Whole Person Librarianship draws from social work concepts to help librarians support patrons with diverse needs. The approach sees the parallel between the work of librarians and social workers and explores how we can best work together. One of the primary tenets of social work is that each person is an expert on his or her own life. Another is that each person should be viewed in the context of his or her full existence because we are all inseparable from the systems in which we live. Together, these tenets from the base of serving the “whole person” – thus, librarianship informed by this principle becomes “whole person librarianship.”

 

In libraries, social workers provide a direct response to the needs of patrons experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity who seek shelter in urban libraries, often because they have no other safe, freely accessible place to go during the day. However, the benefits of collaborative work between librarians and social workers extend to all patrons. Libraries provide an ideal point of access for social-service providers to reach clients who may not know the full spectrum of services available to them. Social workers have access to case files and confidential information that aren’t available to librarians, giving them context for managing patron crises and the ability to make more appropriate referrals than frontline staff.

There are a number of ways libraries can make practical and theoretical connections that lead to growth in our ability to serve patrons without asking that we take on the burden of acting as social-service providers ourselves:

 

1. Host representatives from social service agencies in your library.

2. Seek out social work interns for specialized projects.

3. Listen and respond to your patrons from a place of empathy.

4. Educate yourself towards social justice.

 

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