For the homeless and other needy residents, the historic Coconut Grove branch library offers more than just books.
Of the 50 public libraries scattered throughout Miami-Dade County, the distinctive A-frame Coconut Grove branch is the only one with a grave site. Just feet from the front door lie the remains of Eva Amelia Munroe, who died in 1882 and is buried on land donated by her husband, Commodore Ralph Middleton Monroe.
The Grove library is also the only one in the county which features in the main reading room a colorfully-painted file cabinet usually crammed with clothing, snacks and hygiene kits available to patrons in need, many of them homeless.
“How can you not help someone who is in need of food or a change of clothes?” asks library branch manager Jennifer Hernandez.” The homeless are part of our demographic. They come into our buildings every day. It’s our job to care.”
The file cabinet – called the pantry – is just the most visible expression of Hernandez’s expansive vision of her role in the community, a role that goes far beyond lending books or organizing bilingual story-time for toddlers.
On the third Monday of each month, for example, Hernandez sets up what she calls a “Support Station,” where representatives of Camillus House and Hermanos de la Calle, organizations which aid the homeless, are available.

She has also championed the Miami-Dade Public Library System’s decision to make hygiene kits available at 18 other branches and favors an expansion of the social services offered through a partnership program begun four years ago with Florida International University.
While Hernandez does not literally wear her heart on her sleeve, she comes close with a motto tattooed on her left arm: “My heart has a mind of its own.”
Pinecrest library manager Ellen Book, who mentored Hernandez when she began her career as a librarian seven years ago, says, “She looks for opportunities where others are hurting. She is very empathetic, and that drives her.”
Pushed by the social dynamics of poverty, homelessness, addiction and mental health, the mission of public libraries in the U.S. has been changing for decades. “Libraries have become community centers without people realizing it,” says Florida International University sociologist Jennifer Abeloff. “They were once thought of a place to check out books, maybe study, and then you’re gone.
“But public libraries are safe spaces that are open to anyone,” Abeloff says, offering access to computers, electricity, clean bathrooms, air conditioning and safety.”
To better serve this population, in FIU’s School of Social Work, where Abeloff is a professor, partnered in 2020 with the Southeast Florida Library Information Network (SEFLIN) to bring social services to users of the Miami-Dade system.
The system now employs seven full-time social workers who rotate between five branch libraries to connect patrons with services. The Grove branch, one of the county’s oldest, dating back to 1895, is not one of those seven.
Yet shelters and targeted programs don’t work for everyone. Deborah Parry, 63, and her partner Ivan Mullins, 51, have been homeless on the street since a fire earlier this year destroyed the houseboat they had been living on near Dinner Key. Now they spend days in Peacock Park, and at night cross the street to sleep on pieces of cardboard outside the library, at 2875 McFarlane Road.
Parry comes into the library nearly every day, to use the bathroom, escape the heat or the rain, and to help herself to whatever she needs from the pantry.
“I think of Jennifer as a good friend,” says Parry. “She has helped us out a lot.”
The importance of libraries to those without homes was spotlighted in the aftermath of the death of Sylburn Robinson, 69, whose body was discovered in Peacock Park on October 2. For months Robinson had been a daily visitor to the library, and someone whom Hernandez and had come to care about. “He was soft-spoken, always very kind. I always felt a good energy from him,” she said.
(Robinson’s daughter, Whitney Robinson, confirmed to the Spotlight that her father was homeless and not in good health. The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner is to rule on the cause of death.)
Born in the Dominican Republic, Hernandez, 29, came to Miami with her mother when she was five years old. She graduated from St. Brendan High School and earned a degree from FIU and then a master’s in library science and information from the University of South Florida.
In 2017 she began working as a library assistant at the Pinecrest branch, where she met Book. “She infused me with passion about helping,” said Hernandez, “including a desire to help the homeless.”
Not everyone agrees with Hernandez’s approach. Commander Daniel Kerr, in charge of the Miami Police officers assigned to Coconut Grove, insists that services to the homeless are available. “Handouts to homeless men and women enable life on the streets,” he said, “sustaining their ability to live that way, in conditions that are not fit for humans.”
Hernandez does recognize the need for professional care, and often finds herself serving as a facilitator, urging patrons in need to explore available programs. “I try to build a rapport with people, to open a conversation,” she says. “I might say, ‘Let’s think long-term. Let’s think of a game plan.’”
Yet, she says, it is impossible to turn away. “My job as a librarian is to try to help,” she says. “If you’re starving and I have a granola bar, I’m going to give it to you. That’s an entryway to connecting people to resources.”
“I’m lucky. I sincerely enjoy what I do,” Hernandez says. “I’m aware enough to draw boundaries. But I also know there’s so much more that needs to be done. So much more that I want to do, with the intention of helping others, especially the most vulnerable. We’re here for each other.”