Photo: Tim Marshall | Unsplash
In response to increasing overdoses and security incidences at Stanley Milner Library, in Edmonton, Canada, a system of on-site support has been implemented. An overdose response and prevention team conduct two rounds of the library and surrounding area per day, seeing between 40 and 60 people. Libraries can offer access to support services in a way that may be stigmatized elsewhere. "The needs by these populations, people who didn't used to necessarily use the library, it's just skyrocketed, especially since the pandemic, and while libraries can be an important part of the solution, they just require funding," says Siobhan Stevenson, a University of Toronto professor who researches the expanding role of public libraries.
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