National Book Award-winning novelist William T. Vollmann has published a compelling book on poverty, titled simply Poor People (Ecco/HarperCollins), with interviews he conducted all around the world.
Writing in the Minneapolis Star Tribune (3/11/07), National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) president John Freeman compares Vollman’s project to James Agee’s and Walker Evans’ study of white sharecroppers in 1936:
By eschewing the usual social-science observations, Vollmann has written a book of enormous power—one that honors the magnitude of each story it records. “For me,” Vollmann writes, “poverty is not mere deprivation; for people may possess fewer things than I and be richer; poverty is wretchedness. It must then be an experience more than an economic state. It therefore remains somewhat immeasurable.”
Chuck Leddy, another NBCC member, writes the following in The Christian Science Monitor (3/13/07):
Throughout the book, Vollmann ruminates deeply on the manifold causes and consequences of poverty, and on what obligation individuals and nations have toward the poor. He considers the role of the United Nations, and the widely lauded idea of “more aid, better directed,” but remains skeptical about slogans …
Poor People enlightens, posing important questions and putting a human face on the socioeconomic statistics.
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Through the federal government’s Lifeline and Link-Up programs, low-income people can obtain discounts on monthly phone service as well as installation.
The federal standards require consumers to either (1) have total household income that does not exceed 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, or (2) participate in at least one of the following assistance programs:
Medicaid; Food Stamps; Supplemental Security Income (SSI); Federal Public Housing Assistance (Section 8); Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP); Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF); The National School Lunch Program’s “Free Lunch” Program
More information, including state-specific info, is available through www.lifelinesupport.org.
See also: www.usac.org/li
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As the HHPTF has documented, U.S. libraries have been slow to adopt the social-exclusion framework for public service. See, for example, the “Open to All?” research, conducted in Great Britain.
Librarians who are seeking community-building models can benefit tremendously from projects launched in Great Britain and Canada.
Through national campaigns, these countries promote relationships between library staff and traditionally excluded groups. The resulting collaborations create more useful programs and services and more cohesive communities.
Canada’s Working Together Project has launched a new Web site: www.librariesincommunities.ca. Though portions are still under development, the site promises info on best practices, outreach toolkits, and more.
The Working Together Project has two main objectives.
The first objective is to use a community development approach to build connections and relationships in the community. These connections facilitate a better understanding of what socially excluded communities want and need from public libraries …
The second objective is to identify and investigate systemic barriers to library use. Many socially excluded people see and feel barriers that may not be evident to librarians and library staff.
The WTP is coordinated by LJ “Mover & Shaker” Annette DeFaveri and directed by her colleague Sandra Singh. DeFaveri authored the must-read article “Breaking Barriers: Libraries and Socially Excluded Communities” [pdf].
Helen Carpenter, Project Coordinator with the London Libraries Development Agency, has helped launch Welcome to Your Library, featuring a Website for improving access for refugees and asylum seekers: www.welcometoyourlibrary.org.uk. The site offers resources applicable to all socially-excluded groups, including practical advice, case studies, research reports, and more.
Welcome To Your Library (WTYL) is a project to increase opportunities for active engagement and participation by refugee communities in public library service planning and delivery. By doing so, WTYL aims to improve access to and quality of public library services for everyone.
A primary component of the social-exclusion framework is an understanding that there are many people in society who have no say in decision-making and have no access to power structures.
Exclusion is not merely a condition suffered by a passive victim but rather a deliberate (if uninformed) act performed by an authority. Social isolation doesn’t merely exist—it is created and perpetuated.
For a detailed yet accessible primer on social exclusion, read John Pateman’s 2005 keynote address from the Vancouver Public Library Staff Conference: “Tackling Social Exclusion in Libraries” [pdf].
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The following commentary was posted by Isabel Espinal on the Progressive Librarians Guild list (12/06/06) as part of a discussion about service to low-income people, particularly African American and Latino families. It is reprinted here, with minor edits and with her permission.
How can librarians respond [to poverty]? Good question. I thought of just a few things. Maybe others can think of more:
1. Strengthen the libraries in communities where poor African American and Latino families live.
My thoughts on this come from my experience in public libraries in such communities years ago, but also my recent experience at the University of Massachusetts Learning Commons.
From my experience working in public libraries in Connecticut, it seemed that libraries in poor neighborhoods were often the least well funded and the most vulnerable to be cut. Sometimes the reasoning was low circulation—sort of saying those people don’t read so why waste money on libraries there. The logic seemed crazy to me because to me those are the libraries that are most needed. They should be the last to be cut.
Well-to-do people (who abound in Connecticut) and even middle class people can afford to buy their own books and computers. Poor people can’t. When I worked in Connecticut (and I’m not saying all Connecticut libraries do this nor that they still do this), I got frustrated with the model that rewarded libraries with high circulation by giving them more resources, while punishing libraries with low circulation.
I also was frustrated because the staffing model that was in place in many libraries made it difficult to get out of the vicious cycle. There was not enough, if any, staffing for outreach work, which is time-intensive work.
It seemed libraries too often just sat there waiting for people to come in who oftentimes did not know the library even existed, nor that it had anything relevant, nor that it would welcome them. Or the library just wasn’t open when working people were not working. So no wonder there was low circulation.
In poor communities, and in all communities, the library has a special role as a place. I work at a university now that has a very successful Learning Commons. It’s interesting in many ways but one thing that strikes me is the turn around in the thinking of some librarians who a few years ago thought we needed to think of all users as remote users and downplay our investment in the library as a physical place.
Well, that day might be coming, but right now one thing the Learning Commons is telling us is that it’s still important to invest in places that people can go to to access resources. Not only that but to expand the hours—we are now open 24 hours five of the days of the week. And circulation has gone up by 84% since the Learning Commons opened.
So what does this have to do with poor people and specifically poor African American and Latino people? Well, I think it would be great if three were Learning Commons in libraries in every poor Latino and African American community.
2. People who are not poor are not well informed about poverty and are often deliberately misinformed by certain politicians.
I think libraries can play a role in providing information about poverty and poor people to everyone, but especially in a context of informing citizens whose votes will affect policies that can alleviate, eliminate, or on the other hand reproduce and even extend poverty.
I think libraries in affluent and middle class communities can do a lot to bridge the information and misinformation gap. And this can take on a more active approach than just collection development, which is important.
But there could be displays around certain dates—I know that Kathleen de la Peña McCook’s blogs like A Librarian at the Kitchen Table highlights various observance days that libraries can participate in.
Human Rights Day, December 10, is a perfect example with its logo this year [2006]: “Fighting Poverty: A Matter of Obligation not Charity.” Libraries can also make it a point to invite speakers and authors who address issues of poverty and in particular of race, culture, and poverty. From all angles.
The policy angles are important, but I think for many white (and even non-white) middle class people, they need to hear stories of what it’s like to be poor and black or Latino in America—they have no idea. So library book discussion groups would also be a venue for addressing these issues.
3. What are the information and library needs of poor black and Latino people?
These need to be asked, explored, and addressed. They need to be a priority for libraries.
Isabel Espinal
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On January 19, police and fire officials in St. Petersburg, Florida, dismantled a tent city inhabited by homeless people.
According to The Ledger and other media, officers reportedly destroyed many of the tents and the personal possessions left inside.
Facing litigation and public outrage at the manner in which the city acted, Mayor Rick Baker announced the availability of $150,000 to help homeless people and plans for a new shelter with 200 beds.
Outside City Hall, an advocate for the homeless said he was puzzled that no one who is homeless had a say in Baker’s plan.
“Homeless people are more than happy to sit down and share their experiences,” Eric Rubin said. “Aren’t they the best ones to know what will work?” ...
Darryl Rouson, the former president of the St. Petersburg NAACP, represents the Rev. Bruce Wright and his Refuge Ministries, as well as several homeless people who had their belongings destroyed in the police raids.
On the same day that he attended Baker’s news conference, Rouson formally notified the city that it could face a lawsuit for civil rights violations that include destroying personal property without due process.
More than a week before the raid, Mayor Baker published an op-ed that speaks to his belief that poverty is a lifestyle:
The difficult balance is to satisfy our societal and moral obligation to help those in our community who are in need and who are willing to work toward independence, but not open the door to make us a magnet for people to come from other places, or for those who simply want our taxpayers to support a lifestyle that should not be tax-subsidized.
As the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty points out, the “magnet theory” is a myth: 75% of homeless people remain in the city in which they became homeless. That said, perhaps more people would “choose” a different “lifestyle” if living wages and affordable housing were available to everyone.
A week before the raid, the St. Petersburg Times profiled some of the tent city’s residents, including a woman who escaped domestic abuse, a couple in their late-20s, a bi-polar woman on disability, and a former felon.
Watching Jessica Tennyson sweep out her tent, it’s hard to imagine she could lose anything. Slowly, meticulously, she slides the broom bristles across the lip of the dustpan. Back and forth, she strains to get every grain of sand, every sliver of grass.
But she did lose something: her Social Security disability check. Two months running the checks have failed to come, and now she says the government has put a freeze on her account until it can determine if the checks were stolen and cashed.
Want to be a part of the solution in St. Pete? Here are some organizations seeking your help:
Pinellas County Coalition for the Homeless
www.pinellashomeless.org/ez/
727-528-5763
St. Vincent de Paul
www.svdpsouthpinellas.org/donations.html
727-823-2516
Catholic Charities
www.ccdosp.org
727-893-1313
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