Social Work in Public Libraries: A Survey of Heads of Public Library Administrative Units

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a survey of heads of public library administrative units concerning their experiences with and perceptions of the employment of social workers. Among respondents, only six employed social workers. Among those who have not hired a social worker, fewer than half said that they were currently interested in hiring a social worker. Respondents revealed many issues that need to be considered, despite the many benefits that library administrators expect libraries to experience from adding a social worker to their staff. The top three reasons for not hiring a social worker are funding, licensure, and liability.

Keywords:

• Public libraries
• public library administration
• employment of social workers
• survey

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of the State Library in facilitating contact with library administrators.

Data availability statement

Data will not be made available. Participants were told that in addition to their responses being anonymous, all data will be destroyed within 5 years of data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).