Florida E-Government: Does it turn librarians into inept social workers?

From Charlie Parker, Executive Director Tampa Bay Library Consortium:

The Florida public library folks are increasingly dealing with E-Government services - first, all agencies, federal, state, local, are pushing as much of their customer interaction to the web as possible.

We're literally seeing state agencies close their customer service locations and advising their clients who need help to go to their public library.

To the extent that they have any concern about the whether they reach their clients or not, they seem to think that this is alright because, hey, everyone knows libraries have computers, successful story, they save carloads of bucks, get bosses praise, happy ending. They ignore the fact that often clients have limited skills, or English speaking ability, or that, maybe, the agencies' website usability is so bad that it doesn't really matter.

Increasingly library public service staff are being called on to provide what are essentially social work services. And then there is the Medicare part B, where they provide health care consultation. And the old reliable IRS forms where they get to serve as tax form preparers. And the job applications where the government employer only accepts applications over the web. And you're (Mary) wondering why is this person(Charlie) ranting at me..?

Have you encountered anyone who has looked at the policy issues in this area? Should libraries just say no to some of the things they are being asked to do? Should libraries be asking members of the public to sign disclaimer forms prior to providing certain services? Are there liability concerns for staff individually and the library as an organization? What does privacy mean when someone pleads with you to make sense out of a stack of w-2 forms?

Are you aware of any positive, guideline statements that inform the public in an inviting manner about the services of this nature that they can expect the library to provide and those that it cannot? We're pretty close to approaching the University of South Florida about developing a "Social Work Skills for Librarians Workshop."

Thanks!

Anyone have thoughts on this?

Comments

[mani kanna]

I think the Florida government should not be answerable for keeping up with changing times.This is the era of electronic secretaries,distance learning etc.Secretaries may just become obsolete in the phasing out.
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mani kanna
floridadrugrehab.com

[jane doe]

its this kind of bureaucracies that,although they help sometime,really hinder people from efficiently doing their job.Especially in the social work industry.librarys,rehab centers etc should have less stringent policies!
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jane doe
Florida Drug Rehab