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Whole Person Librarianship: A Social Work Approach to Patron Services
Whole Person Librarianship guides librarians through the practical process of facilitating connections among libraries, social workers, and social services; explains why those connections are important; and puts them in the context of a national movement.
Collaboration between libraries and social workers is an exploding trend that will continue to be relevant to the future of public and academic libraries. Whole Person Librarianship incorporates practical examples with insights from librarians and social workers. The result is a new vision of library services.
The authors provide multiple examples of how public and academic librarians are connecting their patrons with social services. They explore skills and techniques librarians can learn from social workers, such as how to set healthy boundaries and work with patrons experiencing homelessness; they also offer ideas for how librarians can self-educate on these topics.
The book additionally provides insights for social work partners on how they can benefit from working with librarians. While librarians and social workers share social justice motivations, their methods are complementary and yet still distinct―librarians do not have to become social workers. Librarian readers will come away with many practical ideas for collaboration as well as the ability to explain why collaboration with social workers is important for the future of librarianship.
Collaboration between libraries and social workers is an exploding trend that will continue to be relevant to the future of public and academic libraries. Whole Person Librarianship incorporates practical examples with insights from librarians and social workers. The result is a new vision of library services.
The authors provide multiple examples of how public and academic librarians are connecting their patrons with social services. They explore skills and techniques librarians can learn from social workers, such as how to set healthy boundaries and work with patrons experiencing homelessness; they also offer ideas for how librarians can self-educate on these topics.
The book additionally provides insights for social work partners on how they can benefit from working with librarians. While librarians and social workers share social justice motivations, their methods are complementary and yet still distinct―librarians do not have to become social workers. Librarian readers will come away with many practical ideas for collaboration as well as the ability to explain why collaboration with social workers is important for the future of librarianship.
190 pages, Paperback
Published August 14, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 20, 2020
WHEW.
This is a solid book that needs to exist in today's professional landscape for librarians. That said, it is a DRY experience to read. Written in an appropriately scholarly tone, Zettervall uses case studies and social work principles to explain how librarians can collaborate with social workers to transform library service.
For those who have kept a finger on the pulse of serving the poor, mentally ill, and those experiencing homelessness in libraries, this read will likely bring nothing new to the table. I make a point of keeping up on these topics both within library land and by reading sociological books, so many of the ideas presented here were not new to me.
Particularly helpful for those making the case to employ an on-site social worker at their libraries, this book is very specific in scope (and may under-deliver a bit, based on the title). I do appreciate the practical appendices at the back, and think it's a solid read, especially if this is a new concept for the reader.
This is a solid book that needs to exist in today's professional landscape for librarians. That said, it is a DRY experience to read. Written in an appropriately scholarly tone, Zettervall uses case studies and social work principles to explain how librarians can collaborate with social workers to transform library service.
For those who have kept a finger on the pulse of serving the poor, mentally ill, and those experiencing homelessness in libraries, this read will likely bring nothing new to the table. I make a point of keeping up on these topics both within library land and by reading sociological books, so many of the ideas presented here were not new to me.
Particularly helpful for those making the case to employ an on-site social worker at their libraries, this book is very specific in scope (and may under-deliver a bit, based on the title). I do appreciate the practical appendices at the back, and think it's a solid read, especially if this is a new concept for the reader.
August 28, 2024
I read this for my job as the social services coordinator of my local library. It has helped me to find a bit of a foundation of what social work looks like in a library, something that I was struggling with at the beginning of this new job. This book is very helpful and provides details to start and provides a good foundation for those of us in the field that need some help to better understand how libraries and social work can work together to create positive relationships for patrons. I recommend this if you are trying to better understand these two worlds.
April 2, 2021
A great guide looking at the growing collaborations between social work and libraries. I think I went in to this book looking for a guide to social work concepts for use in direct patron services, but overall it’s a more macro view of those techniques and service structures, with a greater focus on actual social workers working in libraries.
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July 17, 2020Zettervall and Nienow's 2019 publication Whole Person Librarianship: A Social Work Approach to Patron Services is a passionate argument for why and how libraries should incorporate the social work ideas, workers, and services into how libraries serve their patrons collectively known as Whole Person Librarianship or WPL. WPL is praxis (theory and practice) of librarianship wherein patrons are viewed and treated as “whole people” with complex lived experiences and needs beyond borrowing materials or participating in programs for fun or casual education. In order to better meet patrons as whole people libraries should tailor how staff interact with patrons, how their collections especially reference are shaped, and what programming the library hosts. WPL as a term came into being when Zetterval, whilst in library school, realized how libraries could use the concepts and partner with social service her friend Nienow was learning to better serve their patrons needs.
The book begins by comparing and contrasting social work and libraries histories, ethics, and purposes in society to show how the two share problematic histories of assimilation and thus how they could and should compliment one another in helping people to be their best selves and push for broader social change. Throughout the rest of the book the authors detail the various ways in which libraries can incorporate social work and services into their library practice by providing countless online resources -many of which are on a website created to compliment the book-, real life examples of how libraries have incorporated social work into staffing, reference collections, and programming, and testimonials of library staff and homeless patrons attesting to the great effects of librarianship and social work partnering in such ways on their communities they serve. These partnerships between librarianship and social work range from having library staff be knowledgeable of local social services to refer patrons too, to the library having full time social workers on staff hosting office hours to make referrals for patrons and/or advocating for policy changes in how library staff and spaces treat and serve vulnerable populations (i.e. those who are mentally ill, unsheltered, etc.).
On a personal level, this book further fueled my passion, and I hope others too, for libraries as sites for social justice, because as this book reminds readers, despite people's arguments that libraries are supposed to be neutral and places of equality, they are not nor should be neutral and have often done the opposite of promote equality. Not only that, but the book also provides tangible ways in which libraries can not only make up for their harmful history, but actually uphold one of their core values of providing communities with equitable access to information and technology through incorporating knowledge of and access to local social services to their staffing, collections, and programming. This book is also, of course, relevant to my Americorp CTEP service for several reasons. Firstly, half the patron population at my site is made up of homeless/low income folks, folks whom the book often cites as one of the main benefactors of libraries and social workers partnering together. Plus, it has particular relevance to my specific position of helping people access and learn use technology to connect, learn, and grow because, most of these social services require the use of faxing, coping, or printing documents. Skills that the aforementioned populations and others I serve lack and need help learning. And lastly, it gave me many ideas for capacity building projects I might implement at my site, specifically for teens, that might combine the books ideas of social work in the library and CTEPs desire to address the digital divide. However, beyond my own takeaways and connections with this book I think it would be a great read for many other CTEPs as many are involved in libraries, others are involved in places that partner with social services, and for everyone else this book could help generate ideas at their sites of how they can help those they serve access social services through their site.
The book begins by comparing and contrasting social work and libraries histories, ethics, and purposes in society to show how the two share problematic histories of assimilation and thus how they could and should compliment one another in helping people to be their best selves and push for broader social change. Throughout the rest of the book the authors detail the various ways in which libraries can incorporate social work and services into their library practice by providing countless online resources -many of which are on a website created to compliment the book-, real life examples of how libraries have incorporated social work into staffing, reference collections, and programming, and testimonials of library staff and homeless patrons attesting to the great effects of librarianship and social work partnering in such ways on their communities they serve. These partnerships between librarianship and social work range from having library staff be knowledgeable of local social services to refer patrons too, to the library having full time social workers on staff hosting office hours to make referrals for patrons and/or advocating for policy changes in how library staff and spaces treat and serve vulnerable populations (i.e. those who are mentally ill, unsheltered, etc.).
On a personal level, this book further fueled my passion, and I hope others too, for libraries as sites for social justice, because as this book reminds readers, despite people's arguments that libraries are supposed to be neutral and places of equality, they are not nor should be neutral and have often done the opposite of promote equality. Not only that, but the book also provides tangible ways in which libraries can not only make up for their harmful history, but actually uphold one of their core values of providing communities with equitable access to information and technology through incorporating knowledge of and access to local social services to their staffing, collections, and programming. This book is also, of course, relevant to my Americorp CTEP service for several reasons. Firstly, half the patron population at my site is made up of homeless/low income folks, folks whom the book often cites as one of the main benefactors of libraries and social workers partnering together. Plus, it has particular relevance to my specific position of helping people access and learn use technology to connect, learn, and grow because, most of these social services require the use of faxing, coping, or printing documents. Skills that the aforementioned populations and others I serve lack and need help learning. And lastly, it gave me many ideas for capacity building projects I might implement at my site, specifically for teens, that might combine the books ideas of social work in the library and CTEPs desire to address the digital divide. However, beyond my own takeaways and connections with this book I think it would be a great read for many other CTEPs as many are involved in libraries, others are involved in places that partner with social services, and for everyone else this book could help generate ideas at their sites of how they can help those they serve access social services through their site.
April 26, 2023
This book is about the intersection of librarianship and social work, and what collaboration between librarians and social workers can look like or produce. Many of the examples are about social workers having staff positions in public libraries and working with homeless people, but it's clear that the collaboration can take many other forms. The book emphasizes the value of listening to people and taking your cue from them about what services they need.
The book provides background information about the differences in training between librarians and social workers, as well as their commonalities. There is an accompanying web site at wholepersonlibrarianship.com, with a few resources for connecting with others, however, the blog hasn't been updated since February 2022. There is also a substantial amount of back matter to the book: 6 appendices, a bibliography, and an index.
If connections between social services and libraries is a topic of interest to you, this is a well-written, substantive, and practical book. I recommend it!
The book provides background information about the differences in training between librarians and social workers, as well as their commonalities. There is an accompanying web site at wholepersonlibrarianship.com, with a few resources for connecting with others, however, the blog hasn't been updated since February 2022. There is also a substantial amount of back matter to the book: 6 appendices, a bibliography, and an index.
If connections between social services and libraries is a topic of interest to you, this is a well-written, substantive, and practical book. I recommend it!
July 2, 2022
Mostly about social workers in the library (which I think is really necessary for public libraries), but I appreciated the bit of content written for academic library workers. Stresses the need for trauma-informed care training and EDIB focus in library services. Too often, library workers' well-being is overlooked for the sake of patron well-being and this book is a good reminder on how to acknowledge and resist that.
August 10, 2022
A promising overview of the overlapping but distinct practices and aims of social work and librarianship, and a guide to several kinds of partnerships that might involve social workers (or student interns) in libraries, mostly public libraries.
What might work best for your environment is highly dependent on the individual aspects of your situation, of course, but this is an excellent primer for any professional who’s thinking about a project like this.
What might work best for your environment is highly dependent on the individual aspects of your situation, of course, but this is an excellent primer for any professional who’s thinking about a project like this.
June 22, 2020
An excellent guide to the collaboration between librarianship and social work. With wonderful examples and testimonies, Whole Person Librarianship shows that a direct approach within libraries is productive more so than the redirect to the resources that is the librarians’ standard. I highly recommend to every librarian and anyone else that would benefit from working with social workers.
December 27, 2023
I think this gave a balanced look at a complex problem. For me, it supported my belief that in a system where we can partner with Social Workers who have the resources of their organization to back them, that is the best path. Partnerships!
January 31, 2020
A practical guide to the intersection of libraries & social work with current examples from the field. Useful, simple language with handy indices and references.
July 12, 2020
This book explains every reason why my next academic endeavor needs to be in social work. It articulated all my thoughts on this topic clearly and succinctly. Outstanding.
April 22, 2021
An absolute necessity for anyone in the library profession.
May 7, 2022
DNF - wasn’t expecting the textbook vibe but contains good info on a very relevant library need.
June 22, 2022
I found this book insightful and loved reading about how other libraries have added elements of social work to their services.
December 27, 2022
As a social work student, and a library employee this book was very enlightening and I highly reccomend it to anyone who works in the field.
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August 31, 2023JOHNSTON HOLD 2023_08_31
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews