The April 2022 newsletter of Let’s Move in Libraries includes information about:

• A free symposium on food and librarianship
• Our food and public libraries survey
• A nature and librarianship online conversation
• Resources to support nature connections in libraries
• A Library of Things webinar
• An inspiring story from North Carolina
• SustainRT citation for wellness in the workplace

This month’s featured image is Sarah Anderson, Heritage Diets Curriculum Coordinator for Oldways, A Food And Nutrition Nonprofit Helping People Live Healthier, Happier Lives. Sarah leads outreach and site coordination for Oldways’ heritage diet programs: A Taste of African Heritage (ATOAH), A Children’s Taste of African Heritage (ACTOAH), and A Taste of Latin American Heritage (ATOLAH). Specifically, Sarah is responsible for fostering relationships with partner organizations, including public library partners, and for maintaining and overseeing class data entry and tracking.

Sarah will be the keynote speaker of Gather at the Virtual Table: Community Conversations on Food and Librarianship, a free, online, half-day event taking place May 12. All are welcome to join this interactive event on how food and librarianship can (and do!) come together! This event builds upon a series of informal, online conversations among a group of librarians and library partners interested in and working on this topic.

After Sarah’s keynote address, participants will move into break-out rooms to discuss contemporary needs and opportunities associated with supporting food literacy and food access in public libraries. To help ensure this event aligns with your interests, the registration form asks you to specify what you’d like to learn more about at the event.

Sign up here! All are welcome to join this event. Please share the announcement widely.

Our food and public libraries survey

Modeled on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm to School Census, Dr. Nicole Peritore of the Public Health Education program at Augusta (GA) University, and former Senior Specialist for Family Health at the University of Kentucky Extension, collaborated with Noah Lenstra to create this Public Library Food Service Census.

During the month of April 2022, we are asking public library workers across North America to share with us:

• How your library currently supports food literacy and food access
• How your library has supported food literacy and food access in the past
• What resources you may need to better support food literacy and food access at your library

Results of this Census will be shared in future Let’s Move in Libraries newsletters, and online.

We hope to use this data to drive forward the conversation on food and librarianship, and to create stronger partnerships with allied sectors in schools, agriculture, and health.

The survey is now available online, and will be open throughout the month of April.

Please take some time to share add your library to this Public Library Food Service Census.

An upcoming “Nature Programming” conversation

Step into Summer by getting inspired to support connections to nature at your library! On April 13 at 1 p.m. Eastern we will hold in Zoom our next Nature Programming Conversation.

More than 70 people joined our first two community conversation on this topic. The first, in January, led by Kelly Senser, Programming coordinator for Loudoun County Public Library, Virginia, and the second, in March, led by Kasi Allen, Youth Services Librarian, Twin Falls (Idaho) Public Library.

This event will be co-lead by Jana Hill. Adult Services Manager, Fort Worth (TX) Public Library, and Deborah Dutcher, Youth and Adult Services Consultant at the New Hampshire State Library.

Sign up here!

Resources to support nature connections via libraries

Recently, the Blue Marble Librarians, an initiative of the Massachusetts Library System, published Ecological and Sustainability Minded Story Walks as part of its blog series on Climate Preparedness in Libraries. Corey Farrenkopf, Librarian at Eastham Library, shares how “creating ecological and sustainably-minded StoryWalks that can both highlight your library offerings and get patrons thinking about their active role in local ecosystems/environments.”

The blog post is excellent! Take a look and get inspired to weave ecological and sustainable thinking into your library’s StorWalk programming.

Elsewhere, in California, Infopeople held a webinar on Using Neighborhood Science to Engage Your Community featuring examples of California librarians working to create a “sustainable environment by recognizing that environmental issues are not an abstract concept; they are all around us, endangering our health and wellbeing.” This webinar is truly excellent! You can watch the full conversation for free on the Infopeople website.

Finally, if you are a nature champion at your library, consider nominating yourself or a colleague for the Children & Nature Network’s Richard Louv Prize for Innovation in Nature Connection. The Richard Louv Prize for Innovation in Nature Connection is open to any individual doing exemplary work to advance equitable access to nature in their community or region. C&NN created The Richard Louv Prize to honor the visionary leadership and contributions of its co-founder and Chair Emeritus, Richard Louv. Applications are due April 12, 2022. Learn more and nominate someone.

A Library of Things webinar

On March 16, librarians from California, Colorado, Indiana, Mississippi, shared how and why they developed kits and collections focused on health and wellness.

Learn more about this idea and how you too can Check out Health and Wellness at the Library in the webinar recording, now online.

Have an idea for a future webinar, or expertise you want to share? Consider filling out our Let’s Move in Libraries Experts Form to share your expertise!

This webinar was organized by librarians who took the time to fill out the form.

We want to connect the dots and bring people together to pool our resources and expertise!

Inspiration from North Carolina

We want to thank Victoria ‘Toria’ Hungerford of the Craven-Pamlico Regional Library in New Bern, North Carolina, for sharing this inspiring story with us!

Victoria writes: “In January this year, we kicked off the 2022 year with a yoga and meditation class called, ‘Still the Body, Still the Mind…Stretch the Body, Stretch the Mind’, originally scheduled to be offered once a month. The class offers a relaxing meditation, and moves into a gentle chair stretch, followed by a book share. We display health and wellness books in the back of the room, promote other library programs, as well as promote library resources such as Universal Class.

We have had such a huge response to the class that we added another class of yoga in February and March, so now we have classes twice a month. Since the community is requesting more, we will be adding a Tai Chi class in April. We also offer this class as an outreach program to the Senior Centers and nursing homes in the Craven-Pamlico counties.”

We also want to thank Toria for including the Let’s Move in Libraries logo in her event flyers! Did you know that you too can use our logo? Anyone can!

It’s a great way to build community, and to build momentum around the idea that libraries can be catalysts of community health!

Get the logo here.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out our HEAL (Healthy Eating, Active Living) at the Library webpage, where we’re continuously adding new case studies. Our most recent case study comes from the Rutherford County Library System, also in North Carolina, where library staff worked with Cooperative Extension Agents, the Charlie Cart Project, an Outdoor Coalition, and a Hospital Foundation to bring to the community everything from bilingual health books to StoryWalks, from exercise equipment to cooking classes.

SustainRT Citation for Wellness in the Workplace

We know that taking care of our communities requires taking care of ourselves.

To that end, we encourage you to nominate your library for the SustainRT Citation for Wellness in the Workplace! Nominations are due April 15, 2022.

About the Award: In recognition of the fact that library staff are our greatest asset in building and supporting sustainable libraries and communities, the ALA Sustainability Roundtable (SustainRT) is recognizing libraries that go above and beyond in meeting the wellness needs of their staff with the SustainRT Citation for Wellness in the Workplace. All ALA members are invited to nominate any library whose efforts to meet the needs of their staff in the areas of continuing education and creating a positive work environment have advanced sustainability and encouraged wellness. This may include wellness initiatives for unions, gender equity, pay equity, and other activities designed to improve the salaries and status of library professionals. The SustainRT Citation for Wellness in the Workplace was initiated by ALA past Loida Garcia-Ferbo.

Call For Nominations: To acknowledge the fact that library staff are our greatest asset in building and supporting sustainable libraries and communities, the ALA Sustainability Roundtable (SustainRT) is recognizing libraries that go above and beyond in meeting the wellness needs of their staff with the SustainRT Citation for Wellness in the Workplace. All ALA members are invited to nominate any library who has made efforts to meet the needs of their staff in the areas of continuing education, wellness, positive work environment, unions, salaries, gender equity, pay equity initiatives, and other activities designed to improve the salaries and status of librarians and other library workers. The 2021 Citation was awarded to the Westerville Public Library for their work in addressing pay equity to provide a living wage to all library staff. SustainRT Citation for Wellness in the Workplace was initiated by ALA past president Loida Garcia-Ferbo. SustainRT will honor the winning library or organization with a plaque recognizing their efforts to promote wellness during the American Library Association (ALA) 2022 Annual Conference at the SustainRT Membership Meeting.

Complete the  nomination form to nominate a library for the SustainRT Citation for Wellness in the Workplace.

Link to Citation page including past recipients.

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