Poster presentation

1. Health and wellness programming is a popular trend in
public libraries, but seldom offered in hospital libraries
despite health and wellness being top of mind for
health care staff.
The aim of this program was to promote the library as
a place and source of wellness that is sensitive to staff
and student needs.
What?
• St. Michael’s Hospital, downtown Toronto
• 6000 staff; 3,500 students; 780 physicians
The Health Sciences Library
• Available for staff, physicians, students, & volunteers
• 3.5 information specialists
• 3.5 technicians
• 1 team leader, 1 manager
Why?
How?
Library marketing committee members partnered with
staff in the Corporate Health and Safety Department to
plan a schedule of events and book appropriate
facilitators.
Marketing for the event was done through the library’s
social media accounts, flyers, and corporate channels
such a daily all-staff email. The Corporate Health and
Safety Department promoted the events through their
intranet page, and the Corporate Communications
department offered assistance with promotion of some
of the events as the initiative supported a corporate
mandate to promote wellness among hospital staff.
All events were held in the Library or just outside in the
Information Commons space.
Who?
The Events and Results
Our health sciences library partnered with the hospital’s
corporate health and safety department to offer a series
of events to help hospital staff and students manage
stress and focus on wellness, while simultaneously
promoting the library space and services. The series was
titled, “Quiet Down @ the Library”
Six events were scheduled. Due to long waitlists, some
events were repeated and in the end we delivered a total
of 10 events.
Quiet Down at the Library:
A Stress Reduction Program Series
Sandy Iverson, Bridget Morant
Event: Mindfulness Meditation
Facilitator: Hospital employee with experience teaching
stress reduction.
Total Attendees: 28
Notes: This event was held twice due to popular
demand.
Event: Desk Yoga
Facilitator: Corporate Health and Wellness employee
Total Attendees: 28
Notes: This event was held twice due to popular
demand.
Event: Holiday Crafts
Facilitator: Library staff
Total Attendees: 20
Notes: Very simple set up with craft materials.
Event: Wii Games
Facilitator: Library staff
Total Attendees: 10
Notes: This was our least popular event.
We provided library
resources in conjunction
with these events.
Two resource guides were
created (pictured right):
“Health and Wellness for
Health Professionals” and
“Mindfulness Meditation”.
We also collected several
wellness books for our
Popular Health and Science
collection.
This poster was present at all of the events.
Approximately 500 people attended Quiet Down @ the Library events, and
there was a wide range of representation, from administrative staff,
students, and clinicians.
Many events were held multiple times due to high demand. To this day,
requests are still coming in for a repeat of our most popular event: Therapy
Dogs. The library is currently working on a schedule to offer it again.
Formal evaluations were not collected, but feedback from attendees was
overwhelming positive.
Some registrants needed directions to the library and/or never interacted
with library staff before.
Our promotional flyer. This is the rug, coffee table and chair in the library’s entrance.
Event: Therapy Dogs
Facilitators: Abby (Golden Doodle), Scarlet (Australian
Shephard), Annie (English Lab)
Library staff organized the event through St. John’s
Ambulance Therapy Dog program.
Total Attendees: 370 (on an average day we have 65
people come through our doors during these hours)
Notes: This has been the single most popular library
event to-date.
Event: Stress Reduction 101
Facilitator: Library user who had experience teaching on
this topic
Total Attendees: 28
Notes: Although scheduled once, this event was held
three times to accommodate a very large waitlist.
From left to right: Scarlet, Abby, and Annie getting lots of love from St. Michael’s employees
Other
71%
Front
Line Staff
29%
WHO ATTENDEDIn general, more non-front line staff
were able to attend the sessions, most
likely due to the busy schedules of
front-line workers. The events that
were attended the most by front line
staff included Stress Reduction 101 and
Mindfulness Meditation.
Besides the therapy dog event, sessions
that were structured and required
registration were much more popular
with staff.
Our “Keep Calm and Use the Library” poster was always present at events
so attendees who didn’t have an opportunity to interact with staff could
passively learn about some library services.
Overall, we count this series as a success.