School Updates
Library Social Work
Fellowship Offers Students Unique Opportunity for Community-based Training
Since 2019, the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work has partnered with the Allegheny County Library Association (ACLA) to offer qualified Master of Social Work (MSW) students the opportunity to work in local libraries. The Library Social Work Fellowship is on trend with growing recognition that librarians and social workers share common interests in connecting individuals to services, programs, and resources that benefit the individual and ultimately enrich the entire community.
As Tracy Soska, University of Pittsburgh emeritus clinical associate professor of social work and former Community, Organization, and Social Action (COSA) program director, notes, “The public library systems and the discipline of social work share a common history, both originating in the Progressive Era of social and political reform.”
Research shows that Americans still appreciate the value of their public libraries. A 2013 Pew Research Center study found that 67% of Americans felt a public library closing would directly affect their family, and 90% felt that such a closing would adversely affect their community. Through the dedicated work of Soska and his library and foundation colleagues, the school fellowship offers 12 Pitt Social Work MSW students a generous stipend and invaluable experience in a growing and vital practice area for social workers.
ACLA brings together a total of 46 public libraries delivering services in more than 70 locations in the region, including 19 locations of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, under the tagline “Connecting Communities.” While each library remains independent, the association expands the resources of local libraries beyond what they could accomplish individually. Kelci Degnian, who was the projects and partnerships manager at the time at ACLA, notes that Soska’s membership on the board then was crucial to getting the Pitt Library Social Work Fellowship off the ground. She also notes that bringing social work to libraries aligns with the public perception of them as being safe spaces: “Libraries are trusted places, and library staff are trusted faces. At Brentwood Library, seniors can pick up their books and a box of food, so the experience is less stigmatizing than visiting the food bank.”
Brentwood Library, a member of ACLA, served as the pilot site for the Pitt Library Social Work Fellowship in October 2019. Despite people’s needing a variety of extra resources during the pandemic, library director Dennis Luther sees the library fellowship as a strong and growing resource and says he wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes standard to have a social worker in the library. He says that before the fellowship started, he relied on Soska’s social work expertise when he ran out of answers for some library patrons: “I used to think we needed a security guard, but then I realized we need a social worker.”
MSW student Kelly King (BASW ’19) is doing her fellowship placement at the Millvale Community Library. The Millvale library offers a variety of community-oriented programs every month of the year: tool sales, sewing classes, digital media workshops, cooking classes, gardening workshops, and many others. It also offers a space for the local state representative to hold office hours. In addition, the library has pioneered a “free fridge” accessible from the street, working with 412 Food Rescue to supply perishable food items and prepared meals to anyone who needs them, with no questions asked and no judgment.
As the library’s fellow, King finds great satisfaction in being able to connect people with the many community organizations that offer what they need, from English as a second language classes to free furniture to after-school activities for children. Responding to client needs requires listening closely, problem solving, creative thinking, and a deep knowledge of what resources are available and right for the situation. King is specializing in COSA for her social work degree. She notes, “As a community social worker, we don’t want to come into a neighborhood or other area and tell them what we think they need. This is all about listening and responding to what needs and resources are already there or creating something new that they actually want. The important part is to make the connections for people and be a face and a place that is welcoming and warm.”
Annie Rummell is a full-time MSW COSA student doing her library fellowship at the Carnegie Free Library of Swissvale. One of 19 libraries that Andrew Carnegie built in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, this library has served local residents for more than 100 years. Although Rummell started her academic career with a BA in accounting, she has always had a strong interest in social justice, and she notes that libraries are “one of the last free resources to the community with no barrier to entry.” At her fellowship, she describes helping patrons to access food, find help paying utility bills, and locate affordable housing.
Mary Phan-Gruber, former CEO of the Jefferson Regional Foundation and a social worker and adjunct instructor in the school, notes that the Pitt Library Social Work Fellowship grew out of a project begun in 2013 that conducted community assessments to discover how libraries could better connect with the community. These assessments asked key questions, such as “What is happening outside the library walls?” and “Who in the community is the library not connecting with but should be?” In response to what they learned, the libraries expanded their programming to specifically address those perceived gaps and explored the possibility of bringing a social worker on staff, which led to the development of the Pitt Library Social Work Fellowship. From that time, the fellowship has been carefully implemented and supported with on-site supervisors and an ongoing evaluation process of what works well and what can be improved.
Soska notes, “This exciting partnership between social work and libraries evolves from common community needs that align with both professions. Libraries serve as civic hubs that are essential connectors of information, education, and resources.” Libraries remain one of the few places in a community where people can gather to access valuable resources without having to purchase something first. Libraries, as public and civic institutions, and social work, as a professional discipline, share a strengths-based perspective in assisting members of the community. Patrons in libraries and clients in social work are seen not as victims but rather as resourceful and resilient agents of change—proactively seeking information and services that can help them to navigate adverse situations.