At dozens of Los Angeles County branches, librarians whose jobs are to find books and resources and help children increase literacy by enjoying reading are also dealing with mentally ill homeless people.

A report released by the county last week found that in 36 of the 85 county library branches, librarians reported nearly 20,000 security incidents in the past six years involving homeless people hanging out in the libraries or on the grounds. Some of them went inside to get a drink of water or recharge their phones while others were there to fill out job applications, said Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell.

“County libraries have become a de facto day shelter for thousands of unhoused individuals seeking respite from extreme weather conditions and unsafe street encampments,” the report concluded.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 4-0 (Supervisor Kathryn Barger was absent) to approve a pilot program to assign county teams of social workers, mental health clinicians and homeless outreach workers to library branches with the highest numbers of homeless people.

Each team would consist of a social worker or therapist and a medical case worker or community health worker.

Mental health and social workers would set up office hours inside the chosen libraries and would sometimes rotate from branch to branch. The goal is to make teams available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in selected library branches by June 2, according to the motion.

Lisa Wong, director of the county Department of Mental Health, said she’ll post the program’s hours so all library patrons and staff members are aware.

“The motion addressed the mounting pressures and strains that librarians face while serving a growing number of underserved, unhoused and mentally ill patrons,” read the motion.

“Part of our work there is also to support the library staff with training,” Wong said.

Fourth District Supervisor Janice Hahn, a co-author of the motion, said many homeless people who have mental health and/or addiction struggles visit county libraries.

“Our librarians do incredible work, but they are not trained to address complex social or behavioral issues, nor should they be,” said Hahn. “By bringing social workers into some of our libraries, we can better help people who are struggling, and our librarians can focus on their jobs.”

The incidents at libraries involving homeless people were tracked through the L.A. County Library’s internal security reports that also collect data on which libraries have the highest need for services. The number of incidents in the report from October 2018 to December 2024 were listed by how many occurred in each supervisorial district.

Fourteen libraries in the 2nd District accounted for 54% of the total reported incidents, far above the four other supervisorial districts. The 2nd District, represented by Mitchell, stretches from the South Bay to South Los Angeles. It includes Carson, Compton, Florence-Firestone, Inglewood, Marina del Rey, Westchester, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Hawthorne and Gardena.

The second-highest number of incidents was in the 4th District, in which six branches accounted for 17.4% of the security incidents reported. The 4th District, represented by Hahn, stretches from Pico Rivera and Whittier into southeast L.A. County cities, including Long Beach, Torrance, San Pedro and Rancho Palos Verdes.