Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.A.

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Degree Granting Department

Sociology

Major Professor

James Cavendish, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Margarethe Kusenbach, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Chris Ponticelli, Ph.D.

Keywords

Gentrification, Homelessness, Neoliberalism, Poverty

Abstract

As public libraries tend to reflect the needs and interests of their communities, this qualitative study explores how growing local physical and sociodemographic changes affect public libraries in metropolitan areas and the experiences of staff. Interviews with nine library workers from four densely populated counties in the U.S. state of Florida gave insight into the hypervisibility of inequality within and between public libraries, as well as the effects of this inequality on the libraries and their staff. The local changes that participants reported included population growth, constant development, gentrification, rising rents, and increased homelessness and affluence. Staff had diverse experiences with these changes, but for many staff members, playing the role of a social worker remained constant, corroborating Library and Information Science literature that has found this to be a commonplace and enduring experience for public library workers. Due to tight administrative control, most of the participants were unable to implement certain changes in their libraries, regardless of how the communities that they served were changing. However, two participants who had more autonomy revealed the potential of public libraries to change in response to local inequality. I argue that many of the findings are informed by growing income inequality and budgetary uncertainty for public libraries, both of which can be at least partially attributed to over four decades of neoliberal policies in the U.S. thus far.

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