an investigation into public library outreach to the homeless
DESCRIPTION
Presentation at SINTO Members' Day 2011TRANSCRIPT
- 1.
- REBECCA BROADLEY
- ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN, LATYMER UPPER SCHOOL
- 2. A justification
- Social inclusion one of public libraries key roles?
- Why homeless people?
- What can libraries offer to homeless people?
- 3.
- "Customers are not all equal in their life experiences and chances; so we should not treat all of our customers equally, but in a way that meets their individual needs"
- Pateman, 2005: 1
- 4. A justification
- Social inclusion one of public libraries key roles?
- Why homeless people?
- What can libraries offer to homeless people?
- 5. The aim
- To create a set of recommendations for outreach aimed at homeless people
- By discovering what outreach is already happening
- By finding the barriers, problems, solutions and tips
- 6. Methodology (I)
- Thematic analysis of four case studies of previous relevant projects
- Aim to discover common themes (tips, advice, problems, barriers, etc.)
- Several limitations
- 7. Case studies used
- Friends at Christmas, Sally Middleton, 2003
- Your choice books, Wendy Molyneux, 2004
- The play and learning project, Tameside, 2006
- Outside story, Fiona Heffernan, 2009
- 8. Methodology (II)
- Six face-to-face semi-structured interviews
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- Librarians
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- South and West Yorkshire
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- Role includes inclusion/outreach
- Transcribed and analysed thematically
- 9. Results (I)
- When planning the outreach:
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- Make objectives both abstract and measurable
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- Consider specific needs
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- Consult, in a variety of ways
- During the outreach:
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- Join partnerships
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- Organised implementation strategy for large scale projects
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- Gain trust and offer incentives
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- Potential problems:
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- negative staff attitudes; negative self-perceptions; funding; ID requirements
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- Solutions?:
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- Staff training; development of trust; development of sustainability; removal of ID requirements
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- 10. Results (I)
- When evaluating the outreach:
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- Combine quantitative and qualitative measurements
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- Consider stakeholder targets, etc.
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- Do so formally
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- Consider improvements and adaptions
- 11. Results (II)
- Share ideas and success
- Trial large projects
- Potential barriers:
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- Low participation
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- Limited resources
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- The risk of losing stock
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- The heterogeneity of homelessness
- Solutions?:
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- Use partnership
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- Remove or reduce the ID barriers
- 12. Conclusions and recommendations
- Develop partnerships
- Remove ID requirements
- Share ideas, reports and good practice
- Develop sustainable outreach through low cost projects
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- Book deposits
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- Mobile library stops
- 13. Conclusions and recommendations
- Train staff
- Build up trust through dependability and regularity
- Adapt to particular needs through:
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- Trialing, evaluating, refining
- Combine evaluative techniques
- 14. References
- Crisis. (2002). Critical Condition : Homeless People's Access to GPs [Online]. London: Crisis. http://www.crisis.org.uk/data/files/publications/GP_policybrief%5B1%5D.pdf [Accessed 28 June 2010].
- Crisis and the New Policy Institute. (2003). How Many and How Much: Single Homelessness and the Question Of Numbers and Cost [Online]. London: Crisis. http://www.crisis.org.uk/data/files/policy_research/howmanyhowmuch_full.pdf [Accessed 13 May 2010].
- Heffernan, F. (2009). "Outside Story: welcoming the homeless". Public Library Journal , 24 (3), 6-7.
- 15. References
- Middleton, S. (2003). "Friends at Christmas?". Public Library Journal , 18 (1), 5-6.
- Molyneux, W. (2004). "Your choice books". Library and Information Research News , 28 (90), 15-23.
- Outside Story project. (2009). Outside Story [Online]. London: Outside Story project. http://www.outsidestory.org.uk [Accessed 07 July 2010].
- St Mungo's. (2005). SOS: Sick of Suffering Briefing [Online]. London: St Mungo's. http://www.mungos.org/campaigns/sos_-_sick_suffering [Accessed 02 July 2010].
- 16. References
- Pateman, J. (2005). Tackling Exclusion in Libraries: Keynote Address at the Vancouver Public Library Staff Conference, May 12 2005 [Online]. http://www.librarianactivist.org/socexclusion.pdf [Accessed 03 May 2010].
- Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council. (2006). Getting Closer to Homeless Families Through the Play And Learning Project: Case Study [Online]. Tameside: Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council. http://www.tameside.gov.uk/beacon/community/casestudies/homeless [Accessed 21 June 2010].