Who do you mean by everyone?

Walking into a public library is like walking into a store with a sign that says – “Everything Free!!”  “We have stuff…FREE!” “Borrow anything you see, FREE!”  How could I forget this amazing fact?  As I strolled up and down the fiction aisles of my local public library, glancing hungrily over all the unknown authors and titles, I was reminded both physically and viscerally - everything is free.  My mind tuned out everything else except the quest for the perfect book and I moved as slowly as possible through the aisles, trying to take in every book on every shelf.  The 10 minutes I’d planned to spend looking turned into an hour, and at the end of that hour I had to force myself to check out only five books, not the nine or ten in my arms. 

Before I went to the fiction section, I’d stopped at the circulation desk to ask about using the library’s online resources.  In my experience, this usually means signing up somewhere for a limited time slot on the library’s busy but limited number of computers.  Most importantly – prove you’re a red-blooded, American library cardholder at said library.  To my surprise, the woman behind the counter led me over to a computer (one of a handful) and showed me I only had to click on the “sign on” button and I’d have access to the Internet and the library’s online resources.  Yes, there was a time limit of an hour to the session, but she reassured me I could keep clicking “sign on” until I was done. 

No patron id needed?  No sign in sheet?  No proof I actually lived in this town and therefore am able to use these services?  This kind of freedom of access has grown rare these days.  It may be a generalization but it also has truth - these policies are mostly about the town's homeless population.  These policies seem to discriminate against the homeless.  I have always questioned policies with this approach because as I started off this blog by saying - free! equal! access!  These truths I've known since I got my first library card.  These truths seem made to welcome and build up the homeless poputlation, the marginalized, the downtrodden, not bar their way in.  

Many times when I was younger and more transient, the first thing I would do in any new city or town would be to go get a library card.  How else would I have movies to watch?  Books to read?  I'd go to the library, hoping my mail and id would be all I need to get that golden ticket to free entertainment.  Eventually I would have the right documents, but even then I wondered, if it was that hard for me, how hard would it be for someone more transient?  Maybe even homeless?  Someone with a mental health issue, maybe untreated?  How would they navigate the process, have the documents, and converse with the gatekeeper aka the librarian?  When I did some brief internet research (and I mean brief, this is not a valid study sample or data report, may do that later!),  I found even guest access to computers or sources require a photo id.  For pillars of equal access, these practices seem antiquated and outmoded for the current culture and the current brand libraries are promoting - equal access to information and resources for all...Ok, maybe not everyone.   

Oddly enough, this ties into a recent episode of What Would You Do? that I saw at my mom's house.   The show was in Portland and they were focusing on how people would treat a homeless person in a restaurant and someone trying to steal a bike. Watching how differently people reacted, observed, or commented on the situations was a fascinating sociological experiment.  For the bike thief, color and sex did matter.  It was shocking how quick to snap a picture, or to catch a video Portlandiers were if it was a man of color.  For the homeless man, people were less likely to speak up in his defense if they hadn't had similar experiences or known someone homeless.  All the while, each Portlandier would say how everyone in Portland cares about everyone, cares about the place, and they all just want everyone to feel safe.  Sometimes we don't realize our definition of 'everyone' is pretty specific to us as individuals.  

As a high school librarian, I have it easier than public librarians.  I do not deal with many unknown patrons, let alone ones who are struggling with an untreated mental illness, homeless, drunk, aggressive, verbally abusive, or insert other behavior here.  I guess I have to wonder if I was a public librarian, would I be as open and supportive of all my patrons as I hope I would be?   When no one is watching, would I live my principles?  Do the right thing?  I don't know.  What I do know and what I can do now is - review my school's policies. Try to be reflective and aware to learn about my beliefs, to then see how they could be influencing my professional life and decision making.  I can ask the librarians at the public library about their policies.  Read them, review them, ask more questions.  It's time I go beyond simply realizing my privlege.  I need to examine my privilege when I encounter it, see if there are ways to spread it, share it, and if it intentionally or unintentionally leaves anyone out.  These are things I can do.