Public Libraries in the Lives of People Experiencing Homelessness

This project has been funded by the Australian Research Council through a Discovery Early Career Researcher Grant (DECRA) awarded to Dr Jane Garner, School of Information and Communication Studies at Charles Sturt University. The project will run for three years from April 2022 and has the following objectives:

1. To understand the service, resource and environmental needs of the Australian homeless community that could be met by public libraries in our urban, regional and remote contexts
2. To understand the attitudes and concerns of public library staff, and non-homeless library users in Australian urban, regional and remote contexts relating to  the homeless community being present in their libraries
3. To understand the attitudes of Australians experiencing homelessness in urban, regional and remote contexts towards public libraries
4. To optimise the relationships between homelessness service agencies and public libraries in Australian urban, regional and remote communities through strong public policy
5. To build theoretical frameworks and public policy foundation that support the design of public library service, resources and environments to meet the needs of the Australian homeless community in our urban, regional and remote contexts.

This website is being used to communicate research findings and observations throughout the project. For further information, please contact Dr Jane Garner at jagarner@csu.edu.au