Visit us on Facebook Visit us on Twitter View our RSS Feed 
Sep
23
Posted by benniefinch on September 23rd, 2024
Posted in: Blog
The Association for Rural and Small Libraries held their Annual Conference, Libraries are (r)Evolutionary, in Springfield, Massachusetts, September 11-14, 2024. We were fortunate that the conference was within driving distance from our Regional Medical Library which made it possible for three of our coordinators to attend. We enjoyed catching up with many members and partners throughout the conference from Region 7 and around the country. The #ARSL conference planning team did a wonderful job making the conference welcoming and easy to navigate.
Margot Malachowski led our efforts with exhibiting this year. We heard about great partnerships from around the country. It was exciting to hear how libraries are supporting their communities with health information and health information outreach.
We were delighted to connect with several of our Region 7 members including funded partners and others who we have met through focused outreach, classes, and other NNLM activities. For some of our members, we were meeting in person for the first time. We also found the conference Whova App a helpful way of connecting with folks who were attending both virtually and in-person.
Sarah Levin-Lederer presented “Environmental Health at Your Library with Resources from NLM and NNLM” with Kate Gomes from Holbrook (MA) Public Library. You can access the slides from their presentation which includes some great examples of resources on environmental health, including how libraries are working collaboratively through groups like the Blue Marble Librarians in Massachusetts and independently. There are several examples of how individual libraries are incorporating climate resilient programming such as a free winter coat rack and library gardens.
Bennie Finch presented a Spark Talk “Ready Programming to Support Health Literacy with the NNLM Reading Club”. There were four spark talks in the session about programming, so it was great to hear about the innovative work of libraries and programs to engage patrons in fun learning activities. She had the opportunity to share about the online toolkit provided each month by the NNLM Reading Club Team and NNLM Reading Club Advisory Group which provides the resources needed to host a book discussion, including book suggestions, curated health information, marketing materials and a book discussion guide. Bennie was also able to share some NLM health information resources that can be used in conjunction or separately from the Reading Club materials. You can find the slides for this presentation.
If you are interested in connecting on the presentations we shared or with any of our resources, please reach out!
ABOUT benniefinch