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Advocating a strategic approach, this book shows how to form a plan, secure funding and support, and create effective programs for adults, children, and youth who are experiencing homelessness. You'll find guidance for creating partnerships, training staff, and advocating.Taking a holistic approach that will help you to better understand the experience of homelessness within the context of your library community, this book offers new strategies and tools for addressing the challenge of meeting the needs of the entire community, including those who are unstably housed. With basic facts, statistics, and conversations about homelessness, the author makes a case for why libraries should provide support, explains exactly which needs they may be able (or unable) to meet, and shows how this support can be a natural part of the library services you already provide.
Topics discussed include trauma-informed care, harm reduction, and mental and physical health challenges; brief stories and concrete examples illustrate the principles and guidelines discussed. Citing innovative services such as Dallas Public Library's "coffee and conversation" program and San Francisco Public Library's social worker program, the book offers both food for thought and tools for action as public librarians strive to understand and meet the needs of a population that has traditionally been stereotyped and excluded.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 About the Experience of Homelessness
2 The Library's Role: Then and Now
3 Needs of Community Members Experiencing Homelessness
4 Creating an Action Plan
5 Partnerships, Funding, and Staff Training
6 Traditional and New Programs and Services
Conclusion
Appendix A: Glossary and Related Terms
Appendix B: Action Planning Tool
Appendix C: Library Staff Survey
Appendix D: Creating a Dream Plan to Address Community Homelessness
Appendix E: Planning a Fair
Appendix F: Tips for Community Service Providers/Social Workers
Appendix G: Recommended Resources
Appendix H: Emergency Resource Guide (Central Arkansas Library System)
Appendix I: Library Self-Assessment Checklist
Appendix J: Lavamaex COVID-19 Prevention Kits
Appendix K: American Library Association Policy B.8.10 and Policy B.8.10.1 (Old 61 and 61.1)
Appendix L: Responses from Social Workers
Appendix M: Guidelines for Selecting Books for Young People
Appendix N: Example of Library Social Worker Proposal
Index
About the author
Julie Ann Winkelstein, PhD, MLIS, is an activist, writer, and teacher who worked as a public librarian for 20 years. She teaches a library school course on homelessness, poverty, and libraries at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
