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Introduction 9 Public libraries in Washington, D.C., Edmonton, Philadelphia, and Denver followed with their own hires in 2014 and 2015. In 2016, we created an interactive map on the WPL website to start tracking program locations and types, at which point the number had inched closer to 20, including social work students and social service “office hours” in libraries, as well as social workers who were hired to work in libraries. In 2018, the total number of all of these types of collaborations rose from around 50 at the start of the year to over 100 by the end. Most of that total is made up of full-time hires and social work student placements, but there are likely many collaborative pro- grams to place social services in libraries for “office hours” or other arrange- ments we haven’t tracked because they don’t make news items or appear in research in the same ways. In this book’s conclusion, we’ll explore some emerging trends and developments we expect to see in the near future as a result of this rapid expansion. In addition to the primary placement of library social workers in urban settings, many library-social work collaborations flourish in suburbs. Subur- ban areas have witnessed a growth of homelessness in the past 10 years. Alecia, who completed her MSW practicum in a suburban library, witnessed this firsthand: “People who are experiencing homelessness might not be as visible in the ways that some people expect a homeless person to present themselves. . . . I would hear people who worked at the library say they had no idea that person was in crisis or was living out of [a car], so they just assumed that they were a retired person who just had a lot of time to spend at the library, . . . and I think it was kind of two-fold, that patrons don’t always recognize that librarians can help direct them to services that just aren’t literature-based.” This revelation of invisible community needs is a common “side effect” of placing social workers in libraries of all types and is something we’ll touch on throughout the book, particularly when we discuss cultural humility in chapter 6. Because people experiencing homelessness in the suburbs and in exurban and rural areas tend to be less immediately vis- ible, the library-as-sanctuary can play an especially significant role in help- ing people connect to services. Libraries’ mobilization to serve patrons experiencing homelessness can feel like a contemporary issue because much of it was prompted by the rise of internet access in libraries. The “traditional” library patron turned to the web instead of the reference desk for their research needs, while at the same time, internet terminals in libraries attracted patrons who couldn’t afford the technology at home. For those experiencing homelessness or high mobility, the free internet access in libraries can be their only way to stay connected through social media to distant family members and friends. However, pub- lic libraries have long been the only safe, indoor space many people experi- encing homelessness can find during the day. To give just one example, we came across an article from over 40 years ago on “the emerging environment