The opioid crisis is not a new topic for libraries and the information professions. In 2020, OCLC and the Public Library Association jointly released a Call To Action, in conjunction with research into how eight US public libraries are navigating the opioid crisis and a subsequent Opioid Crisis Support Kit for Public Libraries. In the Canadian context, there have been calls from the Ontario Library Association, the Toronto Public Library Workers Union CUPE 4948, and the Toronto Public Library itself to address this growing crisis since at least 2017. Despite this awareness, there is no standardized and practical training (or indeed any call for training) provided to graduate students in Masters programs (in LIS or the information fields broadly construed), with a focus on identifying and responding to a suspected overdose at work.

In an attempt to address these concerns, Dr. Nadia Caidi and Ph.D. candidate Atticus Hawk, both at the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto (Canada), designed a program to do just that in 2024. As part of a required LIS course (INF1322, Communities and Values), the instructors developed a mandatory class segment on the toxic drug supply crisis and its implications for libraries and library workers. Focusing on the visceral reality of the toxic drug supply crisis that has claimed the lives of over 50,000 Canadians since 2016, the class equipped 70 MLIS students (in the Winter 2024 course offering) with the skills to identify a suspected overdose, reverse an opioid overdose temporarily with their own take-home Naloxone kit, and treat library patrons who use substances with dignity. To be clear, this was the first time any such education for credit was offered in any MLIS degree granting program in North America.

Among the learning objectives for the segment of the course, students learned how an opioid overdose stops people from breathing, that brain damage can start after three minutes without air, and that severe and permanent brain damage is almost assured after seven minutes. Given this extremely narrow window of time for life-saving measures, students understood that waiting for emergency services, supervisors, or branch security during a suspected overdose is not always a viable option. Addressing the gap in crisis management, students also learned how to identify potentially dangerous situations, keep themselves safe in the library workplace, and deescalate aggressive or risky interactions before anyone gets hurt.

The mandatory class ran again in Winter 2025 for another 139 MLIS students (across two sections). A pre- and post- survey was completed prior to the 2025 cohort’s training: the results of the pre-training class show that only 25% of MLIS students reported that they were confident about identifying a suspected opioid overdose and only 20% were confident they could use a Naloxone kit. Post-training, those numbers increased dramatically to 75% and 80% respectively. Building further on the overwhelmingly positive student response to the class, the Faculty of Information ran an expanded 6-week for-credit workshop, Harm Reduction for Information Professionals, which was open to graduate students from all Information Science concentrations. Taught by Atticus Hawk, this workshop extended the overdose recognition and Naloxone training sessions, and provided a safe and supportive environment for students to learn about their rights and obligations as workers, about safety planning prior to dangerous situations, and de-escalating risky interactions.

We argue that this type of learning fills a significant gap in current library worker education and is more relevant than ever. In Ontario, for instance, the passage of the abstinence-only Bill 223 in December 2024 by the Ontario Government has functionally resulted in the forced closure of at least nine of Ontario’s 23 Supervised Consumption Sites (SCSs), effective March 31, 2025 (and despite ongoing legal challenges to its constitutionality). While supervised consumption sites provide a place for people who use drugs to do so in a judgement-free space around trained professionals who can respond to any emergencies, these SCSs and CTSs also provide people who use drugs with a warm place to sit inside, access to electricity, running water, washrooms, a friendly face and community connection. Between January 2020 and November 2024, Ontario SCSs saw 1,247,003 total visits averaging to about 21,136 visits a month. In that same period, Ontario SCSs reversed 23,965 overdoses, working out to about 13 to 14 lives saved each day. In that same 59-month time span, Ontario SCSs have provided 589,962 referrals to other health and social supports and served 197,919 unique people.

With the closure of ten prominent supervised consumption sites across Ontario, the community need for the services they provide will not decrease. This need will fall to other public spaces and places, chiefly among them, public libraries (along with academic and special libraries). Libraries are one of the last free public places that welcome everyone. A warm place staffed with caring professionals, access to electricity, running water, and washrooms, libraries are a vital place of community connection and personal dignity.

Nearly half of all library workers are already responding to opioid overdoses at work. This will only increase as the deadly opioid crisis in Canada becomes more dire by the day. Library workers will continue to experience the anxiety and fear that comes with being unprepared to respond to a suspected overdose in their workplaces. Already dealing with budgetary constraints and staffing pressures, library workers are at even greater risk of burnout, PTSD, and the continued mental and physical health effects of watching patrons die. Training and education for the realities of the role is what Masters of Library and Information Science programs are all about. It is time for dedicated crisis management, opioid overdose identification, Naloxone training, and overdose response to be a standard part of this profession’s educational repertoire.