandal and nightmare, political or familial, wasn't the subject of a television show, the library was my peephole into the mysteries of the adult universe. The key question, when it came to interpreting the world back then, was this: Would the librarian who ruled over the juvenile section free you to enter the pay dirt of the rest of the library? Mine did. As a friend of mine, who arrived in this country as an immigrant at age 11, used to say of her library years, "I started with A." So did I. What an essential democratic institution the public library is.
Of course, today, the condition of America's public libraries is, at best, wildly variable. Some urban libraries of just the sort I used to haunt in my childhood have recently been losing out in the race for scarce tax dollars. They often face cuts in their hours, while their systems close branches and offer fewer services; others are carving out new roles for themselves as on-line information providers, advisers, and bustling cultural centers. So, while the bold architecture of the new main library in downtown Seattle has become a popular tourist attraction, libraries throughout the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast struggle to rebuild or just hang on.
Many public libraries are experimenting with new roles beyond the boundaries of story hour and homework help. Public access to the Internet and computers, for instance, is transforming our libraries into de facto e-government access points for such disparate services as disaster relief, Medicare drug plans, and even benefits for children and families. The Salt Lake City Public Library, the subject of today's Tomdispatch (and Library Journal's "2006 Library of the Year"), prides itself, for instance, on being a place "where democracy happens." It houses an NPR radio affiliate and a film center, as well as a coffee house and deli that encourage people to linger and talk.
But even if you are lucky enough to have one of these "catalytic" libraries in your neighborhood, rather than a branch that just shut down for lack of funds, there's a public-library challenge-cum-nightmare that is rarely acknowledged. As Chip Ward, a Tomdispatch regular who just retired as the assistant director of the Salt Lake City Public Library System, makes clear below, public libraries have become de facto daytime shelters for the nation's street people; while librarians are increasingly our unofficial social workers for the homeless (and often the disturbed). It's a dirty little secret that tells us all too much about the state of our nation today.
Tom
What They Didn't Teach Us in Library School
The Public Library as an Asylum for the Homeless
By Chip Ward
Ophelia sits by the fireplace and mumbles softly, smiling and gesturing at no one in particular. She gazes out the large window through the two pairs of glasses she wears, one windshield-sized pair over a smaller set perched precariously on her small nose. Perhaps four lenses help her see the invisible other she is addressing. When her "nobody there" conversation disturbs the reader seated beside her, Ophelia turns, chuckles at the woman's discomfort, and explains, "Don't mind me, I'm dead.
[click link to continue: http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?emx=x&pid=180836 ]
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2 comments:
I think it is important to note that while all urban public libraries, almost all rural public libraries, and many suburban public libraries are providing many services to homeless persons, mostly it's regular library services that are being provided: a novel to pass the time, referral to a social service agency, a website that helps answer a pressing question, a CD to listen to. One way to think about people who are homeless is as temporarily homeless (just lost a home in a foreclosure, but has support network in another city or just left an abusive relationship but has a support system in another city), as homeless & without a support network--while striving to be back in a permanent home (this is a big group of people--some mentally ill, some victims of abuse with no support network, some released prisoners with no support network, and so forth), and as service-resistant (generally homeless for a long time and not seeking services--again, some mentally ill, some veterans, some former inmates who have given up, and so forth). Libraries, working closely with local police, emergency services, social services, and others, can address the very real information and other library needs of all groups, while severely decreasing the abuse of the library by some member of--usually--the service-resistant group. It is not necessary for public libraries to become de facto shelters, nor is it necessary for them to try to ban all homeless people. Libraries can find a way to provide library services to everyone in the community who wants them.
Dale...I believe this just shows how very decent librarians are. Long may they live! And thanks so much for the additional info.
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