The March 2025 newsletter of Let’s Move in Libraries includes:

• How to learn about cultivating libraries as community hubs for social connections
• How to share your knowledge about social prescribing and public libraries
• The announcement of StoryWalk Week 2025
• The release of a new report on public libraries as community partners
• How to join our monthly Birds of a Feather online conversations

This month’s featured image comes from the new Safe Routes to Libraries initiative.

Libraries are vital community hubs, but transportation barriers can make them difficult to access—especially in rural areas. The new Safe Routes to Libraries initiative, a partnership between The Association for Rural & Small Libraries, the Urban Libraries Council, and the Safe Routes Partnership, aims to improve walkability, safety, and infrastructure around libraries. To help shape this effort, we invite you to complete the Safe Routes to Libraries Survey by Friday, March 7. Your insights will be crucial in making libraries safer and more accessible for all!

Take the survey now!

Your input is crucial.

We also invite you to make 2025 the year of Safe Routes to Libraries! Watch the recording of a webinar held in February 2025 to learn more about this critical topic: How Public Libraries are Advancing Safe Routes Advocacy, Funding, and Programming. The webinar recording and slides are now available on our website (scroll to the bottom). You can find additional resources on the Safe Routes to Libraries webpage.

How to learn about cultivating libraries as community hubs for social connections

Our colleagues Healthy Places by Design invites you to join a free webinar on March 25, 2025 featuring Jamar O. Rahming, Executive Director of Wilmington Institute Free Library, the public library in Wilmington, Delaware.

Don’t miss the Cultivating Community Hubs for Social Connection webinar which will be hosted by Healthy Places by Design on March 25 from 3-4 pm ET. Community hubs are places where people of all backgrounds can gather to socialize, learn and work together, and develop trusting relationships. Community hubs can make it easier to feel a sense of belonging. Often, people think about community centers, parks, and schools as community hubs, and they certainly are. Many other community spaces and organizations can also serve that role—even those initiated for other reasons, like libraries and YMCAs. In this session, you’ll hear how the Wilmington (DE) Institute Free Library and the Greensboro (NC) YMCA expanded their missions and purposefully expanded beyond the walls of their buildings to create intergenerational and cross-neighborhood connection opportunities that reduce social isolation and increase a sense of wellbeing. Their experiences can inspire other organizations to serve as community hubs, as well.

Register for the webinar and and be sure to hold time on your calendars to join the post-webinar discussion group on the same day from 4-5 pm ET where you can engage in deeper discussions with presenters and peers about the webinar topic. A link to join the discussion group will be provided during the webinar.

To learn more about Healthy Places by Design’s Socially Connected Communities Network, visit the webpage or contact them directly.

How to share your knowledge about social prescribing and public libraries

Ivory Rose, OTD, Healthcare Engagement Lead at Social Prescribing USA, and Rebecca Hass, Programming and Outreach Manager at Anne Arundel County Public Library, have teamed up to gather insights about the intersections of social prescribing and public libraries!

The announcement of StoryWalk Week 2025