Why they need us and why we hesitate: the homeless in the library

Abstract

The number of homeless people in the world is growing every day, even though the right to adequate housing is one of the fundamental human rights. Homelessness is a complex social problem whose solution requires a wider support network, where libraries also have their place.

Zagreb City Libraries (ZCL) have already gained five years of experience in organizing library services for the homeless through the project A Book for a Roof. The project garnered great interest of the media, a number of presentations were held and articles were published on the experiences and results. However, ZCL are still the only libraries in Croatia that organize targeted and continuous library services for the homeless, and the author of this article, the manager of the library service for the homeless in ZCL, is the only librarian who organizes them and carries them out. For this reason, the author carried out a short survey on librarians' views of library services for the homeless and the international Guidelines for Library Services for the Homeless. The survey was conducted among librarians without experience in working with the homeless and those who worked with them short term. Based on the views of these two groups of respondents and a comparison with the state of facts, the aim of the survey is to contribute to the process of establishing international Guidelines for Library Services for the Homeless.

This article will deal with experiences from the project A Book for a Roof and views of users, partners and associates. It will also present results and conclusions of the conducted survey.