On homeless people in libraries
An online search showed the book I wanted was available, but when I went to the shelf it was nowhere to be found. After rifling through the surrounding shelves, I approached the main desk for help. Then I spotted them: a semi-circle of homeless seated in armchairs, wearing an assortment of greatcoats, scarves, and beanies.
One sat at a desk fenced in by a barricade of books. His large head, mottled face, and bright red nose scarcely skimmed the top, so tall was his fortress. The alcohol fumes mixed with the reek of unwashed clothes and damp woollen overcoats. It was heady stuff so early in the day, enough to send the average library punter reeling. I asked him if I could look for my title. He offered a two-word response, strongly suggesting not.
A librarian asked the man if she could scan his stronghold for my volume. In a posh voice that belied his dishevelment, he reluctantly agreed. He reminded me of one of the old alkies who used to sleep in the Mt Victoria tunnel for warmth and shelter, often ending up in Newtown's Chest Hospital, expectorating into a spittoon. Some, it was rumoured, were professors, artists, and authors.
Sure enough, my book was lodged in one of his walls.
*
Libraries are no longer elite bastions of order and quiet, hidey-holes for restful reading and reflection. They now exist on the frontline of homelessness, social exclusion, mental health, and the epidemic of loneliness.
In 2023, an estimated 112,000 New Zealanders were 'severely housing deprived', as Statistics New Zealand puts it. This includes people without shelter, in emergency accommodation, or living in an overcrowded private dwelling. About a third of the homeless have a severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia and substance abuse, reports the New Zealand Medical Journal.
Libraries are a litmus test for social inclusion. In these nests of warmth, shelter, safety, community, and, of course, free wifi, librarians serve as parent proxies by offering information on how to navigate systems, including life itself. At the Palmerston North City library, where I sometimes hang out, immigrant families from Myanmar, China, Vietnam, and other places, congregate in the children's section reading to their offspring and absorbing the often unspoken codes of their new society. They are unlikely to become entangled in Aotearoa's declining literacy rates, with more than a third of 15-year-olds struggling with reading and writing, according to a 2022 Education Hub report.
But library lifers now face an ethical, often unspoken, quandary. I'm all for everyone using libraries, including outcasts, tramps, itinerants, and the homeless. So proclaims my socialist self, the one who migrates to the library from a heated home, well-stocked kitchen, and my own bathroom. Yet when confronted with certain uncomfortable realities, another less generous voice querulously asks: surely there is a limit to the democratisation of these repositories of knowledge?
No, says US sociologist Eric Klinenberg. In Palaces for the People: How social infrastructure can help fight inequality, polarization, and the decline of civic life, he writes that we live in a time of deep social, cultural, and economic divides, and increasingly polarised attitudes. Shared spaces – such as libraries, churches, childcare centres, and parks – are what we really need to foster social connection.
As community cornerstones, libraries provide a wide range of social services: adult and children's story sessions, te reo groups, sewing and knitting circles, digital technology classes for older people, photography and genealogy groups, and author talks.
If I'm put out when confronted by someone different to me, it keeps me aware of the reality faced by others, my own luck, and the need for empathy and engagement. But I'm also conscious that, when in the library, I need to keep my wits about me. I spoke with a librarian at the National Library who has observed several skirmishes. They remarked, 'The library is a wonderful place until suddenly it isn't.'
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