美国国家公共电台 NPR Your Local Library May Have A New Offering In Stock: A Resident Social Worker

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Many public libraries today have become one-stop shops for people in need. People come to libraries to find jobs, social services and sometimes just a warm place to take shelter. NPR's Colin Dwyer reports on how more libraries are turning to trained social workers for help.

COLIN DWYER, BYLINE¹: Trish doesn't have many places to turn.

DAVID PEREZ: Come on in.

DWYER: She's living out her elderly father's home without a job because she can't afford the care that he needs.

TRISH: I need help finding a place.

PEREZ: OK.

DWYER: And Trish, who only wanted to give her first name to protect her and her father's privacy, says her balance sheet seems stained with more and more red ink every day.

TRISH: It's all outgoing. There's nothing coming in. That's for sure. And I'm kind of stuck in a rock and a hard place because of my credit. So I need to make enough money that I can afford to live somewhere.

DWYER: Across the table, David Perez nods quietly.

TRISH: I am just really drained. I'm absolutely miserable². I want a job.

DWYER: Difficult as her situation is, she's far from alone. Lots of social workers see cases like hers come through their offices. What is unusual is where you'll find this office, the Long Branch Free Public Library in New Jersey³. David Perez says he's the only social worker in the state employed permanently⁴ by a public library. The idea was a surprise to him when advisers⁵ in his master's program for social work suggested it.

PEREZ: (Laughter) And I was like, what? That really threw me off because I'm saying to myself, my resume says military and it says health care business. This is the school of social work, and then I'm being advised to go to the Long Branch Public Library. I just didn't get it.

DWYER: In a separate interview the same day he met with Trish, he says he gets it now.

PEREZ: Anyone can come in here no matter who you are. You don't need to be of any class or you don't need money. You can take advantage of all of the services that we offer.

DWYER: Those include tech courses, career counseling, help for people who have lost their homes, even drug overdose treatment. Librarians have always had more on their plate than the stereotypical⁶ silence-obsessed introverts⁷ of movies and TV. But between the opioid epidemic⁸ and a recent national uptick in homelessness, that plate can feel filled to overflowing⁹, as Amanda Oliver discovered after getting her degree.

AMANDA OLIVER: I'm trained in information organization. But nothing - nothing - I learned in my master's program helps me with what being a librarian actually looks like, which was caring for the patrons.

DWYER: Working at a downtown Washington, D.C., public library, she saw some patrons passed out drunk and felt physically¹⁰ threatened by others. Her very first week, an altercation¹¹ prompted her colleagues to press the panic button under the circulation desk. But it was their reaction afterward¹² that shocked her.

OLIVER: Everyone was completely unfazed on staff until it clicked in my brain like, oh, this is not uncommon¹³.

DWYER: It wasn't, and she eventually quit.

OLIVER: None of this is to say that there weren't really wonderful moments and parts of the work that I absolutely love and value. But the toll¹⁴ that it started to take on my mental health was just not worth it.

DWYER: In the past decade, library science programs have introduced more instruction on community outreach. Some libraries offer training of their own or turn to outside partnerships¹⁵. And several dozen libraries across the country are doing what the Long Branch Library has done - bring in a trained social worker. The San Francisco Public Library is credited with being the first back in 2009.

LEAH ESGUERRA: They had to figure it out because it's never been done before. There was no blueprint¹⁶.

DWYER: That's Leah Esguerra. She is the social worker San Francisco brought in. She's developed systems to connect patrons with employers and health services. And she says she's helped find permanent housing for scores of people. Esguerra says working in this setting doesn't just take a load off librarians. It also encourages people to actually take advantage of these services.

ESGUERRA: Coming to the library, it's not attached with any stigma¹⁷ unlike coming to other traditional settings. So because of that, I feel that public libraries are really the best places to really reach out to the population.

PEREZ: All right. I'm going to say, please call today.

DWYER: Back in New Jersey, Trish is ready to head to the circulation desk to check out DVDs for her dad. But first, she's got to wrap up with David Perez.

PEREZ: Either way, I'll call you.

TRISH: OK.

PEREZ: I'll let you know what's going on.

DWYER: Before she goes, Perez confirms some calls to potential employers and offers a word of support.

PEREZ: I'm here to help you get back up. We're going to connect the dots. I have a laptop. I have a printer. I have a phone. We can fax. I have coffee if you want some coffee, you know, and together, we make it happen. That's what we're doing here.

DWYER: At the door, Perez repeats that pledge like a mantra. Together, we make it happen, at the library. Colin Dwyer, NPR News, New York.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

3 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

4 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

5 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

6 stereotypical   

n.常规

参考例句：

• Personas should be typical and believable, but not stereotypical. 人物角色应该是典型和可信赖的，但不是一成不变的。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Anything could be stereotypical, so I guess it could be criticism. 任何东西都可以变的老套，所以我猜那就是一种批评。 来自互联网

7 introverts   

性格内向的人( introvert的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Extroverts tend to lack self-discipline while introverts lack courage. 性格外向的人缺乏自我约束力，而性格内向的人则缺乏勇气。
• I an introvert and introverts get drawn in. 我是个内向的人而且内向是天生的。

8 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

9 overflowing   

n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。
• The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。

10 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

11 altercation   

n.争吵，争论

参考例句：

• Throughout the entire altercation,not one sensible word was uttered.争了半天，没有一句话是切合实际的。
• The boys had an altercation over the umpire's decision.男孩子们对裁判的判决颇有争议。

12 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

13 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

14 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

15 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

16 blueprint   

n.蓝图，设计图，计划；vt.制成蓝图，计划

参考例句：

• All the machine parts on a blueprint must answer each other.设计图上所有的机器部件都应互相配合。
• The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。

17 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。