Mass. Homeless sue Libraries on Loan Quotas

Library v. Homeless
The last library I worked at served a large homeless community, indeed the shelter was located two blocks up and around the corner. We had to institute a similar policy because we kept losing books to the same address, namely the address of the homeless shelter. Our overdues system was automated, it generated the overdue notices and sent them to the printer who’d mail them out. Then we’d get several back from the shelter with a handwritten note that the individual was no longer living there. 9.9 times out of 10, they picked up and left with our books.

When the same thing keeps happening and it keeps happening at the same address, a library has to do something. The taxpayers don’t want to lose public materials to a private place over and over again. And a library isn’t acting as a good steward of tax money if they allow it to happen.

As I recall, the policy and procedure that went into effect was worded to effect only the addresses of the shelters. Basically it was said that anyone living at X address and Y address would be subject to Z terms. Now then, a couple of the shelters had on site caretakers that were not homeless. They were paid to live there. But if they came in and used that address to get a card, they too would be subject to the terms.

Discriminitory? Sure it is. But at least we tried to discriminate against an address, a building, or something that really can’t scream “unequal treatment” and sue us. If someone didn’t want to abide by the terms of the policy, all they had to do was live somewhere other than the shelter. For example, there were many places around town that acted as shelters, but weren’t connected to the main shelter’s address. Two of the shelters operated several houses around town where they could have people go if the shelter was full or if they preferred something else to the main shelter. If they lived there, they could check out the normal amount of books.