Urban Ministries Library Fieldtrip

Dentistry Library: Stacks
Originally uploaded by rosefirerising

I followed through with my idea for a library field trip with the Urban Ministries folks. My purpose for the fieldtrip was to connect homeless patrons with library services and employees that could help them find a job, a place to live, brush up on their computer skills, and to find that perfect book to read. It was a great success with a larger number of folks coming from Urban Ministries than I thought. At one point we had 14 people, and I was seriously expecting maybe 5 or 6. What a pleasant surprise!

Here is my formula for a successful fieldtrip:
1. Contact everyone within the library. I mean everyone. I contacted the heads of security, circulation, reference, and Virtual Village asking if they would like to participate in the fieldtrip and discuss their areas, and cc’d every library manager I could think of. I did not want to leave anyone out and I wanted staff to well-informed about this endeavor. I am fortunate to have very supportive colleagues and was met with an enthusiastic response.
2. Ask the patrons what areas they are interested in learning more about and then have a solid schedule for them. I put just as much effort planning the Urban Ministry fieldtrip as I did planning for my high-end book clubs. After making sure all the staff was on-board, I emailed everyone at PLCMC and Urban Ministries a schedule. On the day of the fieldtrip, I had a well rounded visit planned out for the patrons, showcasing areas like Virtual Village and reference. Something for everyone.
3. Have food. It unites people.
4. Make it a monthly occurrence. Or a quarterly occurrence, or a seasonal occurrence, but if possible try to offer again. It builds a great rapport with the community and the patrons did learn about library services that they were not aware of before.
5. Send thank you’s to the library staff. You can never say thank you enough.


Part of my motivation for the fieldtrip was to attempt to improve relations between the library and homeless patrons. Sometimes the homeless patrons feel intimidated by library staff; sometimes library staff feels intimidated by the homeless patrons. On the flip side, there does not seem to be a lot of friendly communication between the two groups. I’m sure that most library systems (and homeless patrons) can relate. Hopefully, these fieldtrip will remedy that.
After the fieldtrip one of the Urban Ministry patrons told me, “Well, now that I’ve met you all, you all seem like real people to me.”
That’s a very interesting and powerful thought, the concept of what makes one person real to another. Is it when we talk to someone? Is it when we have positive interactions? Or is it as simple as when we say hello? Food for thought.
Urban Ministries has expressed an interest in making another trip, and the library staff told me they will support it. Go team, go. Let’s become real to some people.