Policing with policy: An analysis of the impact of public library behavior policies on unhoused patrons

This paper considers public policy and public library policy development and implementation by examining their impact on library services for unhoused people. Drawing on scholarship in librarianship, social work, public policy, and sociology, this analysis examines how public policy decisions impact how unhoused people are treated in community spaces including public libraries. It also traces public policy to criminalization and exclusion of unhoused people in communities. Finally, the paper examines 68 public library behavior policies using a thematic analysis to identify patterns that address how policies are framed, whether they contain expectations from the library to the community, the types and description of consequences for behavior infractions, and whether these policies and their enforcement differentially impacted and exclude unhoused people from accessing library services. Recommendations include involving unhoused people in library policy development, identifying approaches to policy enforcement that are transparent and accountable, and finding alternatives to contacting police or security in the event of conduct violations. This article calls on public libraries to revise exclusionary policies and reimagine their role in public space governance by critically examining library behavior policies and their impact on marginalized patrons, particularly unhoused people.