Sarah Fetzer

Dr. Hersberger
LIS 600
November 20, 2017

CHARLOTTE MECKLENBURG LIBRARY PROGRAMMING AND THE

HOMELESS POPULATION
Ethical Issues
Homelessness has long been a major issue in the United States. Most urban libraries know this
statement all too well. With the rapid decline of affordable housing and the current unreasonably
low minimum wage, more and more people, both individuals and families, face the possibility of
homelessness on a regular basis. Libraries have long been an important resource to the homeless
population both as a physical structure and an information repository. The homeless population
is often discussed in terms of "problem users" and this informs much of staff attitude when
dealing with users who are seemingly homeless. Staff may treat homeless users differently or
incorrectly assume their information needs due to assumptions about their situation (Mars).
Library policies may be written specifically to target homeless users or may be applied unevenly
to homeless users. These are major ethical concerns.
Two main Constitutional issues must be addressed when libraries design and enforce their
policies. This is especially applicable to homeless users. The first consideration is adherence to
the first amendment. Any time a user's access to information is restricted, there is a conflict with
the first amendment. Therefore, a library's policies must be carefully constructed so that every
opportunity for access is given. This is discussed further in the section about the history of
library policies and the homeless.
The second consideration is that of adherence to the fourteenth amendment. Libraries cannot,
and indeed should not, discriminate against any class of person. Library policies must be written
with the consideration of all users and must be applied evenly to all users. If a library structures
its policy to disallow large bags, not only must that policy be applied to the homeless carrying
their luggage but also to the businessman visiting the library during a lay-over or the mother with
the oversized diaper bag. Policies about sleeping must be applied to not only the homeless
person seeking rest in a climate-controlled environment but also the elderly gentleman who has
fallen asleep while reading the newspaper (Mars).

History of Library Policies and the Homeless

The landmark case in regards to library service to the homeless comes to us from Morristown
Library in New Jersey. In 1991 a homeless patron named Richard Kreimer was excluded from
the Morristown Public Library for several reasons. Among the reasons cited were poor hygiene
and repeated behavior violations. Kreimer argued that his first amendment rights were being
violated due to his now restricted access to information.
The District Court of New Jersey decided that the library in question had in fact violated the first
amendment by creating "unconstitutional distinctions" between users and was unlawfully
restricting access to information ("Kreimer"). The Morristown Library immediately appealed the
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decision. In March 1992 the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that not only did the library not
violate the first amendment but that the library itself was a "limited public forum" and subject to
different first amendment responsibilities than a "public forum" ("Kreimer Appeal"). The ruling
allowed the library to exclude Kreimer from its premises because he was not following
previously outlined conduct policies.
While this may have been a winning case for the library, it could be argued that it was a losing
case for library services. The outcome of the case allowed for the banning of patrons based on
library policies which can often be made to unfairly target the homeless population. Rules about
hygiene, luggage, and proper attire all disproportionately impact the homeless population.
Violations based on these rules restrict access to patrons in a way that not only is unethical but is
counter to the entire library policy of the largest possible amount of access for users.
The American Library Association's official reaction to the Kreimer case came in the form of
Policy 61, often called the Poor Policy. In this policy, the ALA emphasizes the need for libraries
to offer access regardless of a person's financial or housing situation. It also states the
responsibility of libraries to focus specifically on those living in poverty in their services ("ALA
Policy Manual Section B"). While this is certainly the most ethical position to take, it is doubtful
that most libraries are currently following all of the tenets of Policy 61 with equal veracity.

Prior Research Regarding Information Needs and the Homeless

Researchers in the field of Information Science have previously sought to discover the
information needs of the homeless. Julie Hersberger has stated multiple times throughout her
research that those struggling with homelessness are an incredibly diverse group. Kelleher
asserts that the stereotypical "homeless person" is a single male struggling with substance abuse
or mental illness. However, this is far from representative of the actual homeless population in
the United States. In fact, Hersberger's landmark research on the information networks and
needs of the homeless focused specifically on the interviews conducted of twenty-eight homeless
parents ("Everyday Information Needs and Information Sources of Homeless Parents").
Generally, research done in this area has been conducted through either moderate scale
interviews as in the case of Hersberger or very small scale in-depth interviews as in the case of
Kelleher. Kelleher sought to widen her net in the hopes of her findings proving statistically
significant. However, due to the nomadic lifestyle and transience of the population, large
numbers are often hard to obtain. Kelleher learned this when despite attempting to reach 350
members of the homeless population in her study, her final results reflected less than a third as
many respondents.
Repeatedly researchers have shown (Kelleher; Hersberger; Muggleton) that the information
needs of the homeless don't differ greatly from that of the general population (Kelleher).
Homeless users use the library primarily for entertainment. Their information needs follow that
of the general population very closely with assistance in obtaining/applying for jobs ruling over
all other needs. (Kelleher)

Rates of Homelessness in Mecklenburg County

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Mecklenburg County, North Carolina has conducted several “point in time” studies over the past
three years to determine rates of homelessness in the county. The idea behind the study is that
by taking stock of all residents struggling with a lack of housing on a specific date in the county,
those results could be extrapolated to provide a general number of persons struggling with
homelessness throughout the entire year. The report is prepared each year by the University of
North Carolina at Charlotte’s Urban Institute. Numbers are taken on a night in January each year
(Clark & Lane 2,3).
The results of the 2017 Charlotte Mecklenburg Point in Time Count show that the rates of
homelessness in Mecklenburg County are rising. Though the number of persons struggling with
homelessness has dropped an encouraging 71% since post-recession numbers in 2010, it has still
risen a worrying 28% since the study done in 2016 (Clark & Lane pg). Additionally, findings
show that the gap between unsheltered persons and shelter capacities has grown since 2010
(Clark & Lane 9). With fewer shelters and a rising rate of persons struggling with homelessness,
it is apparent that many in Mecklenburg County need help making a transition to permanent
housing. The factors affecting a person’s ability to obtain and maintain permanent housing
include transportation, financial literacy skills, and valuable work skills. This is supported both
by the results of multiple research studies which identified the greatest information needs and
barriers of the homeless (Hersberger; Kelleher).

Research Questions
Rather than look at the traditional place of library policy, and working based on both Kelleher's
and Hersberger's research regarding the information needs of the homeless, the author chose to
examine the current state of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.
Having identified the above factors (transportation, job skills, and financial literacy skills) as
major impediments to a transition to permanent housing, the author sought to discover through
research whether or not the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library was addressing these issues. Are the
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library locations accessible to those without reliable personal
transportation? Does the Charlotte Mecklenburg host programs that address the issues of
financial literacy and employment skills? Has this data changed over the past two years as the
rates of homelessness in the county have changed?

Methodology
The data presented was collected through the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library's database system
called "The Portal." "The Portal" is a database that is contributed to by any staff member who
administrates a program at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. It was created specifically for
this library, and it is controlled by the library administration. Each staff member enters the
statistics particular to their own programs. The author has discussed the myriad issues with this
system in the Research Barriers section of this paper. Additionally, the author was only able to
access the information which has been entered for this fiscal year. This is discussed in the
barriers section as well.
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Programs related to job skills and financial literacy were then isolated. The numbers of adults
and older adults were taken into consideration; numbers for teenagers and children were not.
The total numbers of programs in each category and the total attendance was taken.

Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Research

Eighteen of the twenty library locations in Mecklenburg County are directly accessible by public
transit (cmlibrary.org). This means that 90% of the county’s public libraries can be visited
regularly by those with no personal transportation at all. This is an incredibly important factor in
allowing those struggling with homelessness to attend library programming and eliminates a
major barrier for a variety of users ranging from the disabled to the elderly to those living in
extreme poverty. Additionally, the library system does a variety of outreach programs.
The library has offered, in the partial 2017-2018 fiscal year, one program dealing with financial
literacy. The total attendance at this program was 89 number of users. The library has also
offered, during this same time period, 26 programs dealing with job skills. Programs offered
ranged from Job Seeking: Interview Basics to Microsoft Excel 2013 Basics to Career
Exploration: Meet a (Profession). The total attendance at these programs was 1,518 users.
Tables displaying the total number of programs offered are available in the appendices of this
document.

Barriers to Research
The numbers the author was able to obtain, unfortunately, do not follow a calendar year but
rather the library's fiscal year. Charlotte Mecklenburg Library's fiscal year runs from July 1st
until June 30th; therefore, as on a partial fiscal year's numbers were available, the numbers
obtained from programming represent July 1 st, 2017 until November 20th, 2017 rather than a true
calendar year. The author was also unable to obtain statistics from previous years. Though these
statistics do exist, they are not easily accessible to either the staff or the public despite multiple
requests on my part to the library administration.

Another issue present with this research is the vast space for human error and personal bias.
Each program's attendance statistics are entered by the individual librarian who conducted the
program. With almost 500 people currently employed by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, it
is almost impossible to insure a system of uniformity and consistency when entering these
statistics. Each human factor added to the collection of statistics increases the chance for human
error exponentially.
Due to these issues, the author does not feel fully comfortable coming to any conclusions
regarding trends in programming. The author is only able to observe what has occurred thus far
in the 2017 fiscal year, and the author does not feel that this is sufficient information to
extrapolate upon.

Conclusion
In the end, the author was able to come to several general conclusions. First and foremost, the
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library has done a satisfactory job in making itself accessible to those
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without reliable personal transportation. A full 90% of the library branches are along public
transit lines in the city (including bus lines and light rail lines).
Secondly, the author was able to conclude that the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library does in fact
hold programs that address financial literacy and employment skills. Thus far during the 2017
fiscal year, one program was held that addressed financial literacy. This program had a total
attendance of 89 users. 26 programs were held that addressed job skills, and these programs had
a total attendance of 1,518 users. The author was not able to make conclusions about trends of
these programs because the author only had access to a single year's incomplete data.

Recommendations for Library

The author is unable to make detailed recommendations to the library at this point in time due to
a lack of information. The author's general recommendations would be to continue to offer
programs that highlight financial literacy and job skills while conducting further research.
Ultimately, this was a failed research endeavor.

Recommendations for Further Research

The author would recommend that the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library make the programming
records of their previous years easily available to the staff members or upon request from the
administration. The author would also recommend that the library attempt to increase their
programming in these areas in accordance with the increase in homeless population as indicated
by the Mecklenburg County Point in Time studies conducted annually in January.
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Appendix 1

Programs Held in the Areas of Financial Literacy and Job Skills by the
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library between July 1, 2017 and November 20, 2017
Program Name Job Skills/Financial Attendance
Literacy
Financial Literacy: (Specific Topic) Financial Literacy 89
Career Exploration: Meet a (Profession) Job Skills 125
Computer Basics Job Skills 25
Computer Basics II Job Skills 10
E-Learning with Charlotte Mecklenburg Job Skills 7
Library
Email Basics Job Skills 1
HTML Basics Job Skills 21
Introduction to Proposal Writing Job Skills 31
Job Seeking: (Other Topic) Job Skills 673
Job Seeking: Building Your Personal Job Skills 7
Brand to Market Yourself
Job Seeking: Interview Basics Job Skills 15
Job Seeking: Networking with LinkedIn Job Skills 26
Basics
Job Seeking: Networking with LinkedIn Job Skills 11
Intermediate
Job Seeking: Resumes and Cover Job Skills 35
Letters
Library Outreach Highlighting Job Skills 124
Workforce Development Resources
Microsoft Excel 2013 Basics Job Skills 64
Microsoft Excel 2013 Intermediate Job Skills 51
Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 Basics Job Skills 13
Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 Job Skills 29
Intermediate
Microsoft Publisher 2013 Basics Job Skills 16
Microsoft Publisher 2013 Intermediate Job Skills 2
Microsoft Word 2013 Basics Job Skills 53
Microsoft Word 2013 Intermediate Job Skills 51
Resume Review: 1-on-1 Support Job Skills 83
Session
Simple Steps for Starting Your Own Job Skills 29
Business: SCORE and the Library
Accessing Free Tutorials at Job Skills 14
GCFLearnFree.org
Job Seeking: Online Applications Job Skills 2
Total 1607
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Appendix 2

Total Job Total Financial

Skills Literacy
Attendance Attendance
1518 89
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Works Cited

ALA Policy Manual Section B. American Library

Association, http://www.ala.org/aboutala/sites/ala.org.aboutala/files/content/governance/
policymanual/cd_10_2_Section%20B%20New%20Policy%20Manual-
1%20%28final%206-13-2017%20with%20TOC%29_0.pdf.

Clark, Ashley Williams, and Justin T. Lane. Charlotte Mecklenburg Point in Time Count. The
Housing Advisory Board of Charlotte Mecklenburg, Apr. 2017, pp. 1–
73, https://www.mecknc.gov/CommunitySupportServices/HomelessServices/reports/Doc
uments/2017%20Point%20in%20Time%20Count%20Report.pdf.

Hersberger, Julie. “Everyday Information Needs and Information Sources of Homeless

Parents.” The New Review of Information Behaviour Research: Studies of Information
Seeking in Context, vol. 2, 2001, pp. 119–34.

Hersberger, Julie. “The Homeless and Information Needs and Services.” Reference User
Services Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 3, Spring 2005, pp. 199–202.

Kelleher, Angie. “Not Just a Place to Sleep: Homeless Perspectives on Libraries in Central
Michigan.” Library Review, vol. 62, no. 1/2, 2013, pp. 19–
33, doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/00242531311328122.

Kreimer v. Morristown. 90–554(HLS),

1991, http://www.ahcuah.com/lawsuit/federal/kreimer1.htm.

Kreimer v. Morristown Appeal. 91–5501, 23 Mar.

1992, http://www.ahcuah.com/lawsuit/federal/kreimer2.htm.

Mars, Amy. “Library Service to the Homeless.” Public Libraries, vol. 51, no. 2, Apr. 2012, pp.
32–35.

Muggleton, Thomas. “Public Libraries and Difficulties with Targeting the Homeless.” Library
Review, vol. 62, no. 1/2, 2013, pp. 7–
18, doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/00242531311328113.