Member Spotlight: Jennifer Romans, Smith Hill Library (Providence, RI)

Posted by Sarah Levin-Lederer on April 11th, 2025 Posted in: Member Spotlight
Tags: Focused Outreach, Member Spotlight

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Today’s blog is a guest spot with Jennifer Romans, Youth Services Specialist at Smith Hill Library in Providence, RI. NNLM R7 met Jennifer through Focused Outreach to Providence in 2024.

Tell us about your position and organization

I am the Youth Services Specialist at Smith Hill Library, part of Community Libraries of Providence in Providence, RI.  I work with youth, and on health issues, I work with all ages.  I am part of the Smith Hill Partners’ Initiative (SHPI), which is a group of non-profits, businesses, and some residents in the Smith Hill neighborhood.

About seven years ago, SHPI formed a Health and Wellness subcommittee, and I have been part of the subcommittee since its inception.  I currently lead the group.  We have worked very hard on behavioral health issues (mental health and substance use disorders) and the social determinants of health.  We wrote numerous grants and were able to provide resources to the public on issues such as low-income heating.  We met with the Department of Health, the Healthy Communities Office of the City of Providence, and presented to the Mayor’s Coalition on Behavioral Health about issues in Smith Hill. I am now a Member of the Mayor’s Coalition on Behavioral Health and the Providence Overdose Prevention Project subcommittee.

Also, we were able to get sports equipment for the library; such as basketballs, soccer balls, and footballs that youth can check out with their library cards.  You can’t operate in a vacuum; it has taken a community to help implement this work.

Tell us about your background and how you got involved with these organizations

My master’s is in Museum Education, specifically art museum education.  I think it’s very applicable to my work at the library because museum education is about educating around objects.  In the library, the books are the objects.

I grew up in Providence.  My mother regularly took me to our neighborhood library, Mt. Pleasant Library.  When I was job searching, I applied to the library and was hired.  My first children’s librarian growing up was the Senior Children’s Librarian when I started working.

I got involved in health and the SHPI Health and Wellness Committee because I was responding to lots of crises in the library.  I had many of parents asking for resources.  I had no training in behavioral health.  I wanted to find out about more resources and ways that people could get help.  I had conversations with lots of organizations and went to trainings, including getting certified in Youth Mental Health First Aid.

What about your work do you most want to share with the NNLM community?

I have worked on many community health initiatives.  In 2020, the SHPI Health and Wellness Committee got a grant for a community health worker for a year.  Initially we planned to have the person focus on behavioral health issues.  But, with Covid, we had to pivot.  Smith Hill had the second highest number of Covid cases in the state.  We had the community health worker set up Covid Testing in the library parking lot.  Residents could be tested and find out quickly if they were positive.  If someone tested positive, the community health worker would follow up and help get them items they needed.  When vaccines came out, the library offered vaccinations.  This is the work I am most proud of in my career.  It felt like such important work, during a global pandemic, to set up a site to test people, let them know they needed to isolate, and help them as they dealt with such a serious illness.

Last year (2024), Smith Hill Library started a grief group.  A facilitator came from the Providence Center.  100% of participants said they discovered the library was a safe place to talk about grief.  They felt that library staff were trusted people.  Some participants said that their stress level went down just walking into the building, knowing they were going to grief group.

Around 2019, I applied for, and the library received period products to keep in our public restrooms.  This was critical as we had girls coming to the library in bloodstained clothes, with no access or ability to purchase period products.  Some were missing school because of it.

The Smith Hill Block Party is an annual event every August.  SHPI puts it on with great help from our City Councilperson and the community.  The library is the host organization.  This past year 2,000 people attended.  We had over 65 community resource tables.  Many are health organizations.  We have organizations providing information on behavioral health, handing out Narcan, providing information about Alzheimer’s, doing blood pressure checks, vaccinating the public, letting people know about health insurance options, offering HIV/AIDS testing, and providing information about health centers and clinics.

Safety:

My motto is safety first.  No matter what else we are doing, it doesn’t matter if people don’t feel safe.  Largely, this means physical safety.

But, there is also safety of thought.  I spend a lot of time training volunteers on being welcoming and not getting into big conversations on their own political, moral, or religious beliefs.  No one entering the library has any duty to disclose his or her beliefs.  Everyone should feel the library is a safe and welcoming environment for all.  Everyone should be able to get the materials they need.  All patron’s thoughts and beliefs are safe in the library.

What special projects are you working on?

I am working with the SHPI Health and Wellness Committee on issues of food insecurity, housing insecurity, and behavioral health.  We hosting a community meal at the library next week.  We are also looking to do Narcan distribution and training, a food pantry, and flu vaccinations.  Additionally, the library is looking to offer a grief group with a trained facilitator again, as we have a waiting list.

What is your favorite NLM resource?

The graphic medicine collection is great. It helps people understand health issues at their level.  I think graphic novels that deal with behavioral health are so important in letting young patrons understand that they are not alone.

How does the NNLM help you do your work? And what is one word that you would use to describe the NNLM?

NNLM provides resources.  The information about spotting health misinformation is really helpful and important.   One word- resourceful 

What is the coolest thing about where you are?

The patrons are the coolest thing about the library.  Smith Hill is such a great community.  Community members have big hearts and are strong advocates.

I think one of the best things about Rhode Island is that it is so small that if you want to be involved in something, there are lots of opportunities.

If you could have a dinner party and invite 3 people from any part of history past, present or future, who would you invite?

Emily Dickinson, George Bernard Shaw, and my late husband.