Communities are hungry for food, so they are looking to the one place they have access to: the library. Though the number of free and low-cost food resources available has increased, the number of people still in need has increased at faster rates than the resources available.
A recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service found that food prices have been rising much faster than the rate of inflation, while rents, home prices and health care costs have been rising at a relatively moderate rate. And with the number of Americans lacking health insurance on the rise, some have wondered whether food banks are becoming more important as a safety net. But a report from the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project, a nonpartisan think tank, found that the number of items distributed by food banks has actually declined in recent years.
The library in your neighborhood could be a hub for people in your neighborhood, where they can get help with everything from finding a job to filling out a tax form. A new study that looked at the impact of public libraries on the US population indicates that libraries may be doubling as food distribution hubs by offering free or discounted meals to the needy.
Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group via Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty
Thousands of cars lined up Friday, the 22nd. Jan. 20, 2021, outside the Los Angeles County Library headquarters in Downey for a food distribution.
By the summer of 2021, public libraries around the world, from Idaho and Oklahoma to Tennessee and Arizona, will offer free meals to families with children in their communities.
What may seem like a new role for libraries builds on their long tradition as spaces for innovation, community centers, and shelters for the homeless and mentally ill.
I’ve studied how public libraries deal with food insecurity - what happens when households can’t buy enough food because they can’t afford it or don’t have access to it for other reasons. For the most part, these efforts are the result of partnerships with organizations such as school districts and food banks.
As Christine Warzocha, president of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, explained in 2016: we have products and they have customers who need them.
Lunch in the library
Libraries are changing: InvolvementLook at how public libraries foster collaboration in our communities. Visit ilovelibraries.org/librariesestransform/engagement for more information.2016-05-05T14:32:36Z
The oldest example of this type that I have found is 35 years old. In 1986, the Nelsonville branch of the Athens County Public Library in southeast Ohio began distributing state-funded meals to children during the summer so they wouldn’t go hungry.
The district has one of the highest rates of food insecurity in Ohio, and so librarians have sought to ensure access to food along with summer learning activities.
In 2019, more than 2,000 public libraries in the U.S., or about one in 10, offered summer lunches.
This practice is largely neglected. The official journal of the American Library Association did not mention this trend until 2008. Since then, however, there has been increasing recognition and support at the national and state levels.
Pandemic COVID-19
When the coronavirus pandemic broke out, public libraries and their staff continued to fight food insecurity even when their doors were closed.
Some library staff were transferred to food banks to help process and distribute donations. Others have partnered with food banks to hand out food in library parking lots.
Others set up emergency food banks in libraries.
In partnership with the Rotary Club of Gwinnett, we host food boxes for Farmers - Families every Friday in October. See photo for time and place. The stock is very limited and is allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. The boxes contain fresh vegetables, dairy and protein pic.twitter.com/FC5eDcBNS5
- Gwinnett County Public Library (@gwinnettlibrary) October 20, 2020.
The St. Louis County Public Library System is the only public library system in St. Louis. Louis participated in the USDA’s Farmers to Families program. From Kentucky to Vermont to California to Georgia, libraries participated in a national program to distribute emergency food.
Many libraries have begun to set up small storage closets, housed outside in small boxes with doors. These shareboxes are inspired by the small free library movement. These micro-libraries are usually simple cabinets mounted on poles that contain books that can be borrowed for free by passersby. The small Free Pantry movement, which began in 2016 and seems to be growing during the COVID-19 pandemic, wants to send food to people in need instead.
Seen in my neighborhood in Chicago.
Registration: To help our neighbors affected by the COVID-19 crisis, this Little Free Library has been transformed into a Little Free Pantry. Take what you need and give what you can spare if you can! pic.twitter.com/HtrUHNv9BG
- Ashley Hamer (@smashleyhamer) March 18, 2020
By 2021, in mid-May, at least 491 libraries in 28 states had developed summer holiday meals for schoolchildren. This figure is preliminary and will increase as more states submit their data to the USDA.
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Noah Lenstra, assistant professor, Department of Library and Information Sciences, University of North Carolina - Greensboro.
This article was reprinted from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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