LIBRARIANS and LIBRARIES - ENLISTING THEIR AID IN FIGHTING HOMELESSNESS - PEW TRUST

PEWTRUST ANALYSIS : ELISTING AID OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES FIGHT HOMELESSNESS


EXCERPT:


Public libraries have long been havens for people with nowhere else to go. Now, a growing number of library systems are adding services for patrons who are homeless, hungry, or suffering from drug addiction or mental illness. For the District of Columbia, that means hiring a social worker, partnering with nonprofits and organizing social hours.


The library can be part of the city’s efforts to reduce homelessness, said Jean Badalamenti, the social worker for the system here. “I see the library as playing a role in that, since this is where people are,” she said.


Libraries in the Internet age offer more than books and computer access. On a typical day, Washington’s central library, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, less than a mile from the White House, hosts all types of events, from free tax preparation assistance for adults to poetry workshops for teens.