September 2020 NEWSLETTER
Welcome to the September 2020 edition of the Let’s Move in Libraries newsletter. This month we highlight:
- Grow your library garden to grow healthy communities
- Teaching how to cook at the library
- Falls Prevention Awareness Week
- Walking with the library
- Play Streets survey
- Book Bike Week 2020
Teaching how to cook at the library
Falls Prevention Awareness Week
Nicole Miller, Library Director of Minnesota’s Cannon Falls Library shares that she’s “planning to do a program in the parking lot with the ambulance department where I talk about factors that contribute to falling and how to fall safely (complete with demonstrations on mats), and the ambulance department will be there to answer questions for participants. This is something that libraries could conceivably do as a partnership, provided there’s someone with the expertise. I also talk about how better balance and strength are great fall preventatives” Nicole also recommends these videos about how to fall safely from Texas Woman’s University. Sharing these videos would be a way a library could participate in Falls Prevention Week even if the library can’t locate someone with appropriate expertise in balance and falls prevention.
Walking with the Library
How do you support walking and active outdoor activities in your community? Let us know! We’d love to feature you on social media, on our website, and in a forthcoming newsletter.
Play Streets Survey
Book Bike week 2020
Additional resources for HEAL programming at your library
Did you know our logo is free to use? It’s true! We just ask that you share back what you do with it. We want to thank Atlanta’s Fulton County Library System for using our logo in their online virtual programming. Every week the Fulton County Library System offers online Let’s Move in Libraries programs, and to support this important work, the library system has purchased t-shirts and signage that library staff can use for this programming. You can check out the Fulton County Library System’s Let’s Move in Libraries programming on their Facebook channel to learn more about their efforts, and to get inspired to try something new with the Let’s Move in Libraries logo at your library.
We’d love to thank the Fulton County Library System for continuing to offer great virtual programming during COVID-19. Advisory Board Member Christy Dyson reports that “We’re off and running with are Virtual Library Programming in the Fulton County Library System. We have several segments every day: Streaming story time, Fitness Tuesday (Let’s Move in Libraries), DIY Wednesday, Kitchen Chemistry for adults and teens as well as Zoom book clubs, books breaks and book reviews. I’m especially excited about Fitness Tuesday this allows us to use the let’s move platform extensively!”
Bring the logo to your library by downloading our logo and add it to your promotional materials. Just let us know how you use it! The easiest way is to tag us on social media.
We are also pleased to share that Healthy Living at the Library was published in Summer 2020. Take a look at the table of contents and consider adding this title to your library’s continuing education and development collection.
During the October 2019 meetings of our Advisory Groups, we decided to re-launch our online group on Facebook. We invite you to join the 100+ librarians already in the group. This is YOUR SPACE to ask questions, get advice, share successes and challenges, and generally get the support you need to make a difference in your community. Consider joining us, and if you have a question about chair-based, StoryWalk(r), or gardening, or any other program that includes movement and physical activity, go ahead and ask it in this group!
Before the COVID-19 Pandemic, we had been featuring a different program idea each month, including music and movement, hands-on gardening, chair-based exercises, and StoryWalk(R). Check these out! We’ll be back with more featured programs in future newsletters, many of them focused on healthy eating! Please reach out with ideas for future featured programs at any point.
About Let’s Move in Libraries!
In our June 2020 newsletter, we announced a permanent expansion in the scope of Let’s Move in Libraries. Our project was inspired by Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative, which focused on supporting Healthy Eating and Active Living (HEAL) among Americans. Mrs. Obama worked to increase physical activity and nutrition through museums, with the support of the U.S. Institute of Museum & Library Services. We now align Let’s Move in Libraries even closer to Mrs. Obama’s original vision by supporting both physical activity and food based programming and partnerships in public libraries. More information on this expansion and the ideas behind it can be found in our revised About Page. We would love your feedback at any point!
Let us know if there are other innovative things you’re doing that we haven’t featured! We want to shine a light on all the ways librarians are getting the word out on the power of movement and healthy living in library programming. You are always invited to reach out and share with us. Please also reminder to share with us any news on programs you may be offering. We always love hearing from you! Tag us on social media or email news directly through our website. We’d love to hear from you!
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Subscribe to the monthly Let’s Move in Libraries newsletter for monthly editions of success stories, educational opportunities, and food for thought that will deepen the impact of movement-based programs and services in public libraries. The Let’s Move in Libraries project focuses on how public libraries create opportunities for individuals of all ages and abilities to engage in healthy physical activity.