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With Respect & Dignity:

With Respect & Dignity:. Serving Homeless People in Library Communities Prepared by Michael Santangelo Chair, Subcommittee on Library Services to the Poor and Homeless Office for Literacy and Outreach Services ALA Annual Conference Chicago, Illinois July 12, 2009. About OLOS.

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With Respect & Dignity:

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  1. With Respect & Dignity: Serving Homeless People in Library Communities Prepared by Michael Santangelo Chair, Subcommittee on Library Services to the Poor and Homeless Office for Literacy and Outreach Services ALA Annual Conference Chicago, Illinois July 12, 2009

  2. About OLOS • Office for Literary and Outreach Services • Adult Literacy • Bookmobiles • Services to Older Adults • Services to People with Disabilities • Services to Poor and Homeless People • Services to Rural, Native and Tribal Libraries

  3. OLOS Advisory Committee • Subcommittees • Subcommittee on Bookmobiles • Subcommittee on Library Services to Native Americans • Subcommittee on Library Services to the Poor and Homeless • Subcommittee on Older Adults • Subcommittee on Dr. Jean E. Coleman Lecture • Subcommittee on the Diversity and Outreach Fair

  4. What are our goals?

  5. Listening

  6. Sharing

  7. Responding

  8. How do we do that?

  9. Listservs

  10. Conference Programs

  11. Toolkits

  12. OLOS Toolkits • The American Dream Starts @ your library Toolkit • The Librarian's Guide to Gaming • Mobile Services Handbook • Non-English Speakers • Older Adults(Working Doc, final doc to be launched Winter 08) • Rural and Small Libraries(The Small but Powerful Guide for Winning Big Support for Your Rural Library) • Rural and Small Libraries Online Toolkit(The Small Is Powerful Online Toolkit for Winning Support for Your Rural Library) • Tribal Libraries • TRAILS - Tribal Library Procedure Manual 3rd Edition 2008

  13. Newest Toolkit: Getting Started is the First Step: Serving people who are homeless in the library

  14. Philosophies Behind This Toolkit • No one has all the answers • No one else can be expert on the situation that you are encountering • Suggestions not dictates • Learning from each other • Best Practices • From other Toolkits and Manual

  15. Localization is best • Community: Street, Town, County, State • Your library, your coworkers, your users • Building up from success and failure • Successes and mistakes are equally effective learning experiences • What works and what does not is different for each library.

  16. Democratic Spirit • We all need to be in this together • Across this nation • Across this profession • Across our institutions

  17. Some steps to get people started • Take a breath • Open your mind • Get the stats • Research policy • Look outside • Read • Discuss • Document

  18. Some steps continued • Don’t worry • Congratulate yourself

  19. Reference (Preventative Librarianship) • Local Social Services • Community Awareness • Timely Programming • User training

  20. Staff Awareness and Training • Sharing • Local awareness • Inclusiveness • Knowledge of Library Policies • Knowledge of ALA policies, state library associations’ policies

  21. Talking to your supervisor • Be Prepared • Bring those stats • Get others on your side • Present best practices • Relate to your library’s mission statement • Those ALA documents • This is not charity.

  22. Best Practices • Conferences and webinars • Library literature • American Libraries • Library Journal • Library Lit Database • Listservs, wikis, facebook • Join a group/Start a group

  23. Library Services to Youth • Creating a welcoming atmosphere • Library cards • Programming • Outreach

  24. Community Partnerships • Identifying partners • Approaching potential partners • Preparing for partnerships • Maintaining partnerships

  25. Programming • Outreach • Promotion/Marketing

  26. Be Part of the Count • Department of Housing and Urban Development sponsored program • Helps to identify the number of people experiencing homelessness in a specific area • Accurate counts can help the library • Offer meeting room space to organizers

  27. Street Newspapers and Blogs • Subscribing or finding them • Using them to create better services and programs • Clearer picture of the local situation: harassment issues, institutional issues, etc. • Libraries as silent partners for street newspapers and blogs

  28. Seeking Input • As part of outreach • Needs assessment from the impacted community. • Helps to create a bigger buy in.

  29. Difficult Situations • Staff awareness and knowledge of local library’s policies • Equal application of policies to all users regardless of socioeconomic status. • Remembering not to dwell on stereotypes

  30. Additional Material • Resources • National Contacts • ALA Policy 61. Library Services for the Poor

  31. Contact Information: Michael Santangelo Brooklyn Public Library m.santangelo@brooklynpubliclibrary.org

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