LibrarianActivist.org

There was a very thoughtful article in last week’s online Library Journal, about the disconnected adult population in the United States, and how (public) libraries can and should be helping them.

The article states that “roughly 3.8 million people nationwide between the ages of 18 and 24 are neither in school nor employed,” or one in six. Many groups call these young people - who identify as adults and are often facing very adult library information needs, such as materials on parenting, job finding resources, information about going back to school, etc. - the “disconnected youth.” They may bring their kids to our storytimes, or use our public Internet terminals, but we can do more by helping them build literacy skills and social networks, and by linking them up with community agencies for job or education assistance.

The article also astutely notes that we often “lose” these groups of adults when they are in middle school, so we should also focus on programs and services to this age group to, in part, help maintain and strengthen links to the community and to literacy at this age.

You may not have known that ALA has a policy (Policy 61) about library services to the poor. Similarly, you may not know that the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) has a task force called the Homelessness, Hunger, and Poverty Task Force (HHPTF).

That was a lot of background, all to say that the HHPTF recently addressed Policy 61 in its survey report, now online. The ALA charged the HHPTF to survey ALA members about their knowledge of the policy, identify key issues and trends, and make recommendations. The report concluded that member respondents identified poor people using various manners, didn’t collaborate to provide programs or services to the poor because there was no official policy within ALA to do so, and felt that there was a lack of professional guidance from ALA regarding library services to the poor. 85% of respondents advocated training staff to sensitize them to issues affecting the poor and barriers hindering library use.

The report recommended that ALA “clarify why library service to the poor is integral to our profession [...] and not a fringe issue” (4). They suggested a number of specific ideas for ALA to this end, including a regular column in American Libraries, a dedicated ALA staff member, a toolkit for libraries interested in serving the poor, an ALA distinguished service award for libraries that successfully serve the poor, and an advocacy campaign similar to @ Your Library. They also suggested that, within libraries themselves, administrators include poor people and poverty-focused organisations in library decision-making (4).

Libraries who serve the poor are also asked to post resources to the Library Success Wiki.