[Libs-Or] Building Community at the Library With Coffee and Conversation, by Amy Honisett, Rachael Short, and Kate Schwab, Multnomah County Library

[Charles Wood]

“As communities and individuals struggle with houselessness and housing
insecurity, library staff must adapt in order to help our patrons fulfill
needs.”  Amy Honisett, Rachael Short, and Kate Schwab report on an
innovative new program at Multnomah County Library which aims to address
these needs in their new article, “Building Community at the Library With
Coffee and Conversation.”  Please download and read their article here:

https://commons.pacificu.edu/olaq/vol23/iss4/8/



>From their article, “The program provides opportunities to talk about
behavior—both by staff and by patrons—in a way that is less hierarchical
and more open than conversations intended to correct or modify patron
behavior. Since Coffee and Conversation began, MCL enacted changes in the
library rules. We deliberately chose not to use the sessions as forums
about the rules. However, as conversations naturally arose between staff
and patrons, they provided a way for staff to discuss the background and
reasoning behind the rules and for patrons to discuss their feelings about
how the rules were explained and enforced. One patron shared that the only
time any staff person had ever spoken to them before this program was to
tell them that they were disobeying a rule. These conversations, and many
like them, are much more comfortable and convivial with a little coffee and
without any in-the-moment need for behavior modification.”


Thank you,
Charles Wood
OLA Communications
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