Hear from librarians who developed kits and collections focused on health and wellness, including seeds, sensory kits, exercise equipment, brain health kits, blood pressure monitor kits, and more. Learn more about this idea and how you too can Check out Health and Wellness at the Library.
During the first half of this hour-long session, you’ll learn how public librarians across the United States developed kits and collections focused on health and wellness. Presenters will highlight how they developed their kits, how you got them out, what impacts they’ve seen, and a few logistical considerations.
During the second half of the session, we’ll open the floor to you! How does your library promote health and wellness through unique kits or collections? What barriers have you faced? What resources did you draw upon? How can we all work together to help you achieve success?
Presenters include:
Amy Easley (she/her) is a Librarian at the Ross-Broadway Branch Library of Denver Public Library in Colorado. She is part of a group working to create the Denver Public Library Seed Collective, DPLs seed library. She is passionate about food access and sovereignty for all people.
Kristen Hillman (she/her) is the branch manager at the Ridgeland Public Library in Ridgeland, MS and is also in charge of adult programming. She loves creating dynamic, fun programs for all ages and ability levels. Take-and-make kits as well as hands-on instruction have been very popular at her library, as new take-and-makes for adults and seniors go out weekly and the library offers a variety of instruction to patrons, including Cricut Design 101 and Cricut for Classrooms to help new educators learn how to use the Cricut to benefit their classroom. Advocating for traditionally underserved groups is another passion of Kristen’s, as Mississippi continues to rank among the lowest in having a qualified, certified teacher in every classroom.
Katie Friedericks (she/her) has been a Kids Services Librarian at Greenwood Public Library since April, 2020, where my primary role is in collection development. I serve on the board of a local autism nonprofit, Autism Community Connection, and have past experience working for Indiana’s Family to Family Health Information Center.
Katie Ball (she/her) is the Special Projects Associate at the Sacramento Public Library in Sacramento, California. In her role, she oversees Health Literacy, including exercise, mindfulness, and health education programs for all ages. She has developed numerous health kits for the library collection, including Brain Health Kits, Alzheimer’s Kits, and Blood Pressure Monitor Kits. The Sacramento Public Library also gave away hundreds of Family Health Kits, Senior Health Kits, and Mindfulness Kits throughout library closures.