Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force – SRRT/ALA
Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association
Feeding Intolerance: Prohibitions on Sharing Food with People Experiencing Homelessness , a recent report from The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless, reveals how local governments across the nation are prohibiting and restricting groups from sharing and distributing food to hungry and homeless people. It is believed … Continue reading “The “crime” of feeding hungry people”
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 … Continue reading “San Francisco Lost-Book Charge Controversy”
Treat all library users fairly, regardless of economic status. Read and implement the American Library Association’s Policy 61, Library Services for the Poor. Learn about and establish contacts with local community groups and support agencies that provide services to and advocate for low income people. Keep an updated list of temporary housing, educational and health … Continue reading “Ten Things You Can Work on to Better Serve Low Income People in Your Library”
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 … Continue reading “Second Life Hype vs. Human Needs”
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 … Continue reading “U.S. Media Rediscover Poverty (Sort Of)”
An article by Chip Ward, the recently retired assistant director of the Salt Lake City Public Library System, has stirred public and professional discussion. An abridged version of “What They Didn’t Teach Us in Library School: The Public Library as an Asylum for the Homeless” appeared in the L.A. Times (4/1/07). The complete article is … Continue reading “Chip Ward on the “Chronically Homeless””
National Book Award-winning novelist William T. Vollmann has published a compelling book on poverty, titled simply Poor People (Ecco/HarperCollins), with interviews he conducted all around the world. Writing in the Minneapolis Star Tribune (3/11/07), National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) president John Freeman compares Vollman’s project to James Agee’s and Walker Evans’ study of white sharecroppers … Continue reading “William T. Vollmann's POOR PEOPLE”
The following commentary was posted by Isabel Espinal on the Progressive Librarians Guild list (12/06/06) as part of a discussion about service to low-income people, particularly African American and Latino families. It is reprinted here, with minor edits and with her permission. How can librarians respond [to poverty]? Good question. I thought of just a … Continue reading “How Can Librarians Respond to Poverty?”
On January 19, police and fire officials in St. Petersburg, Florida, dismantled a tent city inhabited by homeless people. According to The Ledger and other media, officers reportedly destroyed many of the tents and the personal possessions left inside. Facing litigation and public outrage at the manner in which the city acted, Mayor Rick Baker … Continue reading “Fiasco in Florida: No Housing, No Human Rights”
Via SRRT’s Fred Stoss and DrWeb’s Domain, a profile of the Seattle Public Library’s relationship with homeless patrons: “New Library a Haven for Homeless” by Vanessa Ho Seattle Post-Intelligencer Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2006 … [T]oday, the library is doing more to accommodate both rich and poor. There are more programs for a wider audience, from … Continue reading “Homeless People and the Seattle Public Library”