The Porter County (Indiana) Public
Library System recently revised its access policies with respect to
homeless people.
Homeless children will not be allowed to check out material from [the]
northwestern Indiana library system, which also has limited adults living
in shelters to taking out three books at a time …
The policy allows adults living in shelters to receive a renewable
library card on a three-month basis. Children 17 and under who live in the
shelters will not be eligible for a library card …
The Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force of SRRT/ALA encourages
Porter County officials to review the work of groups like the National
Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth
(www.naehcy.org) and to study their materials.
A good place to start:
“Homeless Education: An Introduction to the Issues” (PDF)
http://www.naehcy.org/introtoissues.pdf
Another useful document:
“ALA Policy 61: Library Services for the Poor”
http://tinyurl.com/8t8ns
For more on this and related issues, visit www.hhptf.org.
(Via Toni Samek)
J.