Oct
2022
Library staff experiences
This is a tricky post to write. In my survey of public library staff in Australia, I asked the following question: “Have you ever felt that a person you think may be experiencing homelessness has had a negative influence on other library users?”
I asked this question because in research papers I was reading at the time, the authors were reporting that library staff often worried that this was happening, and that one of the challenges with being welcoming of all people into libraries was the possible outcome that a person who comes in may effect the experiences of other visitors in a negative way. I didn’t like asking that question because I didn’t want to stigmatise the very people I am trying to help – those experiencing homelessness – by making assumptions about their influence on others. But it turns out it was a good question to ask if I wanted to really understand the experiences of Australian public library workers as they go about their work each day. Here are the results from the question. It was answered by 382 people, and 48 people chose to skip the question.
265 library workers who answered this question have felt that a person they believe to be experiencing homelessness has had a negative influence on other library users. That is 69.37% of respondents. Only 30.63% of respondents have never felt this has occured in their library.
I was surprised at this result, as I didn’t expect this to be a common experience at all. The results of this question have brought up more questions for me to ask, and has uncovered a problem that we need to solve – how do we include one sector of our community without having a negative influence over others? Is it possible to welcome all people into our libraries, or are there some people we just can’t accept in case we upset another group? Is it right for us to judge who is welcome and who isn’t? In some of the research I was reading, library users who were not experiencing homelessness were reluctant to go to their libraries because of people who were there that made them feel unsafe, or were unpleasant to be around. We don’t want that for any of our users.
The answer to this dilemma might be easier to uncover as I progress further into my research. I will be surveying library users at six libraries in areas with insufficient housing and a visible homelessness issue, and I will also be interviewing library staff at these locations. Maybe I will learn something from these next steps to help us work out how we can welcome the people who can benefit from what public libraries have to offer, without having a negative influence over anyone else.
I would love to read your thoughts about this, so please leave a comment if you have something to add.
Anette
November 10, 2022 at 9:14 pm (2 years ago)I would like to know more about how you define being a negative influence. In my experience, some library users feel that way (and reasonably so) when an individual displays aggressive behavior or agitation; finding used needles in the bathroom, etc., but other people feel uncomfortable at the mere sight of someone who looks (as you mention in another post) like they’re sleeping rough, even if they are perfectly well-behaved. There is a massive gap between feeling physically unsafe at the library and feeling uncomfortable when faced with the reality that some people don’t have homes, and I think that difference deserves to be addressed, especially when it has implications for, as you say, how we “judge who is welcome.” That being said, my perspective is that of an American. It would certainly be interesting to see if this is or is not a problem in Australia.
jagarner@csu.edu.au
November 10, 2022 at 10:58 pm (2 years ago)Good question! The survey did not try to define terms like this and respondents were free to interpret the wording as they wished. One of the next stages of my research is to survey library users. Along with other questions, this survey will ask library users about their experiences of sharing spaces with people who are experiencing homelessness to see if the discomfort or ‘negative influence’ that the 69.37% of library staff thinks does occur is actually part of the experience of visiting a library. It is possible that library staff are over-estimating the impact of people experiencing homelessness on other library users. Or maybe not. This is something that I will be working on and reporting back when I have some data. Thanks for your comment and your interest.