Three Models of Practice: Impacts on the De-escalation Role of Library Social Workers During Crises with Patrons Experiencing Homelessness

ABSTRACT

Heretofore, models of library social work have primarily been described in terms of the employment status of the social worker (full or part time, employed by library or agency, etc.) rather than the programmatic structure of the services. This research study identifies and describes three different models of public library social work practice: The Signup and Summon Model; The Outreach and Summon Model, and the Social Work Center Model. Next, it explains how each model impacts the de-escalation role of the social worker during crises with patrons experiencing homelessness. The perceived impact of the social worker’s de-escalation role included patrons experiencing homelessness being less likely to interact with security and police and less likely to be excluded, arrested, or jailed. Using an embedded multiple-case study approach, the larger study from which this study is drawn spanned across three United States’ urban libraries with 107 distinct participants, 91 surveys and 46 in-depth interviews. Taking a comprehensive look at the role of social workers during the crisis, the views of six different roles are included: patrons experiencing homelessness, front-facing library staff, library police/security, chief executive officers, branch managers, and social workers.

KEYWORDS:

• Crisis
• de-escalation
• homelessness
• library social work

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 This author chose the term ‘people experiencing homelessness’ as it is recommended by the American Psychological Association (APA) style guidelines (APA, 2020, p. 148) and was used in the data collection instruments. The author is also aware that there is no consensus around the use of this term. In the use of this term, it was the author’s intent to emphasize personhood and avoid objectification.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mary A. Provence

Mary A. Provence, PhD is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Social Work at Ball State University and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. In her early career, she spent four years as an outreach social worker on the streets of Indianapolis with youth experiencing homelessness. With 31 years of practice across the micro and macro spectrum, Mary is an avid researcher of the emerging field of public library social work as a response to homelessness.