Amy Mars and I recently presented a series of two webinars that include some principles of WPL in action. Check them out for free:
Public Library Services to Patrons Experiencing Homelessness and Housing Insecurity: Part One
Part One: Population and Partnering
What does homelessness look like in Minnesota? How can we connect patrons with community resources? This session starts with information to dispel stereotypes about our patrons experiencing homelessness. We continue by exploring the types of community resources that are available, then conclude with recommendations for establishing and sustaining community partnerships.
Public Library Services to Patrons Experiencing Homelessness and Housing Insecurity: Part Two
Part Two: Programming and Professional Development
You’re learning how to connect your patrons to community resources and partners. Great – but what’s next? This session shares how the HCL Workgroup on Services to Patrons Experiencing Homelessness and Housing Insecurity has created support throughout our large system. We will give examples of the professional development opportunities we created for staff as well as how we are encouraging innovative public programming to raise community awareness and engagement around issues of homelessness.
Webinar Series: Public Library Services to Patrons Experiencing Homelessness and Housing Insecurity
Since 2012, Hennepin County Library has been working to create equity for patrons experiencing homelessness. This work was founded by a grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation and has continued through a workgroup of library staff from throughout the system. In these webinars we will share what we have learned about this population, and about programming, partnering, and professional development. Registration for session 1 isn’t required to register for session 2.
Guest Webinar Presenters:
Amy Mars is a librarian at St. Catherine University & Hennepin County Library in Minnesota. She authored a March/April 2012 feature article in Public Libraries entitled, “Library Service to the Homeless,” coordinating a grant that Hennepin County Library received from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation to promote health equity by enhancing library services to the homeless and is a member of Hennepin County Library’s system-wide workgroup dedicated to serving patrons experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity.
Sara Zettervall is an Adult Services Librarian at Hennepin County Library, sharing her time between Nokomis branch library (South Minneapolis) and Community Connections, which provides system-wide community engagement support. She has a longstanding interest in how librarianship can learn from other social sciences and co-founded a blog, Whole Person Librarianship (https://mlismsw.wordpress.com), to explore the intersection of librarianship and social work. She was a 2013 MILE participant and 2014 ALA Emerging Leader, and is the 2015 Chair-elect of MLA’s Diversity Outreach Round Table (DORT).
Whole Person Librarianship 