Supporting Our Troops: Library Services and Support for Veterans

Abstract

Veterans are a unique population that can be found in libraries across the United States. Libraries of all types are developing new approaches to the veterans in their patron populations in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This study identifies several common strategies that libraries, especially public and academic libraries, are employing to support their patrons who are veterans, as well as distinctions in strategy according to library type. It further explores whether libraries are relying upon library staff who are veterans when developing services and programming for patrons who are veterans.

KEYWORDS:

• academic libraries
• military
• public libraries
• service members
• student veterans
• veterans

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many thanks to David Hubbard, Sean Buckner, Stephanie Graves, and Lorelei Rutledge for providing feedback on a draft of this article.