The Librarian's Guide to Homelessness: An Empathy-Driven Approach to Solving Problems, Preventing Conflict, and Serving Everyone

• includes facts about homelessness every librarian should know;
• debunks widespread myths about these individuals, explaining how they see themselves, what issues they struggle with, and how libraries can shift towards supporting them;
• shares de-escalation techniques like showing respect, ways to avoid making things personal, and using proper body language;
• walks readers through dealing with common issues like a sleeping patron, questionable hygiene, offensive behavior, and asking a patron to leave; and
• advises on how to provide backup to a colleague and when to call the police.

Filled with real life stories that illustrate the effectiveness of Dowd’s approach, this one-of-a-kind guide will empower library staff to treat homeless individuals with dignity.

Ryan J. Dowd

208 pages
7" x 10"

"After experiencing a critical incident with a transient individual at our library, I knew my staff and I needed more training on how to react mindfully, so that we were respecting the individual while keeping ourselves and our other patrons safe. I signed up for Ryan Dowd's webinar on working with individuals experiencing homelessness in libraries and read his book on the same topic. His empathy-driven approached resonated with my existing value system and gave me practical tools I could start using immediately. The poignant vignettes peppered throughout the text gave me confidence that these tried-and-true methods were provided by someone working in the trenches on a daily basis, not sprouting lofty ideas from a comfortable office that would fall apart under the pressure of real-world library work. I haven't looked back.”

— Jenn Carson, Library Director, L.P. Fisher Public Library, Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada