Libraries Should Welcome the Homeless

Published November 03, 2009 @ 01:45PM PT

For some, a library is a place of community. For others, it's an intellectual resource. And for others, it's a lifesaver.

This short video of the downtown LA public library illustrates how important a library can be to those without a home. Not only can it meet basic needs - like providing warmth and community - it can be an important resource during difficult times.

In the past year, as the numbers of newly homeless individuals has increased, many have griped about the prevalence of homeless folks in libraries. Some have argued that libraries are even becoming a "day care center for bums."

But I think one librarian interviewed in the video said it best: libraries are a public space intended to serve everyone. This means that any and all are welcome to roam the halls and use the facilities and they treat everyone with the same amount of respect - whether they are a well-dressed businessman or a homeless person.

I find this story of the downtown LA public library and its patrons is especially moving. It illuminates the sometimes lifesaving role public libraries can play in people's lives. Sometimes, for some people, this role may even include "home."

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Comments (5)

The gentleman featured in the video is clean, polite and clearly a fine library patron. He's even quite charming. He is only unusual in the sheer amount of time he spends there. Anyone who, as he says himself, minds his p's and q's should be able to enjoy the library.

Not all homeless are such ideal patrons. In my Washington, DC branch it can be hard to find a seat because people are sleeping. Sometimes people are talking loudly, cursing up a storm, snoring, eating or drinking. Try concentrating under those conditions. Security deals with these people to a degree, but not always, and the librarians are afraid that they'll provoke someone who is mentally ill. Indeed, homeless people who are on the streets (not all homeless are street people) have a high percentage of untreated mental illness and/or addictions, which result in disruptive behaviors as well.

In my neighborhood, plenty of library patrons are working class and/or low-income. Many are immigrants who find books in Spanish or Vietnamese, or who bring their kids for storytime in English. Some are out of work and rely on the computers to fill out job applications. Some are studying for their GED. Our libraries fill a wide range of needs.

No one should be booted out for being homeless, but anyone - with or without a home - who makes it difficult for others to use the library needs to be escorted out.

This isn't about not wanting to "see" the homeless. I have seen them plenty while working with them. It's about preserving our declining library systems for their intended purpose, and finding real solutions to homelessness.

Posted by Tracy Moavero on 11/04/2009 @ 12:09AM PT
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I know the library has been a valuable resource to me when I homeless, displaced, unemployed and a student. Yes, it has been a place to keep warm, a place to escape in many ways and of course a place to learn. I have written a post on syinlysweblog.net about my love for the library.

I agree withTracy diffcullt patrons are a problem but I don't think social economic status has anything to do with people not behaving in public places.

Posted by Ly Syin Lobster on 11/04/2009 @ 07:28AM PT
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Thank God for Andrew Carnegie . He donated 3000 libraries. And yet we act like we would have done it without him. He was granted access to a persons private library and that's how he got his start. Now that's gratitude !!

The point made in the video is very similar. Without the library He would be dead. He rediscovered himself and redefined his life in a way that connects him to the people around him.

A two hour time limit on computer use is nice. That was my time limit per day at a county run access center. That gave me the ability to educate myself about my being homeless and who was out there that I could get answers from.

Homeless is not a noun. "The Homeless" as an attempt to describe and create a prejudiced view of human beings ends up separating and dividing us. Making "little" people feel 'big" at the expense of those appearing less fortunate , less deserving. By allowing these things to continue we teach our children that it's okay not to care. And that continues the separation.

Posted by Keith Bender on 11/05/2009 @ 11:48PM PT
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A main reason for people to resort to using libraries far beyond the basic purpose of a library is due to such lack of other facilities overtly provided for such uses. These blog entries include a growing number that note various other such refuges: trains and other "public places". All mainly for the same reason -- where ELSE is there to go and be?

Endorsing use of such places for priority purposes like access to bathrooms, heat, shelter, etc. instead of those being mere incidentals to the other intended purposes of the resource, is perhaps a compassionate acknowledgement of the dire needs of those reduced to the necessity. But this is yet another nod toward perpetuating homelessness and accomodating it... rather than anything like solving or "ending" it.

And this is the same spectre that appears over and over again in all these matters -- the best, most well-meant intentions to allow and accomodate homeless people in destitute need are so fraught with the double-edge that also results in more of the same, if more kindly so.

Others comment, though, that among those in such need are, indeed, unsavory and selfishly intrusive or dominating individuals as well. This is just one of the... uglier truths. And what this often contributes to is both an unfortunate stereotyping of "homeless" (after all, those not apparently "homeless" aren't even considered in the formula, since there's no way to identify them), but also causes a kind of "ghetto-izing" whereby places become more "left" to such people. And when this has happened enough, then "the problem" gets more distinct and dealt with. Too often too severely.

And all lacking any better options, much less real solutions.

Posted by SlumJack Homeless on 11/07/2009 @ 09:10PM PT
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Philip is an inspiration to us all. Good luck, Philip!!

Posted by Jennifer Beadle on 11/09/2009 @ 06:24PM PT
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Author

Shannon has worked in homeless shelters and service organizations in San Francisco, the Triangle region of North Carolina, and currently in the greater Boston area. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.