Social Work in Australian Public Libraries: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Social Justice

Abstract

Public library staff are increasingly required to work with members of the public with high social needs. Public libraries are places of sanctuary and connection for people experiencing challenges such as homelessness, poverty, mental illness, domestic violence and substance abuses. In recognizing their role to serve the needs of all people who enter their buildings, public library staff are often asked to work outside their areas of expertise to meet the needs of community members. Public library staff can experience feeling overwhelmed and anxious when working with this community, often wanting to help but not knowing where the boundary between providing support and undermining the self-determination of the individual lies, and not knowing what resources and services would best meet the needs of these visitors. To assist patrons with high social needs and library staff, the City of Melbourne Libraries followed an approach now common in the United States of America, but largely untested in Australia by working with a local housing group to place a social worker in their City Library. This article explores the early work of the Library Social Worker as she engaged with library patrons and provided training to library staff. Using statistics and case notes that describe her activities and their outcomes, we can see that although this practice is new for the Australian public library system, the placement of a social worker into a busy urban library has significant benefits to both patrons in need and the staff who work with them.

Australian public libraries during the COVID-19 crisis: operations, management and service provision

“…This is all reflective of contemporary perspectives on the library, and how its role can extend well beyond the traditional confines of resource delivery to encompass wider social elements such as public health (Philbin et al. , 2019), homelessness (Giesler, 2019), social service provision through embedded social workers (Garner et al. , 2021b) and child welfare (Lloyd, 2020).…”

“…The partnerships that libraries developed with external community organisationsfood banks, Meals on Wheels, Aboriginal Health organisations etc.also indicate that libraries recognise the broader roles they play within communities. This is all reflective of contemporary perspectives on the library, and how its role can extend well beyond the traditional confines of resource delivery to encompass wider social elements such as public health (Philbin et al, 2019), homelessness (Giesler, 2019), social service provision through embedded social workers (Garner et al, 2021b) and child welfare (Lloyd, 2020).…”

“…, 2020; Garner et al. , 2021a, b, c), although several articles have examined the impact the pandemic has had on library workers (including the authors’ earlier paper for this journal (Garner et al. , 2022) covering Australian public library staff, as well as, e.g.…”

Academic libraries’ main strategies and services during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…information technology specialists, archive science and knowledge managers, and educational technology and information technology managers) is desirable. Furthermore, as Garner et al (2021: 3) claim, social work professions that are involved in human rights and social justice promote well-being, empowerment and social change by working 'at the interface between people and their social, cultural and physical environments'. Therefore, they try to redress inequities, reduce social barriers, and work directly with the users and indirectly through research, social policy, education and training.…”

I feel at home: Perspectives of homeless library customers on public library services and social inclusion

“…Library outreach staff can “play a pivotal role for socially vulnerable users as conduits to community services” (Richter et al, 2019: 437), and as such, there is growing coverage in the literature of public libraries working to reduce role confusion by employing or collaborating closely with social workers or other specialized support staff. Garner et al (2020: 13), reporting on the impact of the first library social worker in Australia, found that the social worker was able to build on the positive relationships that library staff had already established with their homeless customers.…”