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Homelessness and the Ethics of Information Access
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Description: Many public libraries have rules against strong body odor, bringing large amounts of luggage into the library, sleeping, and bathing in restrooms. These rules disproportionately affect library patrons who are experiencing homelessness. This paper reviews recent literature that considers legal and social justice perspectives on homelessness and libraries, as well as the policies of four urban public library systems. Though these rules may be legal and are widely used, people without homes have no other access to information. This paper concludes that blocking their access conflicts with the mission of public libraries to provide information to all. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in The Serials Librarian on 18/12/2015, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2015.1099590.