About Dr. Maestas

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Public Library and the Homeless: Part 2

I love to read.  Now that I have more time I am reading what I enjoy, that is, murder novels.  I have read all of David Baldacci’s novels except his last two releases, Memory Man and The Keeper, published in later 2014 and 2015.  I have also read all of Dan Brown’s and Tony Hillerman’s novels.  I am now finishing up reading all of James Patterson’s novels except for the Maximum Ride series which are not murder novels, but rather novels for children and younger adults.  I have read two books in this series, and I am not fond of them. 

Several months ago, I wrote about my love for reading murder mystery novels.  As a part of that story, I told about obtaining a public library card at my local municipal library.  The library card was free and so is the access to their vast array of books.  It beats spending $7.99 to $29.99 per novel for paperbacks or hardbacks.

Libraries are cool!  Having worked in universities all of my live, I am accustomed to large academic libraries with an amazing collection of books, magazines and journals.  And I have used university libraries all of my life.  They are amazing places. One can find any and every book or periodical you can imagine.  And if they don’t have it they have an inter-library loan system and can get you anything within a short period of time. 
   
As part of my story I told you about when I entered the main entrance of the library, the first thing I noticed was a security guard right at the door. I thought nothing of it since I assumed that libraries, like any other businesses, have their share of theft and other problems that would require security.  After obtaining a library card I was very excited about checking out my first book. 

I also mentioned that it was my first library card since probably my college days in the 1990’s when I studied for my doctorate.  What I failed to mention was it was actually my very first public library card.  I had never had a public library card.  Since I had gone to college right out of high school, I always had access to an academic library.  And since I made a career of working in universities I had access to an academic library. So there was never a need to acquire access to a public municipal library.

As I recounted in my first story, I immediately went to the electronic card catalog to search for James Patterson novels.  As I walked across the library, I was surprised to see the large number of what seemed to be homeless people.  As I previously indicated, I expected to see your average Americans; students, mothers with their children, and people like me checking out books and using the other free library services.  I also saw a large number of people, some of them homeless, using the public computers.  Where else but in public libraries do you have free access to computers and the Internet. 

In my first story, I described how I was surprised emotionally to see some many homeless people in the public library.  However, having spent almost all of my entire career in public higher education, intellectually I should not have been surprised about the homeless using the library.  I was used to seeing lots of homelessness in universities, especially in urban areas where there are plenty of homeless people and a number of public universities.  It was not unusual to see a homeless person in the bathroom of the student union getting cleaned up. It was not unusual to see homeless people in the university library especially in the winter.  I was also used to seeing homeless people panhandling on a campus as students tend to be idealistic and generous.

I related how surprised I was to see so many homeless people in the public library.  I can’t believe that I was being such an intellectual snob.  But I was more surprised at my initial instinct of not wanting to return to that library.  How could I be such an intellectual snob given my humble beginnings?  I had to adjust my view of what is the typical clientele of a public municipal library.  And I did as I tossed out my intellectual snobbishness. 

I also stated that on that same day, I was going to one of the local branches of the same public library.  As I entered the branch public library, much to my surprise, I saw very few homeless people at this branch. Most of the people in this branch of the public library were children and their mothers and regular working class people.  I also saw and still see many older adults, the white hair generation, since I continue to frequent this particular branch of the public library.

I don’t want to you leave you with the perception that I have a bias toward the homeless.  I want to be clear, I am not prejudiced against homeless people.  I frequent this particular branch public library not because of the small number of homeless, but because it is closer to where I live and the branch public library can get for me any book at any of the other main or branch libraries within two days.  This way I don’t have to drive all over town to get my James Patterson-murder-mystery-novel fix. 

Libraries are cool, they are amazing places.  They even welcome the homeless.  But I am still waiting for some billionaire, perhaps Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, to give a billion dollars to solve our homeless problem.   However, to be honest with you, I am not holding my breath.