How Libraries Are Adapting To Help Homeless Find Jobs, Health Services

[zoo22]

How Libraries Are Adapting To Help Homeless Find Jobs, Health Services

It's not just that he loves books. For the 43-year-old who sleeps in a tent outside a local church, the library is pretty much the only place he can go that won't charge him to provide safety, warmth, useful services and entertainment.

Many public libraries discourage homeless people from hanging around all day. "It could be the way you dress, the way your hair is," says Bailey, whose scruffy denim jacket could use a good wash.

But just as Bailey needs his library, the library needs him: In this digital age, many people who used to depend on libraries can find what they need online without leaving home. Menaced by budget cuts, many public libraries are effectively failing to justify their relevance, reducing their hours year after year.

At the same time, libraries are more important than ever to people who can't otherwise get connected: Nearly two-thirds provide the only free computer and Internet access in their communities, according to the American Library Association.

Full story

I think it's great that the public library is available for people to try to become self-supportive. I think it's a good use of our tax dollars to spend it helping people by providing them with free internet access, providing resources for them to look for a job & find health insurance, and hopefully helping them find a way to stand on their own feet.

I suppose what people do with that opportunity is up to them, for example, how they decide to spend their library computer time, and some people probably squander it, but at least the opportunity is there for them.

 

[ok doser]

i was wondering who you were trying to bait :darwinsm:

 

[aCultureWarrior]

How Libraries Are Adapting To Help Homeless Find Jobs, Health Services

I think it's great that the public library is available for people to try to become self-supportive. I think it's a good use of our tax dollars to spend it helping people by providing them with free internet access, providing resources for them to look for a job & find health insurance, and hopefully helping them find a way to stand on their own feet.

I suppose what people do with that opportunity is up to them, for example, how they decide to spend their library computer time, and some people probably squander it, but at least the opportunity is there for them.

I've talked to a couple of guys that work security in the downtown Seattle library and they say that a lot of the transients (you liberals call them "homeless") that they deal with come in and use the library computer system to look at porn. Being the liberal city that Sodom and Gonorrhea North is, it's considered a "constitutional right" by library administrators, so nothing is done.

As far as your fairytale about "the homeless" using the library computer system for look for a job: most of these people are drug addicts or alcoholics and wouldn't be able to pass a drug screening test by a prospective employer.

I've seen better results from people who seek spiritual help from places like the Union Gospel Mission.

http://www.ugm.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs

 

[zoo22]

On the other side of the coin, many people don't support our tax dollars paying for library services:

Libraries = Socialism

I can’t think of a more egregious example of government-sponsored socialism than the public library. Unproductive citizens without two nickels to rub together are given access to millions of books they could never afford to buy on their own -- all paid for with the tax dollars of productive citizens. Does the government pay for people to rent tuxedos for free, sail boats for free, or play golf for free? No, it does not. So why should it pay for people to read books and surf the Internet for free?

Full article

Do people here think our public library system is socialist?

 

[musterion]

Homeless persons have been known to take a dump in the back aisles of libraries and wipe with pages torn from books and periodicals. It's good to know such public service is being provided.

 

[aCultureWarrior]

On the other side of the coin, many people don't support our tax dollars paying for library services:

Libraries = Socialism

Do people here think our public library system is socialist?

By definition it is. Is there a reason that the private sector couldn't run a library system with book and financial donations and charging a small fee for checking out a book for those that could afford it?

 

[Town Heretic]

Homeless persons have been known to take a dump in the back aisles of libraries.

I can't imagine where you live, but you really have to move away from there. lain:

We have a great library. The head librarian brought in a dozen pcs, piped in classical and jazz music, commissioned a kid friendly mural in the children's library. The staff routinely helps people who are seeking employment and proctor exams for people trying to better themselves.

Libraries are bastions of public good, lighthouses in a sea of ignorance.

 

[WizardofOz]

By definition it is. Is there a reason that the private sector couldn't run a library system with book and financial donations and charging a small fee for checking out a book for those that could afford it?

:rotfl: How, libertarian of you

Can't make this stuff up. Classic

 

[musterion]

I thought he said he's a libraritarian.

 

[aCultureWarrior]

Quote:
Originally Posted by aCultureWarrior
By definition it is. Is there a reason that the private sector couldn't run a library system with book and financial donations and charging a small fee for checking out a book for those that could afford it?

:rotfl: How, libertarian of you

Can't make this stuff up. Classic

Free market values come from the Bible, not from the cult that you're too ashamed to admit that you're a part of.

Bible and Money: Why God Supports Free Market Capitalism

Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists...rts-free-market-capitalism.html#ixzz3zuuyMeXh

 

[aCultureWarrior]

Quote:
Originally Posted by musterion
Homeless persons have been known to take a dump in the back aisles of libraries.

I can't imagine where you live, but you really have to move away from there. lain:

We have a great library. The head librarian brought in a dozen pcs, piped in classical and jazz music, commissioned a kid friendly mural in the children's library. The staff routinely helps people who are seeking employment and proctor exams for people trying to better themselves.

Libraries are bastions of public good, lighthouses in a sea of ignorance.

Musty did some research and found out that public libraries have no affiliation with his church, so he has no use for them (I do wonder why he's hanging out in the alleyway watching transients defecate though).

 

[zoo22]

I get the feeling that some folks aren't understanding that the Libraries = Socialism article is satire.

But I guess it's pretty close to the opposition some people here have about taxpayer dollars being spent on libraries and library services like public computers and free internet access for people to take advantage of.

 

[aCultureWarrior]

I get the feeling that some folks aren't understanding that the Libraries = Socialism article is satire.

Some folks didn't read the article and still haven't.

But I guess it's pretty close to the opposition some people here have about taxpayer dollars being spent on libraries and library services like public computers and free internet access for people to take advantage of.

"Free"? Air is free; libraries, library services, computers and internet service come at a co$t.

Who do you think pays for the "free" services?

 

[chrysostom]

On the other side of the coin, many people don't support our tax dollars paying for library services:

Libraries = Socialism



Do people here think our public library system is socialist?

I love libraries
you don't have to be homeless
I have spent many hours in many libraries
I love books
and
that was for anna

 

[Angel4Truth]

Homeless persons have been known to take a dump in the back aisles of libraries and wipe with pages torn from books and periodicals. It's good to know such public service is being provided.

Gross, did that library not have a public restroom?

 

[Angel4Truth]

Is there any adult here that didn't use the library at some point in their lives especially when they attended school?

 

[Rusha]

I love libraries
you don't have to be homeless
I have spent many hours in many libraries
I love books
and
that was for anna

Prior to moving to Nebraska, I worked at our local library. With the exception of a handful of unruly kids and adults who mistook the library computers for their own *private entertainment center*, it was a fairly tranquil environment.

 

[Town Heretic]

Prior to moving to Nebraska, I worked at our local library.

Met my wife in a library.

With the exception of a handful of unruly kids and adults who mistook the library computers for their own *private entertainment center*, it was a fairly tranquil environment.

She and the staff have a time limit on the computers. They have to because of the demand. And they keep an eye on how they're being used to prevent people from accessing, one way or another, inappropriate websites, though one time when they were having a very busy day, too busy to police the PCs, a new patron actually asked for help in using his credit card to buy access to porn. lain:

He hasn't been back.

Your library sounds quieter. At any rate, you can thank your lucky stars that you didn't live anywhere near Must then. You wouldn't believe what they do in his library. :nono:

 

[Rusha]

Met my wife in a library.


She and the staff have a time limit on the computers. They have to because of the demand. And they keep an eye on how they're being used to prevent people from accessing, one way or another, inappropriate websites, though one time when they were having a very busy day, too busy to police the PCs, a new patron actually asked for help in using his credit card to buy access to porn. lain:

He hasn't been back.

Your library sounds quieter. At any rate, you can thank your lucky stars that you didn't live anywhere near Must then. You wouldn't believe what they do in his library. :nono:

My boss actually got a bit irritated with me for bringing it to the attention of himself and the other employees that a few of the regulars were using the computers to access porn.

I don't think it was so much that he was pro-porn, but rather anti-censorship.

The adults weren't my concern, however, children walking behind these people shouldn't be subjected to images of porn.

 

[Town Heretic]

My boss actually got a bit irritated with me for bringing it to the attention of himself and the other employees that a few of the regulars were using the computers to access porn.

I don't think it was so much that he was pro-porn, but rather anti-censorship.

The adults weren't my concern, however, children walking behind these people shouldn't be subjected to images of porn.

That's partly the reason our library has a no porn policy in place. The other being, of course, it's icky. lain: