Posted June 23, 2006. Indiana Board Restores Homeless Patrons' Privileges

Indiana Board Restores Homeless Patrons' Privileges

The board of the Porter County (Ind.) Public Library voted unanimously June 21 to rescind a month-old policy that had limited borrowing privileges for residents of any of the area’s shelters for people who are homeless. The discarded policy had restricted adults at the shelters to receiving library cards that had to be renewed every three months and limited their borrowing privileges to three items at a time. Homeless patrons younger than 18 were barred from checking out any materials.

“Yes, we did jump and made conclusions,” board President Scott Falk said, according to the June 22 Gary Post-Tribune. Since 2001, PCPL has been unable to recover some $4,000 worth of items checked out to shelter residents who subsequently moved without leaving contact information. Assistant Director James Cline, in turn, apologized to shelter representatives at the meeting for not consulting with them first.

Trustees have formed a committee comprised of board members, library staff, and shelter representatives to work out a new policy, according to the June 22 Chesterton Tribune. In the meantime, the shelters will require residents seeking a library privileges to sign a waiver allowing the shelter to disclose their forwarding address.

“I’m not surprised that in the end, the agencies that serve Porter County want to work together,” said Spring Valley Shelter Program Director Tom Isakson. He also noted that the waivers were important to shelter officials “to help our clients use the library responsibly.”

Posted June 23, 2006.