I was involved in an article published by the ABC News team on Saturday February 17 titled “Librarians helping more Australians with complex needs as social support services move online”. It has been great to have the opportunity to highlight the wonderful work being done in our public libraries as they support their communities, particularly when people are trying to engage with other service providers like Centerlink and banks, and are being pushed to the libraries to manage their forms and accounts. I was pleased to be able to call attention to the fact that libraries are picking up the work of other service providers, and are often doing this for people experiencing true disadvantage and really challenging lives. What we are not seeing yet are appropriate levels of funding from local councils to support library staff in these roles, or to employ additional staff who have the skills and time to work with community members with high social needs. Library staff are wonderful at knowing when something is not right with a visitor, but they don’t aways have the skills and professional networks that someone like a social worker or a community worker, or even a community health nurse might. Some urban libraries are starting to employ people with these qualifications, but often only on short-term contracts, or through external funding sources where there are no guarantees of continuing funding. These new workers are making big impacts on vulnerable visitors to the library, but also on the wellbeing of other library staff who have an extra layer of support and resources available to them. I would like to see local councils recognising the social role that libraries are playing, and guaranteeing ongoing funding so libraries can hire community or social workers, and provide better support for library staff who are often at the front line of our social problems.

You can read the ABC News article here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-17/libraries-community-support-hubs-for-social-support-services/103441200