Library Social Worker

The Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield’s Public Library, is seeking a compassionate and experienced social worker to join our library team and provide support and assistance to our community. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in social work and a passion for helping patrons navigate the challenges they face in their daily lives. This role will involve working closely with library staff and community organizations to provide resources, support, and advocacy for patrons in need.

A social worker has a dual focus on individual well-being in a social context and the well-being of society. To this end, the Library Social Worker manages and develops programs to meet patrons’ behavioral health needs in the context of the Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield’s Public Library. The Library Social Worker will foster equity and access to behavioral health, substance misuse, housing, employment, education, and other resources by engaging vulnerable populations at the Library.

This position will seek to enhance the capacity of people to address their own needs. This teammate will lead compassionate enforcement efforts at the library. The position will offer crisis intervention and information referral services for patrons and staff. This position will enhance the accessibility of the social services and mental health resources available within the community.

The incumbent will lead the collaboration between library staff, mental health professionals, benefit providers, community health workers, law enforcement, and the community as a whole to promote effective strategies to support both library staff and patrons. Success in this position will include networking with social work colleagues both in libraries and in other community settings.

This position reports to the Library Director.

Starting salary dependent upon experience.

• Staff assistance, consultations, and training sessions
  • Partners with staff for compassionate enforcement of policies with patrons
  • Facilitates conversations among staff, patrons, and community partners
  • Leads incident response debriefing sessions
  • Provides and/or coordinates in-service and ad-hoc educational presentations
  • Attends supervisor meetings on an as needed basis
• Direct patron work
  • Helps patrons make a plan for success at the library
  • Provides interim case management on topics such as shelter, food, employment, and health services access
  • Assesses situations and provides solution-focused interventions to individuals in need, along with crisis case management and short term crisis counseling and/or follow up care when appropriate
• Building community partnerships
  • Initiates consultation with other mental health providers to improve delivery of current services and identify unmet needs within the current service system
  • Represents the library in the Pittsfield HUB (a collaborative model for responding to individuals in crisis) and other community-based committees
  • Collaborates with community health and social services agencies and organizations
• Performs other duties as required or assigned.

• Minimum educational requirement of a Master’s degree in Social Work (MSW) from a program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)
• Current and valid licensure in Social Work by the Massachusetts Board of Registration is required. Must currently possess one of the following licensures:
  Licensed Social Worker (LSW), Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), or Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW)
• One (1) to three (3) years experience in community health social work on both micro and macro levels, with demonstrated experience in trauma-informed care, crisis intervention, de-escalation strategies, and risk management
• Knowledge and…