Checking-in with Graphic Medicine in R7

Posted by Sarah Levin-Lederer on June 16th, 2025 Posted in: Blog, Graphic Medicine
Tags: Community of Interest, graphic medicine, Member Spotlight

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We’re a month and a half into our 2025-2026 year, so let’s check-in with R7’s ongoing Graphic Medicine initiative and what could be coming up this year.

Existing Resources

Last year, with the help of SCSU intern Bria Lemon-Johnson, we created a new Graphic Medicine Resources Guide. This guide includes links to partner resources including collection development and programming ideas. If you have resources you’d like to share with the NNLM community, please reach out and we can add it.

In addition to the Graphic Medicine Resource Guide, Region 7 has services and resources that are maintained by the region or are only available to R7 partners. On the R7 Graphic Medicine page you can:

• Join an international graphic medicine listserv
• Find information about Graphic Medicine Book Club Kits—a free program in a box
• And more!

The NNLM Reading Club provides information on a different health topic each month, books that cover that topic, and supporting materials including discussion guides to help libraries and other organizations bring people together to improve health literacy. Graphic Medicine titles are often included in Reading Club selections. This month’s focus on Loneliness and Isolation includes Seek You by Kristen Radtke and supporting materials.

Get Involved

Beyond signing up for the listserv or requesting a book club kit, there are a lot of active ways to connect with the Graphic Medicine work that R7 supports.

Join the NNLM R7 Graphic Medicine Community of Interest (COI). The COI provides members with the opportunity to support R7’s Graphic Medicine Initiative while also connecting with other folks from across the region working Graphic Medicine. The group meets quarterly and every meeting includes time for peer-to-peer discussion.

Contribute a Member Spotlight post to the R7 blog. We’re always looking for partners interested in sharing what they’re doing and how they work with NLM/NNLM. We’ve even spotlighted several Graphic Medicine Partners including Nevins Memorial Library and Alice Stokes from the Dana Library at UVM.

And What Comes Next?

This year, we’re looking to highlight Graphic Medicine programs with guest speakers on a variety of topics through the Region 7 presents series.

Last year, we also supported several Graphic Medicine Virtual Book discussions and we’d like to bring more of these interactive opportunities to R7 and the Network as a whole.

Stay tuned for announcements of upcoming events. If you’re not already subscribed to the R7 weekly newsletter, now is a good time to join, so you don’t miss anything.

And if you have any questions, suggestions, or want to get involved, please reach out to nnlm-region7@umassmed.edu.