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Have You Been to the Library Lately?
Article

Have You Been to the Library Lately?

Librarians once worried about shushing patrons. Now they have to deal with mental health episodes, the homelessness crisis, and random violence

Nicholas Hune-Brown
The Walrus, 2023
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9

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The local library is no longer used only for its conventional function as a place to find a book, do research or use a computer. Libraries have become one of the last free resources for those in need and that has shifted their focus and the demands on their staff. Nicholas Hune-Brown’s deeply reported story in The Walrus explores the pressures on Canadian librarians who now have to act as untrained social workers, often finding themselves in dangerous and potentially violent situations. Hune-Brown dives into the new evolution of the library and the issues confronting this necessary, beloved institution as “the last public space.”

Summary

 

Librarians are now dealing with situations far beyond their expected jobs, including mental health crises and violence.

Libraries remain one of the few places people can enter for free, no matter their situation, and seek help, whether to get a book, use a computer to send in a job application, take their kids to hear stories or just warm up on a cold day. When the advent of the internet made some library research services obsolete, libraries pivoted to foster internet access and offer classes and many other programs. As this transition was taking place, rising homelessness and the opioid crisis put a social service burden on libraries as the “last public spaces.” 

American philanthropist and steel magnate Andrew Carnegie spent $55 million building 2,509 public libraries worldwide – including 125 in Canada – in the late 1800s and early 1900s. His original vision of libraries providing books to the public has morphed as libraries have had to take on a different function: helping people in desperate need. 

Canada’s libraries comprise a complex, ...

About the Author

Nicholas Hune-Brown is a writer for the Walrus, Toronto Life, Hazlitt and The
Believer.

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