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The sisters of @gsletroop42616 have come together with the Norman Mayer Library to host an electronic free game night. Stop by with the family and enjoy yourself. #gsle #nopl #noelectronics #unplugtoplugin #nolagamenight #neworleanspubliclibrary (at Norman Mayer Public Library) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpm9lcFh0xr/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=16p1pjccytrn1

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P.L.A. Project

Dear reader,

I hope you are having a nice day. Generally, I consider any day a good day, until something bad happens. However, that is not relevant today’s discussion. So, before I ramble on about the shortcoming of my day, I think it is a good idea to segue into a more professional mood so I can introduce my project for the heavily mentioned Public Library Association Summer Internship.

To start of I will introduce the basic goal of my project, which is basically to recommend programs for the New Orleans Public Library about what the houseless community really wants. I’m not sure about your local library, but ours is full of houseless people. Since houseless people make up a great deal of the Library’s community, I think it is important to include more programs that benefit them. As you probably have guessed, I am not the voice of houselessness nor can I read their minds.

My project hinges on whether or not the houseless people would like to fill out my survey in exchange for a care package. The details of both the survey and the care package are unclear. For example, one of my primary questions is beef jerky or no beef jerky. Soap or wet wipes. Deodorant or no deodorant. I have been going through online articles about care packages, which typically are only for one person and can be very expensive.

Originally, I wanted to do more of a psychological analysis of the houseless people at the library. From my understanding, many of the homeless people in this city have mental illnesses and couldn’t afford medication. There are programs that help, but in order to create a bigger impact there needs to be someone in a high office who cares about their well-beings and wants to change what is going on.

Basically, my hope is that by creating this survey I will be able to help homeless people with things they directly want. Also, I plan to allot space on my survey which will give houseless people the opportunity to tell their story. By doing this, I hope to allow people to see houseless people as more than just a group of people to avoid but make them personal and relate-able.

Most of the spaces allotted will regard what programs the houseless population like and which they don’t. What resources they use, how often they come in, and what resources they would like to find in the library. Hopefully, I can make the immediate population of houseless people around me better by helping the library help them. Sounds like I am basically doing nothing, huh?

You may ask, you work in a library why are the homeless people even important? They are important because a library is not just a building filled with books, but a community. Our community is houseless people, which may not seem important to you, but the purpose of the library is to provide other with knowledge, to edify, provide a safe haven, and help others with wherever there life takes them. Just because someone doesn’t fit in to the box associated with normality, it doesn’t mean they are not worthy of the same services provided everyone else.

Additionally, this research, though it is on a small scale, is important because perhaps the library can serve in cleaning up the lives of homeless people (through programs such as the YMCA, which help adults who want to get there GEDs get them) or by preventing homelessness through other programs (which have not been thought of yet).

As a side note, I have always wondered if there is any sage wisdom that comes with being homeless. Do you get a better understanding of the worthlessness of societies trade and enterprise? Do you begin to see people in suits as money sucking vampires rather than rich tailored men? Though I am not religious, I know that Jesus started of as an Ascetic, who gave up his worldly possessions in order to explore the mysteries of the universe. Therefore, I wonder if there is a clairvoyance that comes with homelessness.

Note: Throughout this blog, I switch back and forth between houseless and homeless. I do this because I do not know the proper term to use in order to describe a person who does not have a house. This is a question, which I put on my survey and as soon as I have this information I will let you know. The term houseless is one I learned from my mentor, because she said just because you don’t have a house it doesn’t mean you don’t have a home. I would prefer to not have to use any label at all, but when it comes to certain documents you need to be able to describe the group you are researching.

Thank you for sticking with me through this blog entry of self discovery and summary.

Sincerely,

Nyela Joshua,

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