Author: John Gehner

According to CNN.com, many middle-class families in California are being forced to live in their cars:

There are 12 parking lots across Santa Barbara that have been set up to accommodate the growing middle-class homelessness. These lots are believed to be part of the first program of its kind in the United States, according to organizers.

The lots open at 7 p.m. and close at 7 a.m. and are run by New Beginnings Counseling Center, a homeless outreach organization.

It is illegal for people in California to sleep in their cars on streets. New Beginnings worked with the city to allow the parking lots as a safe place for the homeless to sleep in their vehicles without being harassed by people on the streets or ticketed by police …

Linn Labou, 54, lives in her car with four cats. She used to be in the National Guard and is on a waiting list for government housing, but the wait is a year long.

“I went looking for family, but I couldn’t get them to help me,” she said.

One view of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program and its changing fortunes:

There has been far more outrage online over the news that the OLPC may switch to Windows from its version of the free Linux operating system than over the discovery that hardly any of the laptops, originally to be deployed in no quantities smaller than 1m a country, will ever reach the poorest children.

The collapse of the scheme illuminates the utter falsity of the hope that technology alone can lift people out of poverty. Knowledge may, but the technology that spreads knowledge best is literacy, not laptops.

The Shriver Center has just released the 2007 Poverty Scorecard: Rating Members of Congress. The collected stats are interesting.

Members of Congress from states with high rates of poverty are less likely to support anti-poverty measures than other members of Congress …

[The scorecard] assigns letter grades to each member of the United States Senate and House of Representatives according to their voting records on the most important poverty-related issues that came to a vote in 2007, including legislation on affordable housing, health care, education, labor, tax policy and immigrants’ rights …

In general, states whose Congressional delegations generally opposed anti-poverty measures are clustered in the south and western parts of the country. States whose delegations had the worst voting records and highest poverty rates were South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arizona.

Carol Pogash of the New York Times reports that many students are avoiding free lunches rather than look “uncool”:

Ann Cooper, director of nutrition services for the public schools in Berkeley, Calif., said that attention to school cafeterias had traditionally focused on nutrition, but that the separation of students who pay and those who receive free meals was an important “social justice issue.”

“Fewer people know about it,” said Ms. Cooper, whose lunch program offers the same food to students who pay and those who have subsidized meals.

Many districts have a dual system … one line, in the cafeteria, for government-subsidized meals (also available to students who pay) and another line for mostly snacks and fast-food for students with cash, in another room, down the hall and around the corner. Most of the separation came into being in response to a federal requirement that food of minimal nutritional value not be sold in the same place as subsidized meals—which have to meet certain nutritional standards …

Mary Hill, president of the School Nutrition Association, a national group of school food providers, said students who receive free meals were “very sensitive” about being singled out.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors and Sodexho Inc. today released their annual report on hunger and homelessness, with survey data collected from 23 participating cities.

According to the press release:

• The main causes of hunger in survey cities are poverty, unemployment and high housing costs.

• Food Stamp benefits [are] not keeping up with the increasing price of food.

• The most commonly cited way to reduce hunger is through more affordable housing.

• Among households with children, common causes of homelessness other than of the lack of affordable housing are poverty and domestic violence.

• Among single individuals, the most common causes are mental illness and substance abuse.

• During the last year, members of households with children made up 23 percent of persons using emergency shelter and transitional housing programs.

More information and statistics can be obtained from the complete report (PDF):

http://usmayors.org/HHSurvey2007/hhsurvey07.pdf

The following news release was issued on December 7th by the Library Users Association of San Francisco, California:

S.F.’s Library Commission Delays Endorsement of Legislation Legalizing $200 Lost-book Charge After Vigorous Opposition by Library User Advocates

Following vigorous opposition by library user advocates, San Francisco’s Public Library Commission yesterday postponed a decision on whether to forward legislation to the Board of Supervisors that included authorization of a charge of up to $200 for each lost or damaged book borrowed by patrons from other libraries through the Library’s new LINK+ system.

The Commission did not vote on the matter. Instead, Commission President Charles Higueras said he would place the matter on the next meeting agenda, January 17, 2008. City Librarian Luis Herrara said he preferred passage immediately, but did not have a problem with postponement of action.

Library Users Association Executive Director Peter Warfield said that the charges should not be approved because they are excessive, inconsistent with other library fees that are much lower, and violate American Library Association ethical guidelines on barriers to access and service to poor people.

Higueras questioned the library’s technology head, Vivian Pisano, as to whether patrons are informed about the existing $115 charge for lost materials when they request materials through LINK+ (pronounced “Link Plus”). After he repeated the question several times, Pisano replied, “No.”

Additional Commission discussion focused on how and whether patrons have been informed of all charges for lost materials, including a newly-specified charge of $30 for lost sheet music. Library administrators acknowledged many of the charges have been in effect for some time despite lack of the legally-required legislation, although they said no one had lost material borrowed through LINK+ since inception about a year ago.

Warfield also noted that the LINK+ software is being heavily sold to library users without full disclosure that traditional inter-library loan (ILL) service provides a much larger universe of available books. He said a lookup for works by one author found two titles at SFPL, 11 at LINK+, and 95 in WorldCat, a database that generally represents what is available through traditional ILL requests.

Contact information for the Library Users Association:

P.O. Box 170544
San Francisco CA 94117-0544
Phone/Fax (415) 753-2180

The following commentary was posted to the PUBLIB list on 8/2/07 by John Gehner. His viewpoints are his own and do not necessarily represent the views of the HHPTF or SRRT.

Librarian Charlotte Glover of the Ketchikan (Alaska) Public Library wrote the following in a letter to American Libraries (May 2007) regarding Second Life:

I’m finding it hard to believe that any youth services librarian has time to serve virtual patrons. For those who have free time, you could mentor a child through Big Brothers Big Sisters, become a reading buddy at a local school, select books for a youth detention center, volunteer at a woefully understaffed school library, raise money for First Book, or read stories at a local women’s shelter. All of these activities would have a greater impact on literacy. They might, in fact, change someone’s life instead of providing just a fun diversion.

Last year, 85% of Illinois counties experienced an increase in poverty.

I haven’t yet looked how the other 49 states compare. But it’s disappointing at times to think that some of the best and brightest information professionals are devoting their substantial talents to the denizens of a virtual world founded on leisure time rather than a real world with millions of people struggling for a Better Life every day.

I’m thankful that Jessamyn West and others keep us focused on the digital divide.

At my public library, we offer an Internet lab as well as wireless service. Well-heeled patrons who can afford laptops enjoy unlimited wi-fi usage and quick downloads.

Patrons who cannot afford laptops are limited to one hour of Internet access per day—with two extra 15 minute sessions when the lab is not busy—and are hampered by bandwidth (simultaneously shared by staff and patrons) when the lab is busy.

There are always some who insist that it isn’t our task to correct this sort of inequity and argue that anyone can obtain what they want if only they will work a little harder on their own. But substantial evidence suggests otherwise.

Unlike Karen Schneider, I don’t find it relevant at all whether there are generational differences between librarians who communicate on listservs or blogs or between two tin cans and a length of string.

What matters more to me is whether librarians—particularly the brave, brave souls who advocate so strongly for implementation of 2.0 tools—routinely seek input from library users and NON-users in their communities (and not just on technology issues).

Do we accept that, for all the supposed conversatin’, so many groups are not invited to be part of The Conversation?

Kathleen de la Pena McCook posed this question again and again with her Reference & User Services Quarterly “Community Building” column, until its end in 2006.

I simply don’t see enough people challenging the 2.0 cheerleaders to connect the platitudes about “conversation” to practical and broad community-building projects of the sort covered by McCook or underway in countries that recognize the problem of social exclusion. See, for example, Welcome to Your Library.

Annette DeFaveri writes,

Feeling unwelcome and alienated from the library is not limited to society’s most marginalized groups. For many working class adults the library is as foreign an institution as a university or museum. Even relatively well-off working class people may not have a tradition of library use and so may feel that their lives, their values, and their concerns are not reflected in the culture of the library. What they do feel is the library’s culture of authority and deference. The library is not seen as an organization that facilitates the acquisition of information or one that promotes life-long learning. For them the library’s culture mystifies information and the process of acquiring information.

I remain mystified by the volume of reporting on Second Life in the library press. In the end, what I would really like to see is the Library 2.0 equivalent of the PlayPump.

Respectfully,

John Gehner, Coordinator
Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force – SRRT/ALA

By Peter Dreier at TomPaine.com:

For at least a few days in July, the nation’s media paid attention to the plight of the 37 million Americans living in poverty. That’s because presidential candidate John Edwards brought them to New Orleans, rural Kentucky and Mississippi, inner city Cleveland and other places on his three-day, eight-state 1800 mile poverty tour …

Most reporters couldn’t resist mentioning that despite his background as the son of a millworker, Edwards is now a millionaire who lives in a 28,000 square foot house in North Carolina. Nor can they seem to avoid poking fun at Edwards’ biggest mistake during the campaign so far—the $400 haircut …

Few of the news stories mentioned that Edwards made his millions as a trial lawyer representing ordinary people against large corporations. And only a handful of stories pointed out that the two 20th century politicians most identified with helping the poor—Franklin Roosevelt and Bobby Kennedy—were born to great wealth …

Even those who disagree with Edwards’ progressive views are at least engaging in a debate about what the U.S. should do about so much poverty and economic insecurity in the midst of so much affluence. Even if Edwards doesn’t capture the Democratic nomination or the White House, that alone is an important victory.

If you are attending the 2007 ALA Annual Conference in Washington D.C., please consider attending this program, sponsored by the HHPTF and ALA’s Office for Literacy and Outreach Services:

Serving Low-Income People Effectively:
Ideas and Practices for Libraries

Sunday, June 24, 2007
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Doubletree Washington Hotel / Room: Terrace West
1515 Rhode Island Avenue NW (near Scott Circle)

Scheduled speakers:

Laurel Weir, Policy Director
National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
www.nlchp.org

Helen Carpenter, Project Coordinator
Welcome To Your Library, London Libraries Development Agency
www.welcometoyourlibrary.org.uk

Mary Kanani
Institute for Children and Poverty
www.icpny.org

The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law has compiled a list of twelve “opportunities for action that all antipoverty advocates can take on both the federal and state levels in 2007.”

The State of Poverty is America’s most populous state—37 million people. For many living in poverty, opportunity is limited, mobility is restricted, and the road to prosperity is blocked.

The fundamental causes of poverty are economic and structural, but through legal advocacy and policy development we can change the state and lead the way to economic success for all.

The organization has produced a policy booklet (PDF) with background and direction for the following actions:

1. Strengthen the Legal Foundation for Civil Rights and Racial Justice

2. Establish Affordable Quality Health Care for All

3. Guarantee Economic Safety for People with Employment Challenges

4. Invest in the Public Good Through Fair Budget and Tax Policies

5. Expand Low-Income Housing in Economically Diverse Communities

6. Create Redemptive Opportunities for People with Criminal Records

7. Increase Economic Mobility Through Lifelong Education

8. Link Economic Development to Workforce Development Opportunities

9. Advance Low-Wage Workers by Making Work Pay

10. Build and Protect Assets for Financial Stability and Growth

11. Protect Access to the American Dream for Immigrants and Refugees

12. Ensure Economic Opportunity and Safety for Women and Girls

What can your library do to advance this agenda and to assist low-income and vulnerable groups?