Eugene Public Library prioritizes inclusive community

By Claire Conger

December 2024

EUGENE, Ore. — Inside the Eugene Public Library, a man sifts through the non-fiction stacks, a young woman hunches over her computer and children giggle with their parents during storytime in a quiet nook. As the cold air whips around the building and the raindrops start to fall, the warm, glowing light of the library calls to those outside. 

Libraries are one of the only public spaces people can visit without making a purchase or having a membership. Aside from reading, studying or browsing books, the warm shelter of a library can beckon to those looking to escape the elements or find refuge.

The Eugene Public Library provides this space for its patrons; many of whom are people experiencing homelessness. By balancing open access with policy and staff training, the library navigates the complexities of serving a diverse and often vulnerable population.

“We continue to be the place that offers our community members, all community members—free access to everything, regardless of who you are and what your life situation is,” said LaVena Nohrenberg, the user experience manager at the Eugene Public Library. “So those who come and seek us, who might not have other places to be during the day, who may be unhoused, can join amongst everybody else.”

A New York Times article on Oct. 31 highlighting the negative impact that homelessness, drug abuse and neglected mental health can have on librarians, who often find themselves responsible for resolving incidents, some of which can be traumatizing

Karen Fisher, a professor in the Information School at the University of Washington, surveyed 1,300 U.S. library workers in 2022 to understand their experiences and identify the root causes of trauma in the library. Cumulatively, participants of the survey reported over 8,000 incidents that they deemed traumatic, threatening, or instances of assault or harassment.

The survey also revealed that library staff are a group of vital frontline workers who are often left unacknowledged or without the financial support and training they need to support this role.

Nohrenberg estimates that each day 2,500 people enter the library. “You show me anywhere when you gather 2,500 people, somebody's going to have a bad day.” 

But she said there are few unfriendly interactions considering the large number of patrons who visit the library.

University of Oregon junior Paris Woodward-Ganz has worked as the youth representative for the Eugene Public Library’s Advisory Board for the past three years. He emphasized the variety of roles that librarians are expected to play, some of which spill outside the lines of their job descriptions. 

“As stewards of the community, they often are forced to deal with mental health struggles, drug addiction, and other things they are not trained for,” Woodward-Ganz said. “It makes it difficult, as often those struggles are not seen or appreciated, with people turning to librarians to serve in a multitude of roles they are not paid or trained well enough to perform.”

The relationship between the public library and the unhoused community becomes especially relevant in a city like Eugene, which has one of the highest numbers of unhoused individuals in the nation compared to its population. In 2024, 3,085 individuals were reported to be experiencing homelessness. Individuals who experience chronic homelessness have risen from 25% to 36% since last year’s report by Lane County Human Services.

Darla Guiley sat on the second floor by the window charging her phone. Guiley visits the library for “wifi and a quiet place to be.” She has lived in Eugene for 57 years and spent the last seven years living on the street. Throughout her time coming to the library Guiley said the other patrons are friendly and people give her space.

“I think a really critical statistic when you're talking about homelessness in the city of Eugene is four out of five people who are experiencing homelessness are unsheltered, and in those shelter programs, people don't always have access to their sheltered beds during the daytime. So those public places become really, really important for addressing daily needs,” said Blake Burrell, the co-executive director of Community Supported Shelters and chair of the Eugene Humans Rights Commission. 

Woodward-Ganz emphasized the role of the teen center in the Eugene Public Library as an outlet for youth community members experiencing homelessness. “While the center itself isn't necessarily going to find people housing, it provides teens a sense of normalcy that they don’t often get due to society's demonization of unhoused people and hostile infrastructure,” he said.

At the library, having rules that are clearly stated for the patrons and enforced by the staff helps to mitigate problems. Some of the Eugene Public Library’s rules include being polite, respecting other people’s space, not interrupting library operations, remaining sober, staying awake and having a willingness to work with the staff. 

“If a patron is not following one of the rules, we educate them. And if they still choose to not follow one of the rules, we ask them to leave for the day,” Nohrenberg said. “That's a resource we give them. We openly often hold space for them. We talk about the challenges. We don't want to ignore it. Let's talk about it. Let's deal with it.”

The Eugene Public Library also equips its staff with resources, such as bringing the nonprofit Trauma Healing Project to host educational seminars. “They were just here and did three sessions on taking a trauma-informed approach and recognizing that this trauma-informed approach is what's in alignment with our values,” Nohrenberg said. 

This approach focuses on the understanding that some people may have experienced difficult or harmful events that affect how they feel, behave, and react in certain situations. 

“It helps us process the toll that it takes on us who are doing the work and having a trauma-informed awareness for our own selves and the trauma we have had either at work or other parts of our life,” she said.

Welcoming all groups of people is something “that this public library in the city of Eugene has always taken great pride and value in, that this is a place people can get access, be welcomed, and feel like they belong,” Nohrenberg said. “So we do it with intention across all of our library staff.