Homelessness & Libraries: A Knowing Analysis

By Raizel:

A recent editorial from Chip Ward, the former assistant director of the Salt Lake City Public Library, confronts the issue of homelessness in public libraries. He was also interviewed on Talk of the Nation.

This L.A. Times editorial confronts the multi-layered aspect of public libraries serving the homeless population -- library policies, equal access to information for all, substance abuse, lack of housing, mental illness, autonomy, and lack of appropriate social services.

If I was teaching a class on Libraries and the Law, Library Management, or Urban Librarianship, this editorial would definitely be on the syllabus!

Click below for Mary Minow's comment

Comments

[naomi]

i'm a student at san jose state library information science program and i've decided to write about this very issue. i live in san francisco and i see this issue play out everytime i go to the library. last week a homeless man overdosed and died in the bathroom. i'm glad to see that this issue is being discussed.

[naomi]

i'm a student at san jose state library information science program and i've decided to write about this very issue. i live in san francisco and i see this issue play out everytime i go to the library. last week a homeless man overdosed and died in the bathroom. i'm glad to see that this issue is being discussed.

[Susan Midler]

What are your thoughts of the Kreimer v. Bureau of Police for Morristown case?

[Kirk Spencer]

Every town, city and bourough in the country that has a public library is beginning to see that their libraries are being used as "day shelters" by the homeless, a demographic segment of our population that society cannot continue to ignore. With limited options for warmth, many of the nations homeless seek refuge in our libraries, and who can blame them? If you had to choose between standing or walking around in the cold for hours on end, or sitting in a warm environment, what would you choose?

[Mary Minow]

While overall, I thought the program was very good, I do want to comment on something for listeners (at least those few who also read this blog!).

The librarian said:

"Well, he actually sued the library for throwing him out, and as a result of that court case, a lot of libraries became very inhibited about banning people for odor, which is probably a good thing. Odor is very subjective, and it's hard to enforce a rule that's based on someone's personal preference. And I particularly don't like being stuck in elevators with people who are wearing too much perfume.

So libraries have started to write policies that will meet a legal standard and are a little less objective. Even so, if in the librarian's point of view, no one likes to confront someone and say you stink and humiliate that person. So it's still a problem, even if you've got a policy that can stand up in court."

I believe the case he's referring to is the Kreimer case. In that case, the patron won at the district court level, but the library won on the odor issue at the appellate level. This in fact, paved the way for libraries nationwide to recraft their policies using the legal "nuisance" standard (defined by state law - but essentially a high standard such that the odor has to really interfere with the enjoyment and use of the library by others).

My experience is that libraries are generally loathe to tell someone to leave based on odor, but if it's so bad that other users really are not able to use the space, they can and do take action.

One innovative approach resulted from a lawsuit in Las Vegas. According to “Why Kreimer Can't Read: Striking the Proper Balance Between Library Access and Problem Patrons in Kreimer v. Bureau of Police”, 46 Rutgers L. Rev. 1845, (Summer, 1994), "After a homeless advocacy group filed suit in federal district court in January 1992, officials from Las Vegas-Clark County libraries in Nevada agreed to a consent decree that requires a representative of the advocacy group to be present at a library before a patron can be expelled for offensive body odor "

I asked the deputy director in 2005 how the policy was working a decade later. He said they enforce their policy equally - if people are wearing too much cologne, they'll try to move them away as well.

After the settlement, the library initially had a list of people to call. If someone didn't arrive within half an hour, they'd ask the person in question to leave, and not to come back till they'd bathed.

In every case where an advocate arrived, they concurred that the person in question truly needed to bathe. There were many times when an advocate did not arrive, at all.

As time passed, the list of people we could call got shorter and shorter. Finally, no one ever arrived.

The policy today (well, at least in 2005) is to simply to ask the person in question to leave and not return till after they've bathed. As a general rule, patrons needing to bathe usually don't challenge our request.

They've worked with social service agencies - something I highly recommend. The agencies generally know the individuals involved and can give more resources, tips on working with the individual etc.