Libraries are a space where people can safely exist and find the resources they need to increase their wellbeing. This can be achieved through emphasis on community partnerships. We need to lead with a mindset of community wellbeing, even if it may be challenging or uncomfortable.
Our current political landscape can make it difficult for people to exist safely. There are folks are ostracized directly and indirectly. They face the threat of having their speech suppressed and being treated hatefully. It is vital that the library is a space where all members of a community feel safe. Public libraries in Australia serve as a prime example of what a library should be; they should be a space where patrons of all backgrounds can come to learn skills, gain and share information, actively participate in conversation, and feel a sense of togetherness without bias or judgement (Hasan, 2022).
Libraries are a safe space because they provide resources for the community to address aspects of their health. The Victoria Library System’s Libraries for Health and Wellbeing framework and its accompanying toolkit lay out ways for libraries to serve the public’s physical health, mental wellbeing, and social connection. All of these aspects contribute to the community’s health and wellbeing as a whole. The toolkit delves into how libraries can connect with community partners. It a necessity for libraries is to reach out to community partners for collaboration as this is how the ties of the community are strengthened. Senior centers, schools, community education, local businesses, and career resources are a few examples.
The Plfugerville Library collaborates with businesses in the area to put on a teen job fair. Photo courtesy of Austin American-Statesman.
The challenge I see when making changes to foster a space where communities feel safe is the hesitation to make change in spaces. The action of actually changing something and the mindset shift that comes with change are no small feats. We have to be comfortable with this discomfort. We should never do anything that makes the library staff unsafe seeing as the library must be a safe place for them as well; however, we must recognize the difference between being unsafe and feeling uncomfortable. When we switch around our furniture to make our space more accessible or put in the effort to make the connection with a community partner, it can be easy to get annoyed at doing extra work. However, we need to have shift to an empathetic mindset. Michael Stephens has the idea that we need to bring our hearts to work to ensure our service is rooted in humanism, compassion, and understanding as these are the things that make a community (Garcia-Febo, 2018). Taking the extra time to make and keep libraries safe is a necessity for the betterment and wellbeing of the community.
References
Garcia-Febo, L. (2018). Serving with love: Embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion in all that we do. American Libraries. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2018/11/01/serving-with-love/
Hasan, T.N. (2022). ‘Free, non-judgemental, accessible’: How your local library is a sanctuary of health and wellness. SBS. https://www.sbs.com.au/language/bangla/en/article/free-nonjudgmental-and-accessible-how-your-local-library-is-a-sanctuary-of-health-and-wellness/t15blzsi9
State Library Victoria, Public Libraries Victoria. (2024). Libraries for Health and Wellbeing. https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/LFHAWB-vFIN-web_0.pdf
State Library Victoria, Public Libraries Victoria. (2024). Libraries for Health and Wellbeing Toolkit. https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/LFHAWB-PT-FIN-web.pdf
Hi Lindsay,
I appreciate that you make the distinction between feeling uncomfortable and feeling safe. Those two feelings can be very, very difficult to parse out, and I think that reflecting on them is imperative not only in terms of libraries, but across our entire cultural spectrum as well. I think there is quite a bit of uncomfortableness that leads into feeling unsafe, but the line isn’t always easy to see. I love the idea of bringing health partners into the library for community events, and I can definitely see how that can be challenging for librarians, who cannot simply not go to the event. I guess it comes back around to defining what a library is, and what a library does, in terms of its community and its patrons.
Cheers!
Mei
Hi Mei,
I appreciate your insight and I think you bring up an important point about defining what a library is. We want to ensure we are providing information and services for our community, but there is a boundary. We are not licensed mental health practitioners or medical professionals, so while we should provide these resources in the community we should not try to fill these positions when we are not qualified. This would not be benefical for us as staff our our community.