Abstract
Public libraries in the United States are visited daily by vast numbers of people experiencing unmet psychosocial needs including poverty, homelessness, immigration concerns, mental health, substance abuse, and health problems. While some libraries have begun to hire or partner with social service personnel, many library staff are facing patron psychosocial crises without adequate training or resources. Various studies examine different facets of this issue; however, none examine how library staff perceive their role, patron psychosocial needs, library responsibility to address psychosocial needs, and policy and program recommendations. This study addresses that gap and presents needs assessment results from a large metropolitan public library system. Recommendations are included for how social workers can help libraries meet patron psychosocial needs.
Social workers and librarians have long shared a similar call to serve the public. Through the last century and a half, each profession has transformed to accommodate economic and social changes. During the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, as patrons out of work or experiencing homelessness frequented library reading rooms, both emerging professions attempted to influence the morality of the poor due to their assumption that poverty was caused by laziness and low morals rather than by the vast social and economic changes of industrialization and urbanization (Bausman, 2016; Garrison, 2003; McCrossen, 2006) During the Progressive Era, Jane Addams recognized the value of public libraries by founding one at Hull House (Virginia CommonWealth University, n.d.). As Addams and her colleagues advocated for social reforms to benefit the poor and immigrant classes, librarians also reimagined their roles and opened their doors for public meetings and events, with some librarians conducting friendly visits to families and outreach to factory workers (Bausman, 2016; Bostwick, 1919; Garrison, 2003; Virginia CommonWealth University, n.d.; Wellman, 1915). During the Great Depression of the 1930s, libraries not only provided free entertainment, they also innovated programs that helped people connect to social services, find employment, and retrain (Jaeger et al., 2014).
Over the decades that followed, public libraries continued to adapt to the changing needs of their patrons. The process of deinstitutionalization that began in the 1960s and continued for decades increased the presence of persons experiencing homelessness and/or mental illness at the library (Cart, 1992; Torrey, Esposito, & Geller, 2009). In the first decade of the 21st century, the Great Recession brought new challenges of poverty, food deserts, lack of health care, immigration, and natural disaster to the steps of the library (Jaeger et al., 2014). As a result of the psychosocial needs of patrons, librarians have undergone a significant shift in their roles. While some librarians have embraced this change, others have shunned it (Ayers, 2006; Cronin, 2002; Hersberger, 2005). According to Cart (1992), by the early 1990s, librarians were changing into “de facto psychotherapists, security guards, surrogate parents, [and] advocates,” (p. 9). By 2008, Cathcart noted the “blurring line” between the role of librarian and social worker and described librarians as “de facto social workers” and libraries as “de facto shelter[s]” (p. 89). This blurred line between the professions was driven by three factors: E-Government (patrons needing help with applying for government benefits), the development of the 211 information system (with some libraries functioning as call centers), and the presence of patrons experiencing homelessness or mental illness (Cathcart, 2008).
Recent research has examined the prevalence of patrons experiencing psychosocial needs in public libraries. In a 2009 national study of public librarians (n = 119, representing 31 states), 61% reported that patrons with serious mental illnesses use an inordinate amount of resources and staff time (Torrey et al., 2009). This same study exposed some of the challenges reported by libraries, including assaults on staff perpetrated by patrons, disturbances experienced by other library patrons because of patrons experiencing mental illnesses, and behaviors escalating to the point of calling police for an emergency response (Torrey et al., 2009). Most library staff do not have training to assess or intervene with complex psychosocial problems (Anderson, Simpson, & Fisher, 2012). Thus, partnerships could be helpful with social workers or other professionals who have had this training and education.
In response to the changing needs of patrons and communities, libraries are continuing to innovate ways to meet the varied psychosocial needs of patrons, including mental illness, homelessness, and physical health problems. In 2009, The San Francisco Public Library was the first library in the nation to employ a full-time staff member, a licensed marriage and family therapist, to provide services to persons experiencing homelessness (Fraga, 2016; Provence, 2018; Trainin Blank, 2014). The Homeless Engagement Initiative of the Dallas Public Library, The Forsythe County Public Library in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and the King Library in San Jose, California, all provide social services to patrons experiencing homelessness (Dallas Public Library, n.d.; Skinner, 2016; San Jose Public Library, n.d.). The Indianapolis Central Public Library has a stocked resource room where library staff can get needed snacks, hygiene items, and warm items for patrons experiencing homelessness (Provence, 2018). The Pima County (Arizona) Library partners with their local health department to provide public health nursing and case management to patrons (Pima Public Library, n.d.). The Free Library of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania collaborate to provide a health and recreation center at the South Philadelphia Community Health and Literacy Center (Morgan et al., 2016). According to the Whole Person Librarianship website (https://wholepersonlibrarianship.com/), 30 U.S. public libraries have full- or part-time social workers (Zettervall, 2019). In addition, at least 49 public libraries nationwide have reported collaborations with social work educational programs so social work students can complete practicum placements in the library and help meet psychosocial needs of patrons (Zettervall, 2019).
Despite the growing number of libraries adding services for persons experiencing homelessness and/or other psychosocial needs, studies on the perceptions of library staff about these patrons have been few and narrow in focus. Some studies have examined the perceptions of library staff about patrons experiencing poverty and/or homelessness (Alexander, 2008; Anderson et al., 2012; Dowd, 1996; Gieskes, 2009; Giesler, 2017). Others have focused on staff perceptions of patrons experiencing mental illness and/or homelessness (Pressley, 2017; Torrey et al., 2009). Community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods were used in a study of the Free Library of Philadelphia to examine how library programming met social determinants of health (Morgan et al., 2016). Turner and Gorichanaz (2018) examined the importance of oral communications and community partnerships in meeting the information needs of the urban poor. While each of these studies makes an important contribution to understanding library staff perceptions of specific psychosocial needs, none offers a comprehensive needs assessment of a large library system that examines a broad array of patron psychosocial needs. Addressing this gap is necessary to gain a better picture of the patron needs addressed by library staff and to help develop strategies to help libraries better meet the potentially complex and varied needs of their patrons. The current study fills that gap in the literature and makes specific recommendations for how social work can help public libraries meet their patrons’ needs.
Method
An exploratory needs assessment of the Indianapolis library system was conducted by the Indiana University School of Social Work in 2018. This is a large library system located in a metropolitan area of a Midwestern state. The needs assessment was recommended by the School of Social Work after the library requested a social work/library partnership due to their observations of growing psychosocial needs of patrons, the library’s struggle to meet these needs, and their request for a social work practicum student unit. The needs assessment was recommended as a first step to explore library staff’s observations and perceptions of patrons’ psychosocial needs, the role of the library in meeting those needs, and ideas staff had for how the library could better meet patrons’ needs. Ultimately, the goal of this exploratory needs assessment was to provide data and guidance for the social work/library partnership.
For this needs assessment, staff from all 24 library branches were invited to participate in an online survey which was designed by the School of Social Work with input from library administration. The invitation to participate was emailed by a library administrator to their staff listserv, along with a reminder email 11 days later. The survey remained open for 34 days. Staff members responded anonymously, and only the social work researchers had access to the raw data to ensure confidentiality within the library system. Procedures were considered exempt by the Indiana University Institutional Review Board.
The survey gathered demographic information as well as both quantitative and qualitative information about staff perceptions of patrons’ needs and the library’s responsibility to meet those needs. Since this was an exploratory study, the question about patrons’ unmet needs was open-ended to allow participants to respond with their perceptions in their own words. Participants were asked “What do you think is/are the largest unmet need(s) of patrons in your library branch (i.e. housing, mental health problems, substance abuse problems, financial needs, medical needs)? Please feel free to list more than one.” Content analysis of the qualitative responses was conducted by two researchers from the School of Social Work to identify the primary area(s) of need described by each participant. Both researchers read the responses independently and listed the primary areas of need described by the participants, coded responses that matched each area of need, and then discussed any discrepancies until they reached an agreement. Frequencies were then computed for each identified area of need.
Participants were asked to rate a series of questions about the library’s ability and responsibility to meet patron psychosocial needs on a scale of 1 to 5, with responses of 1 indicating that the library had no responsibility to provide that information/resource, and 5 indicating that the library had a great deal of responsibility to provide that information/resource. Means and standard deviations were then computed using SPSS version 25.0.
Findings
Almost two thirds of library staff completed the survey (n = 191, 63.7%). The participants were mostly White (n = 140, 73.3%) and mostly female (n = 148, 77.5%). See Table 1 for demographics of the sample. Participants had an average age of 46.21 (SD = 14.35) and had been employed with the library for an average of 10.7 years. Participants had a wide variety of job titles, but the largest groups were librarians (n = 38, 19.9%) or library assistants (n = 40, 20.9%). Special jobs were reported by 26 participants (13.6%) and included jobs such as “computer lab assistant,” “program specialist,” and “activity guide.”
Demographic Information of Library Staff Respondents.
Note. Percentages do not add up to 100.0 due to missing data. HS = high school.
Staff were asked to identify the largest unmet needs of their patrons and frequencies of areas identified from their qualitative responses are shown in Table 2. More than half of the participants identified patrons’ financial and mental health needs as being the most significant unmet needs. These two responses were followed by housing, substance abuse, medical or health-related, and employment-related needs.
Largest Unmet Needs of Patrons.
Note. ESL = English as a second language.
Next, staff were asked their opinions about the library’s responsibility to meet psychosocial needs of patrons. These questions specifically asked about the library’s responsibility to provide information, offer services, provide programming, and allow other organizations to use the library space. These responses are presented in Table 3. Participants thought the library had the most responsibility to provide information about poverty-related community agencies (M = 4.18, SD = .89), offer referrals to community resources (M = 3.96, SD = 1.12), and allow poverty or homelessness-related agencies to come into the library for outreach to clients (M 3.88, SD = 1.09). They thought the library had the least responsibility to allow people experiencing homelessness to nap in chairs at the library (M = 2.11, SD = 1.21), provide hygiene items for people who are experiencing homelessness or poverty (M = 2.27, SD = 1.17), or provide free food for people who are experiencing homelessness or poverty (M = 2.30, SD = 1.23).
Staff Opinions of Responsibility of Library.
Note. Responses rated on a scale of 1 (“no responsibility”) to 5 (“great deal of responsibility”).
Last, participants were asked their opinion about who should provide nontraditional services to library patrons. More than 90% of participants (n = 174, 91.1%) said the library should form partnerships with external community agencies. More than half (n = 104, 54.5%) said the library should hire its own social service professional to help address the psychosocial needs of patrons. Nearly one third (n = 57, 29.8%) wanted specially trained librarians or other library staff to be able to provide services for patrons with psychosocial needs. Five participants (2.6%) responded to say that the library should not be providing any services for psychosocial needs of patrons.
Discussion
The findings of this needs assessment indicate that library staff were working with many patrons with unmet psychosocial needs. Most commonly identified needs were financial, mental health, housing, substance abuse, medical or health-related needs, or employment-related needs. Many of the library staff thought it was the library’s responsibility to try to address those needs in the form of providing information about commonly experienced problems or community resources, offering referrals to those resources or assistance applying for benefits, providing workshops on commonly experienced psychosocial needs, or providing a safe space for people who might not have anywhere else to go. Although there were a few participants who did not think it was the library’s role to address psychosocial needs of patrons, the majority by far thought that the library should provide at least some assistance for these needs. These findings support previous literature suggesting that social work skills are needed in public libraries, including how to assess and provide referrals, intervene with mental health crises, provide outreach to patrons experiencing homelessness, help patrons access public benefits, advocate for social change, supervise and coordinate peer teams to assist patrons, and form community collaborations (Ayers, 2006; Barrows, 2014; Cathcart, 2008; Turner & Gorichanaz, 2018; Westbrook, 2015).
To address the growing psychosocial needs of patrons, the field of library social work has been rapidly expanding (Janis, 2018). Nineteen states and Washington, DC have reported full-time social workers in public libraries including: Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington (Zettervall, 2019). However, cost is often prohibitive for libraries that have limited budgets, so other public libraries have procured volunteer social workers who provide services to patrons, such as the Encinitas Public Library in San Diego and King Library in San Jose, California (Copeland & Sarvela, 2015; San Jose Public Library, n.d.). For an updated map of public library locations that have social workers or other social service efforts, see the Whole Person Librarianship website (wholepersonlibrarianship.com).
Implications for Social Work Practice and Education
The findings from this needs assessment have a number of implications for social work practice and provide guidance for ways social work can support public libraries with meeting psychosocial needs of their patrons, as outlined below.
Patron workshops and trainings
One of the easiest ways social work can help in public libraries is by offering our services and expertise to facilitate trainings and workshops for patrons. Community-focused workshops about identifying common mental health problems, how to recognize when a loved one has a substance use disorder, or how to access public benefits and resources are relatively inexpensive to provide and could address patrons’ needs without burdening library staff or expecting them to do something outside of their training or job descriptions.
Staff workshops and trainings
Similarly, social workers can help support public libraries in their quest to adequately serve patrons with psychosocial needs by providing training to library staff. Social workers should partner with their local library to first determine staff training needs and then provide assistance when possible to increase their capacity to serve people with psychosocial problems. The extant literature describes at least one such approach, involving social workers and a multidisciplinary team, that resulted in a case-based curriculum for library staff in the Free Library of Philadelphia system. (Morgan et al., 2018; Morgan et al., 2016). Staff who participated in that curriculum reported significant increases in self-efficacy to address a wide variety of patron psychosocial needs including homelessness, mental health, substance use, immigration, and trauma. As part of the needs assessment reported in this article, staff were asked whether they would be interested in attending trainings on specific topics. Notably, two thirds reported being interested in mental health-related trainings, nearly two thirds reported interest in trainings on poverty and homelessness, and more than half reported interest in trainings on substance abuse or health-related topics. In addition, staff requested trainings on community resources, how to approach patrons who appeared to be experiencing psychosocial difficulty, and how to effectively intervene in a crisis.
Building community partnerships
One of the key roles of social workers is that of broker. To help libraries meet their patrons’ needs, we can serve as a service broker at the macro level, helping to connect our local libraries to nonprofit organizations in the community who can also provide trainings, outreach, or other services to library patrons. Turner and Gorichanaz (2018) urge library staff to understand the importance of oral communication in trust building between library staff and urban patrons experiencing poverty. Exceeding the scope of a reference interview, library staff better understand patron needs and can initiate and manage a collection of community collaborations to meet the felt needs of their patron population (Turner, 2015; Turner & Gorichanaz, 2018). Social workers can be an integral part of helping libraries build and maintain their collaboration collections.
Practicum units
Since social work educational programs are required to find practicum opportunities for students to practice their social work skills in real-world environments, partnerships between libraries and social work schools for practicum placements are a natural place to join the two professions to meet patron needs. Forty-nine U.S. public libraries in 13 states have reported having social work interns (Zettervall, 2019). One issue that arises with these practicums, however, is the lack of supervising social worker on staff in most libraries. Thus, external supervisors must be located which could sometimes cause a barrier to developing or sustaining a practicum unit over time.
Joint library science and social work courses
To prepare librarians for effectively addressing the psychosocial needs of their patrons, it is recommended that social work programs partner with library science programs to create and offer introduction to social work courses for library science majors, or develop other combined library science and social work courses. Joint master’s degrees are also a possibility and have begun to emerge in some schools; examples include the Dominican University offering a dual Master of Social Work and Library and Information Science and the University of Michigan offering a joint Master of Science in Information/Master of Social Work (Barrows, 2014; Dominican University, n.d.; University of Michigan, n.d.). The need for social work perspectives has even been included in a recent academic text for library and information science (Dali, 2018).
Limitations
The findings presented in this study were from a single needs assessment of one public library system and may not be the same across other library systems. Approximately two thirds of the total group of library staff responded to this survey, but it is unknown whether the opinions of the other non-responding staff would have been different. In addition, this study surveyed library staff about perceived patron needs, and might reflect different perceived needs than the true needs of the library patrons. However, these findings are consistent with other recent literature suggesting that the psychosocial needs of public library patrons are growing, and libraries are often unsure how to best meet those needs.
Implications for Future Research
Future research should continue to explore patron needs across multiple library systems, including urban, suburban, and rural locations. Surveys of patrons should be conducted to examine their perception of their own psychosocial needs. In addition, future research should examine the outcomes of existing library and social work partnerships to determine which efforts are best meeting the needs of public library patrons.
Conclusion
With the overlapping goals of serving the public, there is a natural connection between social work and the work of public libraries. In fact, one participant in the current needs assessment said, “library work is social work.” With some intentional effort on the behalf of both professions, partnerships can effectively be developed to adequately meet the needs of public library patrons who have complex psychosocial needs and increase the capacity of the library systems that serve them.
Footnotes
Disposition editor: Sondra J. Fogel
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
