Aliah Wright:
I'm Aliah Wright and this is Social Work Talks. A 2018 Chicago Tribune report estimates that more than 30 library systems across the United States now employ full-time social workers. We're speaking today with NESW member Debra Walsh Keane. She's the social work coordinator for the Jefferson County Public Library in the Denver, Colorado area. She's also a member of the Public Library Association's Social Work Task Force. Debra, thank you so very much for joining us.
Debra Keane:
Thanks for having me.
Aliah Wright:
Tell us about your social work practice. How long have you been working as library social worker?
Debra Keane:
I am relatively new to library social work. The field within the field if you will has only been around for ten years. It started in San Francisco a decade ago, and I have been in my library for just over a year. I come to the libraries from a community health background and that's where most of my experience has been, is working in that setting which is a little more traditional for social workers so it's really been fun to kind of transfer some of that work and that knowledge into a non-traditional setting for social work which is the library. It's been really fun to figure that in the last year and be in touch with colleagues nationally, just kind of help figure out what it can look like.
Aliah Wright:
Why do libraries need social workers?
Debra Keane:
Libraries are kind of the last public space that we have in society, and so it's where you can go without having to pay and sort of just be and everybody is welcome. And so when everyone is welcome that means you [inaudible 00:01:45] diversity of people and a wide range of needs that come up, and so we're starting to see that libraries aren't always equipped in the traditional way to meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness who might need help navigating resources. A lot of times people go to the library when they don't know where else to go, and so to have social workers in those spaces to help navigate some of those complex social service needs or resource connection issues has been really helpful to the patrons and customers that have come in looking for answers that library staff traditionally don't have any answers to. And so expanding what library staff means can kind of help encompass some of these more difficult questions, more complex navigation questions.
Aliah Wright:
What kind of services are library social workers providing, and who are they working with?
Debra Keane:
Library social workers have a number of roles. Kind of the most obvious one is connecting patrons or customers to resources, and so a lot of times it's thought of, library social workers are only there to help people who are unhoused or experiencing homelessness. We kind of nationally are trying to push back on that conversation a little bit and make it more expansive and say that we are here to help anyone experiencing a life challenge, and how I talk about it in my library system is I am here to help anyone that wants help. Anybody that wants to chat with me about anything is welcome to do so. And so a lot of the work that we do is to help people experiencing homelessness navigate the really complex systems that are not really user friendly. But, I also work with folks who are housed and looking for medical care, folks who are stranded in my area, helping them figure out how to get back to where they want to go. And so we're trying to expand kind of the definition of who we work with. As libraries are welcome to everybody, I think library social workers work with anybody.
Aliah Wright:
You're on the Public Library Association's Social Work Task Force. What kinds of projects does the task force work on?
Debra Keane:
So we are working on coming up with best practices since we're sort of a new field within a field. We're trying to figure what are our best practices for library social workers? What are the standards that we're aiming for? And so we internally, in the group we're trying to come up with that, but also are looking to help support libraries and so we come up with recommendations for different areas. Some of it is how to be trauma informed and trauma sensitive, what that kind of looks like in a library setting. There is a blog. Every month or so one of the task force members will write on a topic that's relevant specifically to the library, and so it can be how to navigate boundary issues with patrons or customers, incident report ratings, how to do that in a sensitive way. There's kind of two phases in it. We're figuring it out what is we're all doing, and then also how we can best support libraries. And even libraries that don't have social workers are coming up with some documents that identify some of those best practices that folks can implement even if they don't have the capacity or ability to bring on a social worker of their own.
Aliah Wright:
Do you foresee a time when most libraries will have social workers?
Debra Keane:
Probably, I hope so. I think it's a really great opportunity to literally meet people where they are. I guess so and I also hope not. I would love for there to be a radical shift in society where you know we started housing people and making it easy to navigate so that the need would fall away. But short of that, I think including social workers in the space where people are is a really great way to get people connected who otherwise might not be able to be connected. You mentioned that article that said there's about 30 library systems. There was some informal tracking happening where there was about 100 social workers. That's hard because interns come and go and they were on the list as well, so we're seeing, it seems like every few weeks or every month or so there are more social workers coming up ib library systems. I think we're starting to see the value of having specific professionals dedicated to some of these questions and so libraries are pretty much getting on board as unfortunately we're not seeing society change that those issues aren't going away and maybe are increasing. I think it's a really creative and great way to meet some of those needs.
Aliah Wright:
Now many children go to the library after school. It's also a place where adults with mental health needs might come to find services. How do you address meeting the needs of everyone concerned?
Debra Keane:
Since libraries are welcoming to everybody, the answer is that as long as everyone's behaving and doing what they're supposed to do, i.e. following what ever policy is for behavior are set in place at each library, then it's all great. It's all behavior based. We don't ever want to say that this person who might be unhoused is not welcome, that's not true. Everyone is welcome. The only time someone isn't welcome is if there's a behavior that is unacceptable that happened in the space. Someone coming in with mental health needs? That's absolutely great. They have as much right to be in the library as a kiddo who's hanging out after school. And so the kiddos, sometimes we have behavior issues? It's the same code of conduct if you will across the board for everybody who's in the space. Sometimes it's just reminding patrons who might be upset seeing someone who they assume is experiencing homelessness or have some kind of issue going on, explaining that the library is for everyone.
Aliah Wright:
Listeners, we'll be right back.
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Aliah Wright:
And we're back. Debra, your branch provides lunches for kids all summer. What are some of the other resources available?
Debra Keane:
We have a hard times writer's workshop that's a collaboration with Lighthouse Writers out here in the Denver area, and so that is where once a week we have the opportunity for patrons who are looking to engage in some writing opportunities to help process some of their experiences and really come together as a community. That workshop is really incredible for them. We have social work drop in hours which is where folks can come in and meet with me with their questions and we kind of brainstorm next steps and some opportunities. We also have legal aid that comes in a couple times a month as well at our different branches where folks are able to ask lawyers questions that they have. I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of things, too. We're really working on meeting the needs of our community and as our needs come up the library has always been a place where we're able to meet those needs through different programs. It's really, really a cool place for everybody and you can come in for a book club or a yoga group, or if you need some of those more kind of social work services we have some other opportunities available as well.
Aliah Wright:
How do you think library social work will evolve in the future?
Debra Keane:
I would expect that it will continue to grow. I think we will come up with some pretty good standards that would sort of be the way that we recommend that library's approach expanding social work stuff. And I think the partnership between social work and librarianship is really kind of a no brainer in a lot of ways, because we're all doing the same thing just with a different approach. Where libraries, library staff are helping with resources questions and social workers a lot of times are helping with those questions as well. And so it really is rounding out what a library is able to do. And so I expect that we'll just see it continue to grow as we continue to get good responses and the benefits are seen as there are more of us.
Aliah Wright:
So you think it'll be a normal occurrence to find a social worker in a library?
Debra Keane:
Yeah. I would say 10 years, 20 years it won't be such a surprise when I go around and introduce myself as a library social worker. It'll be more of a norm as opposed to an outlier, and there'll be less confused faces and more smiling faces I think.
Aliah Wright:
And what are some challenges and rewards of the job?
Debra Keane:
I think some of the challenges are trying to figure out how to do social work in a non-traditional space. A lot of us, nationally we'll talk about how we do outreach or inreach in the libraries, and it's try to let people know what services are available in the library. And so I go around and introduce myself to everybody who I see, and it's really important to not just introduce yourself to people that you think might need services because that's not a super friendly approach. And so that's one of the challenges is figuring out how to get the word out that we're here and able to do these non-traditional resource questions. And other challenges are just, you know, coming up with the infrastructure, figuring out that like, oh yeah I might need a cell phone because I go to a bunch of different branches. Those kind of more administrative pieces, figuring out how to explain it to the library in a way that they're receptive and on board with it. It's going to take some time.
Aliah Wright:
And rewards?
Debra Keane:
The rewards are really incredible. The best days that I have at the library are when I am in the right place at the right time for someone who is [in place 00:11:25] and really need help. It's kind of like the universe aligns and I'm there when someone needs me. That's always incredible because that helps the patron, it helps the staff because they have someone who's able to take on that crisis and hopefully manage it in a way that doesn't end up needing police or becoming a big sort of distraction. Those days are really the best days. And also it's just so wonderful to be able to help influence where libraries are going. I'm working on helping my branch become more trauma sensitive. We're coming up with a lot of trainings right now, so to help with the narrative around working with the public is a really awesome thing that I get to do as well.
Aliah Wright:
What advice would you give to social workers who are interested in working in libraries?
Debra Keane:
I would say reach out the community that already exists because there are so many resources that we have created. And so the Public Library Association, the task force we have a lot of great materials that are being developed. If you do a simple Google search of library social work you'll come up with a bunch of names and specifically some emails. Go ahead and reach out to those people and we can get you plugged in to the communities that are happening either formerly through the PLA and other organizations or informally where we've got a bunch of folks that just kind of call in and it's a great way to be supportive. And trying to tap into those I think would be great. It can be a pretty lonely start for social workers in the library because typically you start with one and you're the only one until you're able to grow your team if your library's able to support that and has the need for it. And so really connecting to the library social workers who are already there and already have kind of worked through some of that loneliness and how to figure out the boundaries and explaining social worker values to a profession that is closely related but doesn't have exactly the same language?
Aliah Wright:
Right.
Debra Keane:
There's already so much happening, I think, really not feeling like you're an island and connecting all the different islands that are already together and in communication.
Aliah Wright:
Are you working in a library by yourself or are you working with a team?
Debra Keane:
I am the only one right now. I was brought in to sort of assess what the need would be and then hopefully be able to expand the team. It is too much really for one social worker, to cover a whole ten branches in my case. So I'm alone with the idea of expanding, so I am in touch with ... Colorado has a lot of social library workers and so we all get together about once a month to chat about what's happening, come up with some best practices, teams and trends that we're seeing. And then nationally I'm connected with other folks as well.
Aliah Wright:
Lastly Debra, what's the one takeaway? The one thing you hope people will learn today?
Debra Keane:
I would love for people to come away with a understanding of the incredible powers that libraries have in bringing people together and being there as a resource for anyone and everyone in your community. That is what has been so mind blowing for me, working in libraries. I grew up going to libraries. I'm a huge fan of libraries, but now working in them I really see just the incredible work that the library does merely by existing. That you can come and get books for free, use the internet for free. It's a really incredible democratizing force where everybody has access. The library is a really, it's one of the best resources that we have. Including social workers in that resource is a win, win in my book.
Aliah Wright:
Thank you, Debra.
Debra Keane:
Thank you, it was great.
Aliah Wright:
And thank you, listeners. Be sure to leave us an iTunes review.
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