Social Work Staff in Wisconsin Libraries – In Their Own Words

L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library in Eau Claire hired a full-time social worker in 2019—Wisconsin’s first library social worker—as part of a strategic initiative by the city. This is the information they shared with us about their position and experience as a library social worker. Response dated June 2022.

Learn more about social work at L.E. Phillips on their website.

What is your library?

L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library – Eau Claire

What is your title?

Community Resource Specialist

How long have you been in your current position?

3+ years

Please describe your educational background or training

Bachelor of Social Work, Master of Social Work – Mental Health Emphasis

Is your position full or part-time? If part-time, how many hours/week are you scheduled?

Full Time

Please describe your main responsibilities.

Meeting with clients who need community resource referrals and warm handoffs to those referrals, i.e. calling other providers with client to set up appointments or inquire about services, work with client while they complete applications for resources over the phone or computer, etc. Help inform staff of best practices when addressing behaviors and conflict in the library, and be a resource to staff for customer engagement. Provide resources and tools for staff for their work and for the benefit of customers, i.e. provide resources and information to staff for common questions. Collaborate with community partners on common goals to address systemic issues in the community that are creating barriers for clients.

What are you hoping your role will do in your library and your community?

Break down barriers to accessing resources and provide a low barrier solution to resource access. Overall, hopefully, shorten the length of time that it takes for people to get to the services they need to find stability or answers.

How do you make decisions when interacting with a patron exhibiting psycho-social needs in the library?

All clients have varying psycho-social needs. From anxiety to depression, self-care needs, loss of people or relationships, loneliness, etc. There is some kind of a deficit that caused this individual to need my services or to walk into the library. I treat each person as an individual, with a different background and needs. I’m curious. I listen to their words, body language, energy, and emotions that they exhibit. I work to be as consistent as possible for customers so that they know what to expect around me. For higher SPMI concerns I keep space, and keep calm and quiet and attempt to use mirroring to my advantage. I will often ask people if they would like to talk in my office or outside. For many clients, a quick walk is what they need to re-regulate.

What resources do you rely on to support your work?

My incredible library coworkers. They are the eyes and ears, helping to provide referrals and bridge the gap for clients to get to my services. I have built connections with various housing, food, clothing, job, etc. agencies in my community so they are familiar with my services and how we can work together. Through that I find and learn about various community resources and we share information, resource sheets, paperwork, etc. to help clients. I work closely with the city to inform them of barriers in the city, I have been able to help support the start-up of programs through this partnership such as obtaining free bus passes for individuals experiencing homelessness. Connections are my primary resource. For physical resources: lots of paper—housing packets and resource sheets primarily, I give out backpacks, water bottles, hand warmers, socks, hygiene kits, and more.

Were there pre-existing protocols or documentation the library had in practice for handling psycho-social community needs prior to your hire?

The library has had an Appropriate Library Behavior Policy that I modified and a banning procedure that I am working on modifying with a team of library staff. Library staff went through a Mental Health First Aid training that assisted in helping some individuals in crisis, but library staff still were dependent upon contacting the police for high needs situations. Library staff knew of some resources and attempted to provide resources for people by providing a few resource referrals to customers such as the local homeless shelter, legal clinic, and food pantries.

Do you staff a public service desk? If yes, how many hours on average per week?

No

Have you established protocols for other librarians on duty to follow, particularly when you are not on the desk?

Yes, I have a schedule posted when I am in the office, and staff know how to get clients to connect with me for when I am back or how to schedule an appointment. I have developed resource sheets for urgent needs for when I am away with an encouragement to follow up for further assistance. I have worked with staff to help build comfort and understanding on how to handle behavioral needs such as intoxication or routine behavioral concerns with particular customers. I have been slowly working through our policies and procedures in order to provide suggestions and changes that could be made to be more inclusive and trauma informed.

Do you assist with staff training, if so how often?

Yes, maybe 6 times a year or more, everything from one on one, small groups, to all staff.

Please describe the reporting or documentation protocols you follow when handling a patron interaction. What pieces of information are you tracking (demographics, referral sources, etc)?

At this time I only log date of contact, time of contact, and what I worked with a client on generically (i.e. housing, food, motivational interviewing, etc.) and if they are a return or new client. I do not track names, demographics, personal information, etc. I have run brief tracking periods in order to track some demographics or housing status over a brief period of time, but that is the extent to which I have logged that information in order to better inform my overall work.

Please estimate the percentage of interactions you have with patrons that are first-time, and what percentage are repeat customers?

20% first time

What are you measuring to indicate success?

Success is per person and cannot be measured by me. True success would be my program not needing to exist, but it does. I look for overall maintaining routine contacts, I see clients no longer coming back as a success, but it is also a success when they come back for new needs to be met. This is why I track a lot of “success” stories and customer comments to help aid in interpreting the data that I collect.

What community partnerships are most valuable to you as a library social worker? How do cultivate those partnerships?

In my community the primary issue is around housing, roughly 60% of the people I work with are unhoused, and out of the 40% that are housed many are talking to me because they are at risk of losing housing. I connect at least monthly if not more often with a local housing action team. Intermittently I connect with other various action teams just to create and maintain partnerships in the areas of mental health, adult protective services, jail reentry, healthcare, etc.

On a scale of 1 through 5, where 1 is Disagree Strongly and 5 is Agree Strongly, please indicate your level of agreement with this sentence: “Our community has adequate resources for community members with psycho-social or other social service needs.”

2 – Disagree

From the following list, what are the top 3-5 needs or populations you are seeing presented in the library?

List: Unhoused or unsheltered needs; Food insecurity; Mental health needs; Job seekers; Aging population; Drug/substance abuse; Other

Unhoused or unsheltered needs, Mental health needs, Drug/substance abuse

If you would like, you can expand on your responses to the previous two questions here.

There are so many programs that need developing, but we have a serious housing crisis in our area. Very limited affordable housing, and difficult to find income to match that. That with mental health, substance use, and criminal background history can create massive barriers and all of these issues are so interconnected. As an indicator, most people wait 2-4 months for an initial mental health appointment, and an additional 2-4 months to begin scheduling routine appointments after that. This creates huge barriers for those in crisis and for those that struggle to maintain appointments due to their mental health needs.

What advice might you give a library that is considering hiring a social worker?

Every community is unique! There are so many options from hosting social service agencies at the library, starting a food pantry, having a student assess and provide services, part time to full time, to sharing between libraries or within a system. It is very attainable in some capacity, it just depends what you need in your community. You might think that your library does not have needs but it does. Maybe there needs to be aging as a focus, many multicultural needs, or families, every library is different, and so can a social work/social service focus for your library.

If a library is unable to hire a social worker, what are the top skills or qualities you would recommend a library staff member possess in order to handle psycho-social needs in the library?

I would recommend partnering with a local university for training and assessments for the library on areas of growth for all staff. One person cannot do it all. Everyone can benefit in learning crisis management/de-escalation, trauma-informed service delivery, and more. It is hard to shift away from some of the black and white thinking and introduce more empathy and flexibility into our work, but it can be done!

Is there anything we didn’t ask that you’d like to share?

Please reach out if you have any more questions!

La Crosse Public Library hired a full-time social worker in Spring 2022 as part of their CLC ARPA Grant Local Project. This is the information they shared with us about their position and experience as a library social worker. Response dated June 2022.

What is your library?

La Crosse Public Library

What is your title?

Community Resource Specialist

How long have you been in your current position?

5 weeks

Please describe your educational background or training

Bachelors of Science in Social Work

Is your position full or part-time? If part-time, how many hours/week are you scheduled?

Full time – 40 hours

Please describe your main responsibilities.

Provide resources, support to Library patrons

What are you hoping your role will do in your library and your community?

Connect patrons with community resources, collaborate with local agencies that serve them as well.

How do you make decisions when interacting with a patron exhibiting psycho-social needs in the library?

It’s based on their needs they are expressing and learning about their needs by building rapport

What resources do you rely on to support your work?

Local agencies, library staff

Were there pre-existing protocols or documentation the library had in practice for handling psycho-social community needs prior to your hire?

Yes

Do you staff a public service desk? If yes, how many hours on average per week?

At this time, I have staffed the reference desk for two hours with a trainer.

Have you established protocols for other librarians on duty to follow, particularly when you are not on the desk?

This is a new position and I am working on building this

Do you assist with staff training, if so how often?

Not at this time.

Please describe the reporting or documentation protocols you follow when handling a patron interaction. What pieces of information are you tracking (demographics, referral sources, etc)?

We use a generic tracking tool with no identifying information at our desks. I do not have one at this time.

Please estimate the percentage of interactions you have with patrons that are first-time, and what percentage are repeat customers?

70% and 30%

What are you measuring to indicate success?

If the person was provided the resources/information they were seeking help with

What community partnerships are most valuable to you as a library social worker? How do cultivate those partnerships?

The local housing shelter, a resource center for homeless individuals, our Aging and Disability Resource Center. We share information, do site visits, collaborate when opportunities arise.

On a scale of 1 through 5, where 1 is Disagree Strongly and 5 is Agree Strongly, please indicate your level of agreement with this sentence: “Our community has adequate resources for community members with psycho-social or other social service needs.”

3 – Neither Agree nor Disagree

From the following list, what are the top 3-5 needs or populations you are seeing presented in the library?

List: Unhoused or unsheltered needs; Food insecurity; Mental health needs; Job seekers; Aging population; Drug/substance abuse; Other

Unhoused or unsheltered needs, Food insecurity, Mental health needs, Job seekers, Aging population

If you would like, you can expand on your responses to the previous two questions here.

What advice might you give a library that is considering hiring a social worker?

If a library is unable to hire a social worker, what are the top skills or qualities you would recommend a library staff member possess in order to handle psycho-social needs in the library?

Ability to meet people where they are. Be informed about trauma, cultural competency.

Is there anything we didn’t ask that you’d like to share?

Racine Public Library hired a full-time social worker in Fall 2021. This is the information they shared with us about their position and experience as a library social worker. Response dated June 2022.

What is your library?

Racine Public Library

What is your title?

Library Social Worker

How long have you been in your current position?

9 months

Please describe your educational background or training

[Social Worker’s name], MSW, (she/her) is a Library Social Worker at the Racine Public Library (RPL). She is a first-generation college graduate who earned her B.A. from Carthage College in 2019 and a Master in Social Work from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2021. Prior to RPL, she worked as a Bilingual Service Coordinator for a Birth to Three Agency. Her volunteer and internship experiences include homeless shelters, food and clothing pantries, an in-patient psychiatric hospital for adolescents, a residential addiction treatment center and a family and aging center, amongst many others. This wide variety of experiences confirmed her interest in true generalist social work practice. Being the first full time social worker on staff at RPL has allowed her to hone in on her passion for creating an inclusive space for all, while navigating the unique challenges of library social work.

Is your position full or part-time? If part-time, how many hours/week are you scheduled?

Full time

Please describe your main responsibilities.

• Identify and engages with individuals who may benefit from social service support through outreach, direct observation, or referral by Library staff.
• Provide short-term case management for individuals who would benefit from case management services
• Provides current and relevant information, support, referrals, and assistance to individuals experiencing mental health issues, substance abuse, unstable housing, exclusion issues, trauma, or other life challenges
• Connect and builds collaborative relationships with community organizations
• Oversee the Sensory Room Space
• Participate in Team Leadership Meetings by prepare reports on services provided, including statistics, outcomes, and impacts, as well as other updates.
• Assist Library Administration in modifying appropriate Library policies and procedures; develops policies and procedures around issues related to social work
• Oversee social work interns by providing weekly supervision and direction

What are you hoping your role will do in your library and your community?

My hope is that this role provides a resource for anyone in the community who needs it. Having a social worker in the library not only de-stigmatizes social services, but it also helps bridge a gap of staff who are not necessarily trained to offer social services or mental health support to individuals coming to the library in need of it.

How do you make decisions when interacting with a patron exhibiting psycho-social needs in the library?

I assess what their needs are by listening to what the patron is asking for and asking the appropriate questions to gauge where they are at. Most often, patrons come to me with a specific need and when they communicate that with me, I offer resources that could be helpful depending on their situation. In difficult or more in-depth situations, I will confer with the Leadership Team to discuss best next steps (for example, the banning of patrons).

What resources do you rely on to support your work?

I rely on the leadership team for support, as well as all other staff. By collaborating together we can make the most impact—whether that be staff referring patrons to make an appointment with me when they are unable to meet their psychosocial needs, or for me to work with staff to create meaningful programming or run our sensory room. I also heavily rely on support from other agencies in the community. Early on I met with many agencies not only to be aware of the resources available in the community, but to build relationships with them as well and open the door for the possibility of collaborating in the future to create programs here at the library.

Were there pre-existing protocols or documentation the library had in practice for handling psycho-social community needs prior to your hire?

There were not pre-existing protocols or documentation the library had in practice for handling pyscho-social community needs prior to my hiring.

Do you staff a public service desk? If yes, how many hours on average per week?

I do not staff a public service desk. I hold drop in hours twice a week, but am still available by appointment Monday-Friday 9a-4p (with the exception of Wednesdays, which I am available 1p-7p).

Have you established protocols for other librarians on duty to follow, particularly when you are not on the desk?

Yes, as far as patrons requesting an appointment with me when I am not in the office, staff know to have them fill out an appointment request form that I made, and they leave that form on my door for me to reach out to patrons.

Do you assist with staff training, if so how often?

So far I have not, but I just recently became a Certified Instructor through the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI), and I, along with two colleagues, will be providing training to all staff around Verbal Intervention practices to de-escalate situations.

Please describe the reporting or documentation protocols you follow when handling a patron interaction. What pieces of information are you tracking (demographics, referral sources, etc)?

I created an Excel sheet to track patron interactions. I track the date of the interaction, nature of the concern, brief summary/details of interaction, whether the interaction was a walk-in, staff referral or appointment, language of the interaction (Spanish or English), whether it is an initial interaction with a new patron or a repeat patron, and I just recently started tracking municipality. Due to privacy and confidentiality concerns, I do not track names or any other identifying information on this excel sheet, and only do so in my private notes to keep track of contact information.

Please estimate the percentage of interactions you have with patrons that are first-time, and what percentage are repeat customers?

In a month, my estimate is an even split 50% interactions with first-time patrons and 50% repeat.

What are you measuring to indicate success?

Number of patron interactions and overall successful referrals. There are many moving parts to my role since I am building it as I go, and other indicators of success include but are not limited to—the use of the Sensory Room that I created, successful policy revisions, staff surveys, etc.

What community partnerships are most valuable to you as a library social worker? How do cultivate those partnerships?

Every agency/organization I have met with since I have started my role has been crucial to my role and beneficial to the patrons that I refer to them. To list a few, some of the most important partnerships include the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), which I have collaborated with to do programming at the library, education and resources information, and even crisis prevention training for staff. The American Heart Association has also been a valuable partnership in that they provided education/training to staff about Blood Pressure, and also provided direction and support for the library to be able to offer Blood Pressure Monitors available for patrons to check out. Cultivating these partnerships took time and a lot of effort, but simply reaching out and expressing shared values and goals goes a long way.

On a scale of 1 through 5, where 1 is Disagree Strongly and 5 is Agree Strongly, please indicate your level of agreement with this sentence: “Our community has adequate resources for community members with psycho-social or other social service needs.”

3 – Neither Agree nor Disagree

From the following list, what are the top 3-5 needs or populations you are seeing presented in the library?

List: Unhoused or unsheltered needs; Food insecurity; Mental health needs; Job seekers; Aging population; Drug/substance abuse; Other

Unhoused or unsheltered needs, Mental health needs, Job seekers

If you would like, you can expand on your responses to the previous two questions here.

Although there is a myriad of amazing and meaningful resources in the community, I have been finding that oftentimes there are not enough resources to meet the needs of the community. Specifically when it comes to financial resources and affordable housing. There are a number of times that I have referred patrons out to an agency, who refers them to another agency, who then refers them back to me so it often becomes a cycle of a lack of resources available. There are resources that are incredibly beneficial to community members, but sometimes I find that there are not enough resources when it comes to financial assistance and housing for the unhoused or those living in poverty.

What advice might you give a library that is considering hiring a social worker?

Do it!! A Library Social Worker will work directly with individuals needing social service assistance by providing information, support, and referrals to appropriate organizations; serving as a resource for Library staff and modeling effective techniques for working with at-risk or potentially at-risk individuals; working with youth and teens to provide inclusive and engaging programs and activities and much more. Having this support is incredibly helpful to the staff, and beneficial to the community. I truly do feel and see the impact every day that this role is making here at the library and community as a whole.

If a library is unable to hire a social worker, what are the top skills or qualities you would recommend a library staff member possess in order to handle psycho-social needs in the library?

Interpersonal skills and the ability to actively listen. Other skills or qualities include being able to problem solve, assess clients and their needs, ability to work with other organizations and staff, reads professional literature and maintains working knowledge of latest trends in the field of library social work. I also think that the ability to advocate for individuals is important, along with compassion.

Is there anything we didn’t ask that you’d like to share?

Not necessarily, but if there is any other information needed please feel free to contact me!

Superior Public Library hired a part-time Social Work Intern through UW-Superior in January of 2022. This is the information they shared with us about their position and experience as a library social worker. Response dated June 2022.

What is your library?

Superior Public Library

What is your title?

Social Work Intern

How long have you been in your current position?

Since January 2022 [5 months]

Please describe your educational background or training

I will be graduating from UW-Superior in August of 2022 with my bachelor’s in social work. I also have my associate degree in Gerontology.

Is your position full or part-time? If part-time, how many hours/week are you scheduled?

I am part-time, 18-20 hours per week

Please describe your main responsibilities.

My main responsibilities are to start connecting the library with resources in the community, research, and start creating a resource guide and resource bulletin board.

What are you hoping your role will do in your library and your community?

I’m hoping that my role in the library will build better connections for the library to community resources, the staff will be better informed about resources, that my projects will be sustainable, and the patrons will be able to find resources either through the staff or through information posted.

How do you make decisions when interacting with a patron exhibiting psycho-social needs in the library?

I haven’t had to make decisions with patrons exhibiting psycho-social needs.

What resources do you rely on to support your work?

Other staff members, community members, online resource guides, our policies, articles/books on social work in the library, presentations from prior classes

Were there pre-existing protocols or documentation the library had in practice for handling psycho-social community needs prior to your hire?

I don’t think there are protocols the library had in place for handling psycho-social community needs. Staff just takes it as it comes and tries to handle it the best they can. If it’s out of their comfort level, they usually hand it off to a manager.

Do you staff a public service desk? If yes, how many hours on average per week?

No, but I do help fill in desk shifts a few hours per week

Have you established protocols for other librarians on duty to follow, particularly when you are not on the desk?

No, I have not.

Do you assist with staff training, if so how often?

I do assist with staff training whenever there is training available

Please describe the reporting or documentation protocols you follow when handling a patron interaction. What pieces of information are you tracking (demographics, referral sources, etc)?

I do not report/document patron interaction because I don’t have office hours.

Please estimate the percentage of interactions you have with patrons that are first-time, and what percentage are repeat customers?

I would say that most interactions are first-time.

What are you measuring to indicate success?

If resources are given out/used, that means it’s useful. This to me is successful with my projects.

What community partnerships are most valuable to you as a library social worker? How do cultivate those partnerships?

The homeless shelters, mental health groups, older adult organizations. We are cultivating those partnerships by staying in touch, providing them advertisement, learning about their services, and much more. We want to continue building support in our community.

On a scale of 1 through 5, where 1 is Disagree Strongly and 5 is Agree Strongly, please indicate your level of agreement with this sentence: “Our community has adequate resources for community members with psycho-social or other social service needs.”

3 – Neither Agree nor Disagree

From the following list, what are the top 3-5 needs or populations you are seeing presented in the library?

List: Unhoused or unsheltered needs; Food insecurity; Mental health needs; Job seekers; Aging population; Drug/substance abuse; Other

Unhoused or unsheltered needs, Mental health needs, Drug/substance abuse

If you would like, you can expand on your responses to the previous two questions here.

There are many resources in our community, but I believe that people don’t know how to access them or are too embarrassed to ask for them. If we can shed more light onto the resources that help the populations I’ve shared above, I do believe there will be some change for the patrons.

What advice might you give a library that is considering hiring a social worker?

Make sure your staff knows that librarians aren’t social workers and that we’re not asking you to be. Buy-in is so important for changes like this. Also, have some sort of plan, no matter how broad it is. It can be overwhelming if the library doesn’t know what it wants.

If a library is unable to hire a social worker, what are the top skills or qualities you would recommend a library staff member possess in order to handle psycho-social needs in the library?

Some qualities would be empathetic, good communication skills, and a problem-solver. I would also recommend more training on trauma-informed care training and to watch Ryan Dowd’s trainings.

Is there anything we didn’t ask that you’d like to share?

No, thank you