Abstract
A growing interprofessional collaboration between social work and library professionals has fueled the emergence of library social workers and the exploration of libraries as a setting for social work. This exciting partnership evolves from common historic roots, a strong alignment of values, and effectively addresses changing community needs that aligns with both professions. Social work and public libraries are both products of the Progressive Era along with the rise of charitable organizations and settlement houses. In examining the evolution of libraries in the wake of changing technology and patron populations, social workers are critical community allies to respond to diverse community needs. Social workers, human service providers, and funders also now see public libraries as community centers and civic hubs, as well as even settlement houses for the 21st Century. Libraries serve as civic hubs that are essential connectors of information, education, resources, and access that addresses human needs. This commentary’s aim in exploring library social worker practice encourages community-university partnerships between our public libraries and the academic programs of social work and library science that strengthen civic and community engagement. Social work practitioners and educators are encouraged to spend more time at their public libraries through interprofessional internships, class projects, applied research, and dual-degree curricular development that can prepare next generation practitioner to work and lead in these community centers.
Highlights
A growing interprofessional collaboration between social work and library professionals has fueled the emergence of library social workers and the exploration of libraries as a setting for social work
Social workers looking for an innovative career pathway and opportunities to enhance community partnerships for extended social service reach should look to interprofessional collaboration at their public libraries
This article explores the roles of the public library, and how they parallel the Progressive Era roots of social work’s settlement house legacy (Yan, 2004)
Summary
Articles and anecdotes from online sources, as well as in peer-reviewed journals in both social work and library science fields have examined this growing community collaboration between library and social work professionals using the library setting as a community and information center to underscore the importance of this partnership (Blank, 2017; Hines, 2015). Such partnership connects shared professional missions to support democracy, provide open access to resources, and work toward social justice. It is encouraging to see this interprofessional collaboration growing globally
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