Social Workers in the Stacks: Public librarians’ Perceptions and Experiences

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 librarians in order to explore their perceptions of and experiences with social workers in public libraries. All participants, regardless of the availability of social workers in libraries, reported encountering patron information needs related to social services, such as homelessness, food insecurity, unemployment, and mental and physical health needs. The majority of participants expressed the opinion that a social worker could benefit patrons by supplementing and complementing the services offered by librarians. Participants also identified potential challenges to having a social worker, including the blurring of professional boundaries, space, and scheduling issues, privacy, and confidentiality for patrons, and liability issues for the library.