At This Library, People in Need Can Check Out Accessories for Job Interviews

Michelle Lee was in the middle of a job-hunting workshop when the subject of wardrobe came up. “I was talking about work fashion, and one teen said that he didn’t have any clothing [suitable] for job interviews,” Lee told NationSwell. “And some teens were surprised by the idea that they had to wear professional attire” when interviewing for jobs.
Lee was taken aback by their comments. As the young adult librarian at the Riverside branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL), Lee coaches local students on how to write resumes, practice for interviews and learn the skills they’ll need to join the workforce. But this was the first time Lee had thought about their attire and the importance of dressing for success.
It sparked an idea: What if the library could be a place where job seekers of any age could borrow the accessories they might need in order to impress a potential future boss?

Library Suits Ties 2
A selection of handbags available through NYPL Grow Up.

As libraries expand beyond books and become hubs for artstechnology and social services, they are now providing sartorial support. NYPL’s Grand Central branch gives referrals for organizations that provide professional clothing for work or a job interview, as part of a program run by the economic empowerment nonprofit Single Stop. And the Queens Library and the Free Library of Philadelphia both have tie-lending programs.
So Lee submitted a proposal for a “fashion library” to NYPL’s Innovation Projectwhich provides funding and support for library staffers to pitch ideas for creative programs and solutions services for clientele. Lee ended up winning a grant to launch NYPL Grow Up as a pilot program at Riverside. Grow Up combines an attire rental service with a new series of “adulting” workshops that cover workplace fashion as well as budgeting, healthy living and other life skills.
Grow Up’s library features a range of neckties, briefcases and handbags that patrons can rent for up to three weeks. All they need is a library card (with less than $15 in fines attached to it). Grow Up even offers bow ties if interviewees are in need of something formal. “They can use it for a school performance or prom if they want,” Lee told the Washington Post.
Grow Up has already seen some success, particularly among female job seekers who report that the handbags are not only stylish and useful, but also practical: “You can put a lot of stuff in there,” one renter said.
If you would like to contribute to the program, the Riverside Library accepts donations of work-appropriate handbags, briefcases and ties during normal business hours.

Looking for Housing or Affordable Healthcare? Your Local Library Is Here to Help

Leah Esguerra is a licensed family and marriage therapist, but instead of heading to an office every day to soothe couples’ marital tensions, she reports to the San Francisco Public Library. There she roams the stacks, looking for patrons who might need her help. Some of these patrons are homeless and are looking for a safe place to stay for the day. Others are actively looking for resources, such as showers and food, or just a place to warm up for a while.
No matter their need, Esguerra embraces them all. “Public libraries are sometimes called the last bastion of democracy,” she says. “It’s a community living room where everyone is welcome.”
Esguerra is the nation’s first official library social worker. She was hired by the San Francisco Public Library in 2009, after the collapse of the nation’s economy wiped out jobs and made housing unaffordable for many people. “The housing crisis will always [be a problem here], because there’s not enough houses for people who are on a limited income, are marginalized or are a challenge to house because of mental health and substance abuse issues,” she says.
Esguerra had been working for San Francisco’s Department of Public Health in a community mental health clinic when the city’s public library system reached out to the agency, looking for ways to address the issue of patrons who appeared to be homeless. Some of these library goers had obvious substance abuse or mental health problems, and some were using the library’s bathrooms to wash up or take a nap. Other patrons were aggravated by their presence, and the library staff didn’t feel equipped to handle the situation. The Department of Public Health asked Esguerra if she wanted to try working at the library with people who might need social-service support there, and she agreed to give it a go.
Almost a decade later, Esguerra is still at the main branch of the San Francisco library. And as the number of homeless patrons has ticked up, so has her staff — Esguerra currently oversees a team of seven people who are employed as part-time health-and-safety associates, all of whom have some experience with homelessness themselves.
Jennifer Keys is one such associate, having struggled with mental health issues in the past. Now she works for Esguerra and recently got certified as a peer specialist in mental health. “To be homeless is a full-time job,” says Keys. “The housing crisis here is awful, and the prerequisite for [subsidized] housing is very high.” Nevertheless, her team has helped 116 people find permanent housing since the social-work program began.  
Similar library-outreach programs have sprung up in other big cities over the past few years, among them Denver, New York, Philadelphia and San Diego, as well as in smaller communities like Pima County, Arizona, and Georgetown, Texas. “We take pride in being the first in the country, and we’re even considered a national model and blueprint for many other libraries,” Esguerra says. “A lot of times when other libraries start their programs, they call San Francisco.”

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Nonprofit Lava Mae works with the San Francisco Public Library to offer free showers and other amenities to the homeless.

Monique le Conge Ziesenhenne, director of library and community services in Palo Alto, California, and current president of the Public Library Association, agrees that the number of libraries that offer outreach programs is on the rise, though she says that the Public Library Association doesn’t track that data. (CityLab reported in 2016 that 24 public libraries across the country offer outreach services.)
“I think what’s really interesting is, in the face of shrinking budgets from every sector of local government, libraries have had to look for creative ways to solve whatever issues are facing them,” Ziesenhenne says. “And as libraries have become more responsive to community needs, it’s interesting how libraries have become community connectors too.”
Maurice Freedman, a former president of the American Library Association, echoes that sentiment. “Libraries are the great democratic equalizer, as anyone can just walk in and sit down,” he says. “It’s the only public service agency that’s not interested in your name and address.”
Not all libraries that employ social workers cater solely to homeless patrons. The Richland Public Library in Columbia, South Carolina, hired a part-time social worker when the Affordable Care Act was introduced in 2013, and people started coming in with questions about different healthcare plans. That part-time employee was soon overwhelmed, and Sharita Moultrie was hired when the branch decided they needed a full-time social worker who specialized in healthcare issues.

“Libraries are the great democratic equalizer. It’s the only public service agency that’s not interested in your name and address.”

— Maurice Freedman, former president of the American Library Association

“There was a great need in the community to be able to sit down one-on-one and talk [to an expert on healthcare], to find options tailored to them,” Moultrie says. “We found that in addition to people needing info about the market, some people also needed help with signing up for food stamps, housing or getting bus tickets so they could look for jobs. If they come through our doors, we do our best to help them.”  
Patrick Lloyd is the community resources coordinator at the public library in Georgetown, Texas, a small city about 30 miles north of Austin. He was hired in 2015 when his boss noticed an increase in homeless patrons and people coming in “seeking answers to questions about things that lie outside the library.” In the case of Georgetown, its population essentially doubled over the past decade, Lloyd says, pushing it from “rural” to “urban” on the 2010 census, and so with that came “big city issues” for a place that doesn’t have its own shelter system or reliable public transportation. So the library stepped into the gap, providing patrons with information on everything from hiring a lawyer to earning a GED. The library also loans out bicycles, hosts live music events and has a “mobile library” for patrons who have mobility issues.
“People come in and have questions about books or computers, they ask a librarian,” says Lloyd. “But if they have questions about ESL classes or a low-cost attorney, I help them.”
In Pima County, Arizona, the local library faced a different issue: People who needed medical attention. So instead of a social worker, they hired registered nurses. “Pima is in a rural part of Arizona where it’s difficult to get access to health care,” Esguerra says. That’s not an issue in San Francisco, she adds, as there is a free medical clinic right across the street from the library.
The San Francisco library has partnered with organizations like Lava Mae, which brings buses outfitted with free showers to the library every week, and they also organize a “pop-up village” every two months where people can get access to resources like free dental care, glasses and the like.
“It’s all about our community, and right now our community is in need,” Keys says. “So we let people know that they have some place to go.”

This is Why Libraries Matter: Ferguson

If you’re looking to help out in Ferguson, Mo., here’s a simple but important thing you can do: donate to their local library.
As a safety precaution for students, schools in the surrounding area of the St. Louis suburb closed after the grand jury reached a decision to not indict police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. However, as tensions flare, the Ferguson Municipal Library has decided to keep their doors open.
Along with providing space for teachers to teach, it’s also offering water, computer access and lunch to visitors. The library also acts as welcome relief for parents who needed a safe place to bring their kids while they are at work. (A coalition of 11 churches in north St. Louis County are also open for the community, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports.) As we previously reported, the Ferguson library first stepped up in August after protests over the slain teen forced local schools to shutter their doors.
The cost of closing schools is far greater than students missing out on a few lessons. Quartz’s ideas editor S. Mitra Kalita writes that cancelling school is akin to “[closing] the door on the future.” A high school senior tells the Chicago Tribune that the August cancellations negatively impacted her college applications: “It’s been hard to keep up with band, tennis and National Honor Society meeting, when they were all getting scraped.” Even worse: With the poverty rate in Ferguson almost double Missouri’s average and more than 60 percent of students on free or reduced lunch plans, with the school grounds closed, many kids won’t get proper nutrition if they are not in school.
This is why libraries matter. They aren’t just places where you can occasionally check out a book. For Ferguson, it provides a safe haven for a community in turmoil.
MORE: 7 Ways to Help the Residents of Ferguson
Amazingly, library director Scott Bonner tells Talking Points Memo that a steady stream of donations have been coming in since the Aug. 9 shooting — spiking following the grand jury’s announcement. About 1,200 people reached into their wallets, bringing total donations in the “five-digits.”
“I am flabbergasted and in disbelief as to whether or not it’s real,” he says.
Bonner also tells the publication that Good Samaritans are asking to help in other ways: “We’ve had a whole lot of volunteer teachers come in here with this drive to help people, bring that kind of optimism in.”
So how can you help? Donate to the Ferguson Municipal Library via their website here or send a check to the library at 35 N Florissant Ave, Ferguson, MO 63135. You can also directly donate to Ferguson teachers on this DonorsChoose.org page.

DON’T MISS: What Looks Like a Birdhouse and Promotes Literacy

Soon You Can ‘Check Out’ the Internet Along with Your Library Book

New York and Chicago public library systems are getting a digital upgrade. Armed with nearly $1 million in grant funding, the two once-considered antiquated institutions are ramping up services by loaning out Internet to locals much like a library book.
The Knight Foundation awarded both the New York Public Library (NYPL) and the Chicago Public Library as a part of the annual News Challenge, which invites innovators to create solutions that enhances free expression on the Internet. The Chicago Public Library (CPL) received $400,000 for its “Internet to Go” pilot and the New York Public Library received $500,000 for the “Check Out the Internet” project. The two were among 19 winners this year that received a total of $3.4 million in grants.
New York’s well-worn library serves about 40 million walk-in visitors each year, according to New York Public Library President Tony Marx, and an estimated 27 percent of households are without access to Internet. To help patrons who rely on the physical library for access to computers, library officials decided to tap into a digital resource to extend services beyond business hours.
“People are sitting on our stoop to get leaked broadband,” Marx said. “And that’s when a light went off for us that said ‘No, we’ve got to do better than this.’”
NYPL will let patrons “check out” WiFi hotspots for up to one year at a time and is partnering with local initiatives to distribute the equipment including tech training classes, English as a Second Language (ESL) courses and other educational programs.
Last month NYPL launched a smaller scale pilot, dispersing 100 devices in four library branches, and officials are already amassing data on how patrons are interacting with the device and where and when they’re using it. The data will enrich the launch of the larger project in September, when NYPL plans to roll out loans to 10,000 homes across the city. While the larger launch comes with a $1 million price tag, Marx said NYPL is already discussing an additional $1.5 million with a potential investor to complete the project.
The information will also be useful for the State Library systems of Kansas and Maine, which NYPL is working with to determine how to implement a similar model in more rural areas.
But the library is not the only government institution hoping to help others plug in. Last month the New York’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) announced a plan to replace 7,300 pay phones with updated equipment including free WiFi hotspots as well as phone use. The city will award a bid to carry out the project by the year’s end, according to Government Technology.
In Chicago, library officials are targeting six neighborhoods with low Internet adoption rates (50 percent or less). CPL is also renting out laptops and tablets along with mobile hotspots, all of which can be on loan for up to three weeks at a time. Patrons can also use the library’s digital and information literacy services, which will be made available with the equipment.
The library has long been considered a community pillar, connecting and empowering people with knowledge. Rather than falling into the shadows of the digital revolution, more cities should take note of how these two major library systems are not only embracing the technology, but finding solutions to bridge the digital divide.
MORE: The Innovative Service Bringing the Digital Revolution to Libraries

The Innovative Service Bringing the Digital Revolution to Libraries

Adapting to the digital age is a persistent challenge for many institutions — and libraries, which have historically housed countless paper books, are certainly no exception.
Streaming movies, listening to music, or reading e-books on digital devices has been popular for some time now. But a new service called Hoopla is bringing a digital revolution to libraries in hopes of changing how they deliver digital content across the country.
Here’s how it works: Hoopla allows users in existing library networks to use their library cards to rent audio books through either Hoopla’s website or mobile app in a format similar to Netflix; many of the titles up for grabs were previously only available on discs that needed to be physically checked out from a library.
Not only does this method make content more easily available — since an unlimited number of library members can check out any given item at once — but it can also reduce the cost of purchasing hard copies of audio books and videos, according to the Library Journal.
Hoopla doesn’t work exactly like Netflix — library networks pay per circulation, causing many to cap the amount of items a user can rent from Hoopla in a given period of time. But despite these restrictions, which are usually reasonable (Boylston Public Library in Massachusetts limits their users to 10 items per month), Hoopla significantly expands content access to communities across the country.
Hoopla, which is still in beta mode until July 1, has been incredibly successful so far. Kevin Glandon, a Library Assistant at Long Lake Public Library in Long Lake, New York told NationSwell that many patrons travel up to an hour to access the services there. By allowing libraries to reduce inventory cost for audio books and videos, as well as eliminating the need to physically check out and return items, those who live a long distance from a library or have no means of getting to one could now have the ability to access the resources they deserve.
Does this sound like something you’d want in your community? Here’s how to bring Hoopla to your area.

Survey Reveals That Libraries Are Seen as Vital Resource for Communities

No longer is a library’s sole function to lend books to patrons. But despite their mission morphing and adapting to changing technology (hello, e-books!), public libraries continue to play a central role in people’s lives.
Case in point: A 2013 survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 63% of people said that closing a library would have a big impact on their community. Additionally, women, low-income people, African-Americans, and people with lower levels of education were especially likely to say that libraries offered essential services to them.
One such important service? Access to e-government, which consists of all the information and forms that the government makes available online to its citizens. A study First Monday published last December sought to determine the extent to which people rely on libraries to access e-government services — everything from filling out tax forms to registering for FEMA assistance to learning about government programs. The study, which was conducted by researchers from the University of Rhode Island and Florida State, found that librarians are spending a significant amount of their time and resources helping patrons access and interact with e-government services.
The researchers examined libraries in Indiana and found a big variance in how much each one is used for e-government, with urban library staffs spending up to 40% of their time helping people with such tasks, while rural librarians spend 15% of their time doing so. The study estimated that it costs each library about $26,000 a year to provide the computers and internet access necessary for e-government — but even at that somewhat reasonable cost, libraries are finding it difficult to fund the broadband necessary for smooth access. The authors of the study write, “Public library budgets are being cut in the face of economic recession, making it more and more challenging for libraries to update computers, support faster broadband speeds, and educate staff.” Perhaps spreading the word about just how much Americans rely on libraries will help rally support to make their funding a priority.
 
MORE: Does Taxing Soda Actually Improve Americans’ Health?

What Looks Like a Birdhouse and Promotes Literacy?

In 2009, Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisc., had a brilliant idea to honor his mother, a bookworm and retired schoolteacher: He built a small model of a one-room school house, filled it with books, and stuck it on a pole in his yard with a sign that said “Free Books.” His little library became so popular that Bol built more and gave them to people to install in their yards. Eventually he teamed up with Rich Brooks of the University of Wisconsin, who had an idea to turn this effort into something much grander—a way to promote literacy nationwide, give people access to free books in communities where they’re hard to come by, and encourage more reading. They initially set a goal of building 2,509 of these birdhouse-like “Little Free Libraries,” the same number of  libraries that Andrew Carnegie supported at the turn of the 19th century. But in the past five years, they’ve far exceeded their hopes. As of this month, Little Free Library counts between 10,000 and 12,000 registered small libraries across the world, with more built every month.

On its website, Little Free Library offers instructions on how to build and maintain libraries using recycled materials, and for the less-handy, it sells libraries that are already built and ready to install.

Every year, more people and organizations become involved in the Little Free Library movement. For example, The United Way of Northwest Georgia recently undertook a project to build and install 25 little libraries, inspired by member Carey Mitchell’s outsized book collection that he wanted to share with others. While Little Free Library warns people not to install libraries in public places without permission, communities throughout northwest Georgia have embraced the idea, and 25 libraries will soon be installed in public parks and areas. Now they’re just looking for a few volunteers to help maintain the libraries, keeping them clean and stocked with books. Especially in towns where bookstores have closed or libraries are distant, these little beacons of literature are welcome additions to the landscape.