Innovation Roadmap: Social Worker

Idea: Social Worker in the Library

The goal of many libraries is to provide a safe, equitable, and inclusive environment for patrons to thrive, and incorporating a social worker into a library is key to achieving this goal (ALA, n.d.; Noah Lenstra [@NoahLenstra], 2023; The Salt Lake Tribune, 2023). This service enables multiple patrons to access essential resources vital for individuals experiencing homelessness, those in need of psychological support, those requiring immigration assistance, and more (Barboza, 2025; Rodriguez, 2019; The Salt Lake Tribune, 2023). Many of these needs are essential to support the community surrounding Southwestern College (SWC) in Chula Vista, given Chula Vista’s highly diverse population (Data USA, n.d.). Additionally, through its Restorative Justice program, potential students can gain resources and an education before and after being impacted by the justice system (Southwestern College, n.d.-c). It is thanks to social equity programs like Restorative Justice that SWC and its library can offer its patrons and community an opportunity for self-improvement and reflection, and adding a social worker into the mix would aid in that endeavor (Abeyta, 2022; Southwestern College, n.d.-c; The Salt Lake Tribune, 2023).

Mission and Institutional Context: Southwestern College

The SWC Library focuses on empowering students to utilize the information they have acquired, enabling them to achieve their academic goals and engage in lifelong learning processes (Southwestern College, n.d.-b). One of the SWC Library’s primary values is centering itself on the needs of its users, especially its students, which reflects various user-centered approaches in social work and library services (Barker & Hoffman, 2021; Senteio & Callahan, 2020; Southwestern College, n.d.-b). The library already has several needs in its mission to support students’ academic success and lifelong learning processes, such as improving the discoverability of items in the collection, developing programs to address the evolving needs of students, and expanding and promoting services (Southwestern College, n.d.-b). These needs are updated as of this year, 2025, and implementing a social worker in the mix of the services that the SWC Library provides could allow for further engagement of the many resources that the library and the college have (Community Commons, n.d.; Enoch Pratt Free Library, n.d.; The Salt Lake Tribune, 2023). This additional staff member, a social worker, also enables the library to fulfill its need for collaborative partnerships to support students in their initial experiences on campus (Southwestern College, n.d.-b).

Action Brief Statement

The SWC Library will convince its patrons, especially its students, that by engaging with the social worker in the library or on campus, they will be able to gain further resources necessary for their academic success, which will aid in their lifelong journey and lifelong learning, because that is what the library centers itself on.

Inspiration

I found inspiration for the implementation of social workers in libraries from some libraries that have already implemented social workers, such as:

• Salt Lake City’s Library.
• Chicago Public Library.
• Davenport Public Library.
• San Jose Public Library.

Implementation Instruction for Social Worker

Guidelines and Policies

Guiding principles and policies that a social worker integrated into the SWC Library should include are the services and resources that the library can and cannot provide (Enoch Pratt Free Library, n.d.). This is to facilitate a separation of duties among the various student support systems within the library and on campus, such as those related to counseling services in the Cesar E. Chavez Student Services Center (Hines, 2017; Southwestern College, n.d.). To support the social worker’s emphasis on services on campus, policies should be developed and approved by financial aid advisors, academic success advisors, Disability Support Services, and the Office of Student Services (Hines, 2017; Southwestern College, n.d.). Some possible boundaries to be overcome when placing a social worker in the library can include conflicts with the Student Services Center at the Cesar E. Chavez Student Services Center, with both types of service catering to the needs of at-risk students (Hines, 2017; Soska & Navarro, 2020; Southwestern College, n.d.-d). However, integrating a social worker in the library can facilitate easier access to resources, both on and off campus, for students to utilize during their academic journey, thanks to the comforting environment of the library (Hines, 2017; Stephens, 2019).

Timeline for Implementation

After initiating the process of writing and gaining permission for the guidelines and policies of the social worker, planning should be extensively discussed between staff and faculty (Watt, 2014). The implementation of the social worker can take a minimum of six months, as there is still considerable room for improvement in the SWC Library as it currently stands (Southwestern College, n.d.-a). The key phases of this project of including a social worker in the library include initiating and communicating with faculty and staff, planning which room or space in the library to integrate the social worker in, placing the social worker in a key location for students to access, and gathering as much feedback as possible to see what can be improved with the social worker’s inclusion in the library (Rajhans, 2018; Watt, 2014). The most crucial process throughout this project planning will be communication with staff, faculty, and students on the process of integrating a social worker and the necessity of this approach (Rajhans, 2018).

Marketing and Promotion

Like promoting a library collection, communication is key, and emails should be used to convey the prospect of having a social worker in the SWC Library (Hursh, 2021; Rajhans, 2018). Not only will signage, social media, and email be used to promote the social worker services in the library, but, like teen spaces and other programs, it would also be beneficial for the library to have students provide feedback or be involved in the project (Bolan, 2008; Hursh, 2021). Having students, faculty, and staff involved in the project of integrating a social worker, while demonstrating the effectiveness of implementing a social worker, can promote further social justice initiatives (Hines, 2017). Promoting social justice also supports the SWC library’s mission to enhance students’ academic success and foster lifelong learning (Southwestern College, n.d.-b).

Staff Training and Readiness

Staff of the SWC Library will need to be equipped to answer questions about what the social worker in the library has to offer, while also being aware of the social worker’s location within the library’s space (Hines, 2017). Though many librarians are equipped to answer basic social work questions, a social worker will need to be hired by the campus staff and trained by those working at Student Services on the services that SWC has to offer students, along with those outside of campus (Hines, 2017; Southwestern College, n.d.-d; Wickramarachchi, 2021). Knowing the duties of the social worker will also enable the various library staff to understand how effectively the social worker can help students succeed in life and achieve academic success (Hines, 2017).

Evaluation and Future Expansion

Performance benchmarks can include the extent to which academic success has improved and the degree to which campus services have been enhanced in usage (Hines, 2017). This is especially important in showcasing the library’s increase in social capital, which aids students in achieving academic success and benefits the campus as a whole (Schlak, 2022). Feedback will be continually gathered at the end of the student’s meeting with the social worker through a survey that asks how the social worker’s service aided the student (Hall & McAlister, 2021). In terms of how this feedback may aid in the expansion of social services in the library, the SWC Library may have a greater need for not only the work of social workers for social services, but also from the librarians, as they are one of the first points of contact in social services in the library (Hall & McAlister, 2021).

References

Abeyta, M. (2022). Academic pathways for formerly incarcerated students: “If I could do 12 years in prison, why can’t I do 12 years in college.” JCSCORE, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2642-2387.2022.8.1.36-49

ALA. (n.d.). Equity, diversity, inclusion: An interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights.  https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/EDI

Barboza, T. (2025, February 27). Where can L.A. immigrants go for help under Trump? Try the public library. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-02-27/immigrants-resources-help-los-angeles-public-library

Barker, A. E. G., & Hoffman, A. T. (2021). Student-centered design: Creating libguides students can actually use. College & Research Libraries, 82(1), 75. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.82.1.75

Bolan, K. (2008, May 8). The Need for teen spaces in public libraries [Text]. Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). https://www.ala.org/yalsa/guidelines/whitepapers/teenspaces

Community Commons. (n.d.). Social worker in the Library Chicago.  https://www.communitycommons.org/collections/Social-Worker-in-the-Library-Chicago

Data USA. (n.d.). Chula Vista, CA. https://datausa.io/profile/geo/chula-vista-ca

Enoch Pratt Free Library. (n.d.). Social worker in the library.  https://www.prattlibrary.org/services/social-impact-programs/social-worker-in-the-library

Hall, K., & McAlister, S. (2021). Library services and resources in support of mental health: A survey of initiatives in public and academic libraries. Journal of Library Administration, 61(8), 936–946. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2021.1984137

Hines, S. G. (2017). Connecting individuals with social services: The academic library’s role. Collaborative Librarianship, 9(2), 109–117.

Hursh, A. (2021, October 25). Beginner’s guide to promoting your collection: How to get started and drive circulation at your library. Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion. https://superlibrarymarketing.com/2021/10/25/beginnercollectionpromotion/

Noah Lenstra [@NoahLenstra]. (2023, April 12). “They will be able to help our community with issues like housing and shelter, food insecurity, medical needs, whatever their needs are a social worker has special skills designed to match up their needs with the resources in their community” https://t.co/4Swzx6IJ7T [Tweet]. Twitter. https://x.com/NoahLenstra/status/1646155477078663171

Rajhans, K. (2018). Effective communication management: A key to stakeholder relationship management in project-based organizations. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 12(4), 47–66.

Rodriguez, S. (2019). “We’re building the community; it’s a hub for democracy.”: Lessons learned from a library-based, school-district partnership and program to increase belonging for newcomer immigrant and refugee youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 102, 135–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.04.025

Schlak, T. (2022). Leadership and social capital: What library leaders need to know about trust, values, and bridge building. Journal of Library Administration, 62(2), 235–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2022.2026122

Senteio, C. R., & Callahan, M. B. (2020). Supporting quality care for ESRD patients: The social worker can help address barriers to advance care planning. BMC Nephrology, 21(1), 55. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12882-020-01720-0

Soska, T. M., & Navarro, A. (2020). Social workers and public libraries: A commentary on an emerging interprofessional collaboration. Advances in Social Work, 20(2), 409–423. https://doi.org/10.18060/23690

Southwestern College. (n.d.-a). About the library.  https://www.swccd.edu/student-support/library/about/index.aspx

Southwestern College. (n.d.-b). Library strategic plan. https://www.swccd.edu/student-support/library/library-strategic-plan.aspx

Southwestern College. (n.d.-c). Restorative Justice. https://www.swccd.edu/programs-and-academics/specialty-programs/restorative-justice/index.aspx

Southwestern College. (n.d.-d). Student support. https://www.swccd.edu/student-support/index.aspx

Stephens, M. (2019). Wholehearted librarianship: Finding hope, inspiration, and balance. ALA Editions.

The Salt Lake Tribune. (2023, July 4). Salt Lake City downtown library’s new social worker has already helped thousands. https://287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Salt-Lake-City-downtown-librarys-new-social-worker-has-already-helped-thousands.pdf

Watt, A. (2014). Project management. BCcampus. https://opentextbc.ca/projectmanagement/

Wickramarachchi, A. P. (2021). The social role and the responsibilities of public libraries and librarians in transforming society. Sri Lanka Library Review, 35(1). https://doi.org/10.4038/sllr.v35i1.37