the Oasis

The 45-year-old library building is in need of upgrades. No one disputes this. But not many seemed to consider what a six-month closure would mean to people who rely on the library for internet, respite, and social interaction.

By Scott Morgan/Managing Editor

It is the policy of Oasis News to only use first names of people experiencing homelessness when cited in stories for this publication.

When the York County Library’s Rock Hill branch closes on Sept. 27, the doors are not expected to open again to the public until at least next spring. Work is expected to take at least six months.

The county has been upgrading its buildings over the past several months; the library is up next, getting a $1.4 million electrical system upgrade.

Work on the 45-year-old library is set to begin on Oct. 13 and is not expected to be completed until at least April of 2026.

And while the library’s staff will either work from home or at other York County branches, said reference services manager Donna Andrews, the library and its grounds — including the outdoor book lockers (which will be removed for the duration of the electrical work) and the blessing box (from which many of the library’s least financially resilient visitors can get food) — will be off limits to the public.

For those who work in the city’s homeless services space, this closure — which they concede will be temporary and is necessary — is worrisome, mainly because the months the library will be closed will be the coldest and wettest months of the year.

“My fear is that people are just going to be outside in the elements and unable to access restroom facilities, unable to fill water bottles, unable to charge phones,” said Melissa Carlyle, executive director of the Catawba Area Coalition for the Homeless (CACH). “A lot of people just go there to be warm, even people not experiencing homelessness that don’t have central air. They utilize the library too, just to have a warm space to be at during the day. I mean, if you have nowhere else to go, what are you going to spend the day to be warm?”

People could go to the city’s network of shelters, including Bethel Day Shelter. Brooke Leverette, a case manager at Bethel, said that the shelter is open to anyone who needs to get inside and that Bethel is working with Pathways Community Center (on the same grounds on Cherry Road in Rock Hill), to accommodate people who might frequent the library.

“If we receive an influx of people, we will partner with Pathways, which will provide additional space,” Leaverette said.

She said adding space, likely in the room where the city’s Homeless Court is held every month, is “an easy fix.”

City officials, in a text, said they “haven’t done anything related to the library closure.” The City of Rock Hill does not oversee CACH and Pathways. The library is York County property.

Carlyle said Bethel Day Shelter “is a great option for folks, especially folks that are actively working with case managers,” but also that “it’s not fair that people would just have one option of a place they can go.”

What she’s talking about is the dignity of options.

“To truly have dignity, you would have a choice in where you go,” she said. “So to say this is truly the one and only place you can go during the day to use the bathroom, to get water, to just live your life in a somewhat comfortable environment, I don’t think that that’s great for people to not have any options.”

She’s also concerned about where people might spend the night.

“Especially for our folks who can’t access the shelter at night, they’re now going to be outside all night and all day, potentially,” Carlyle said. “That’s super, super concerning that people may actually die because they are not going to have access to a warm space.”

“It’s only six months …”

Thomas lives in an apartment in Rock Hill, which he got through the city’s Housing Development Corp.’s Rapid Rehousing Program.

To get this place meant months of living nowhere first. Thomas split his time between the Haven Men’s Shelter for a night bed and the city’s library branch. He said he’s worried what will become of friends he knows from the library, once the doors close through the cold months ahead.

And he has an answer for anyone who thinks that six months is not a long time for the library to close.

“If [someone were to] say, ‘It’s only six months,’ I’m like, ‘This is going to devastate a lot of people,” Thomas said. “And it’s part of the reason why everywhere I go, I let people know that the library is closing.”

While experiencing homelessness himself, Thomas frequented the library to use its computers to continue operating his pet care business and opportunities, to take classes — Zumba is a favorite — and, most importantly, to socialize. Without the library’s more relaxed — “normal” — environment, he’s afraid people won’t have the opportunity to just be among friends.

“It’s a much quieter, cozier environment [that the shelters],” he said. “People have a lot more space. It’s just, it feels more normal.”

In a real way, the loss of a hub for social interactions is more troubling to Thomas than even the weather and elements some of his friends will face. Sitting in his new apartment, he spoke of research showing that social relationships are, more than even exercise and vaccines, irreplaceable for longterm health.

Thomas said he’s glad to know that there is a plan to expand intake capacity at Pathways, but he’s not any more moved by the idea that people will spend their days at Bethel than Melissa Carlyle is.

Thomas called the library “the place to go get away from the noise and all that other chaos that surrounds it” at the day shelter, and said that, based on his own experience, spending too much time at the shelter will likely not be good for anyone’s mental health.

“I don’t like going to the day shelter because, to me, that’s probably the most depressing place,” he said. “It was a challenge. It’s crowded, and there are lots of people who spend the whole day staring at the walls, or waiting for laundry and a shower.”

Oasis News will revisit this story during the time the York County Library’s Main Branch is closed.

Corrections: Part of Thomas’ story was corrected to state that he was working while experiencing homelessness and that he did not regularly visit Bethel Day Shelter. The final quotation in his story was also expanded for clarity and nuance. It has also ben clarified that the City of Rock Hill does not oversee CACH or Pathways.