In Worcester, suit filed over library’s homeless policy

July 9, 2006

 

The Boston Globe 

By Michael Levenson and Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

 

WORCESTER — First the city launched a campaign to stop panhandling, urging residents to give to charities, not the people shaking cups on street corners and sidewalks. Then came a proposal for zoning restrictions to keep homeless shelters out of residential neighborhoods.

 

It was all part of Worcester’s effort to improve its image and attract new business, and none of it pleased homeless people in the state’s second largest city.

 

But when the Worcester Public Library cut the number of books homeless people could borrow to two at a time — as opposed to the 40 books other residents could check out — book lovers in the city’s shelters decided to fight back.

 

Last week, three homeless patrons of the library filed a class action lawsuit in US District Court, alleging that the policy violates their constitutional right to equal access to public services. The plaintiffs include a homeless couple whose 8-year-old daughter seeks out the latest Lemony Snicket adventures, and a woman who fled a home where she was the victim of domestic violence.

 

The lawsuit has struck a nerve in Worcester. Many residents said the policy runs counter to the library’s mission to serve less fortunate readers. Librarians across Massachusetts are also watching the lawsuit: Other public libraries, such as the ones in Springfield and Fitchburg, impose their own limits on the number of books homeless patrons can borrow.

 

“It just goes against the spirit of what our country was founded on and just goes against the spirit of libraries in general,” said Dave McMahon , who runs Dismas House, a transitional shelter in Worcester that houses 13 ex-convicts, including one man who volunteered at the city library. “They were founded as institutions to level society so everyone could have access to materials they wouldn’t otherwise have, and I worry about our library here in Worcester moving away from that.”

 

The city describes the restrictions as a practical measure to prevent the loss of library books.

 

“The policy was put in place because we’re losing items to people where we could not track them down,” said Penelope B. Johnson , the city’s head librarian. “The library has a fiduciary responsibility to make those resources available to everyone and the rules we set in place are to do that.”

 

The seeds of Worcester’s battle were sewn two years ago, when a city librarian noticed that many of the library’s missing books had been loaned to people staying in the city’s shelters. Unable to find the offenders, the librarian proposed the two-book limit to the board of trustees, which approved the policy. Johnson said she did not have data on how many books had been lost over the years to homeless patrons, but said the policy had helped curb the problem.

 

A towering structure of light yellow stone, Worcester’s library is the largest in Central Massachusetts, boasting about 120,000 card-carrying members, more than 700,000 visitors a year, and a collection of 900,000 books, videos, audiocassettes, newspapers, and magazines.

 

Several dozen members are homeless, Johnson said. Many come to cool off in the air-conditioned confines of the library. Others read in the stacks or leaf through newspapers.

 

“They have total access to the resources in the library, they can use the computers, they can use all the resources we have on the shelves, the newspapers, whatever,” Johnson said.

 

Librarians require everyone applying for a library card to show a picture ID. If the street address matches that of a city shelter, librarians impose the two-book limit.

 

“It’s certainly a rational response to a non-returned book problem,” said the city solicitor, David M. Moore.

 

But earlier this year, Suzette Lindgren and David Moyer , who live in a shelter in Worcester with their daughter, Taylor , 8, were “embarrassed” to have their living situation publicly disclosed during a library visit, according to court papers. Aided by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, Lindgren and Moyer filed suit, along with a third plaintiff, a victim of domestic violence, named Jane Doe in court papers, who lives in a city shelter.

 

On the streets and in the stacks Friday, homeless people and others expressed disdain for the two-book limit for homeless people. Sympathy for the policy was in short supply.

 

“I believe this is just another one of those things people do to get rid of homeless people,” said Lionell Thompson , a volunteer at PIP, a shelter in Worcester. “Today it may be limiting the number of books they get and tomorrow it will be not allowing them in at all.”

 

Bo Bulger , 30, a Worcester computer technician who said he checks out about a dozen books a month to use for home schooling his children, bristled at the rule.

 

“I think it’s totally ridiculous to limit someone because they’re homeless,” he said. “You see signs around the library that panhandling is not allowed. Hopefully they allow an education for the homeless.”

 

Anthony Brown , a homeless man, called the limit unfair.

 

“I come here every day to read, and sometimes I check out a book or two,” Brown said. “And I always return them.”

 

Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.