A Resilient New Year!

The New Year is a celebration of new beginnings.  This may be especially true as we welcome 2021, which we hope will be a resilient New Year. Resilience sustains us through adversity by cultivating practices that help us cope … and 2020 was nothing if not full of adversity.

How can we practice resilience in the New Year? Psychologists define resilience as “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress—such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors.”¹ This doesn’t mean we deny reality but instead we develop the strong coping skills needed to deal with harsh realities. Fortunately, resilience is something we can cultivate and grow. These featured books offer helpful tips for your resiliency garden.

In Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness, New York Times bestselling author Dr. Rick Hanson provides a roadmap to develop resilience. In a society that is so often toxic and unwelcoming, Dr. Anneliese A. Singh, Tulane University’s first Associate Provost for Diversity and Faculty Development and a prolific author, offers skills to gain resilience in The Queer and Transgender Resilience Workbook. Noted Black mental health expert, Dr. Rheeda Walker, illuminates how to attain what she describes as “psychological fortitude” in The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health: Navigate an Unequal System, Learn Tools for Emotional Wellness, and Get the Help you Deserve.

Each of us can benefit from cultivating resilience, so let’s make 2021 a resilient New Year! To learn more about these books and their authors – and to find related helpful information from the National Library of Medicine and other authoritative sources – visit NNLM Reading Club’s Mental Health Resilience page.

¹American Psychological Association. (2020, February 1). Building your resilience. http://www.apa.org/topics/resilience

New Class Alert: Consumer Health Collection Management - On Demand

NTO is pleased to announce a new class, especially for public library staff looking to update their health collections! Please share with your regions.

Consumer Health Collection Management - On demand is a 4 credit, on demand course taught in Moodle.

This course reviews collection management principles and resources for health-related collections in public libraries. Watch a recorded presentation and complete 2 assignments to evaluate your own library's health collection, and consider how you can improve your health related materials to better serve your community. This class includes a downloadable list of authoritative health information resources in both .html and .docx formats that you can customize for your library.

Addressing Attitudes and Science Mistrust During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Thursday, January 28^th 11:30am - 1:30pm
This national webinar will include our very own NLM Director, Dr. Patricia Flatley Brennan, RN, PhD, and the Q&A will be moderated by Ms. Anna Kuchment, Science Reporter for the Dallas Morning News. Participants will be able to submit written questions during the Q&A and selected questions will be addressed by panelists. Registration is free and will be required for all attendees. 

CHIS Spotlight - Kelly Gonzalez

Position: Library Technician II Institution: McGoogan Health Sciences Library, University of Nebraska Medical Center Please share a few sentences about your position and what you do. I am part of the AskUs team at my library. I provide primarily circulation and reference services to our students and faculty, the hospital community, and the general public. I serve both educational research needs as well as support consumer and patient access to health information. Why did you want to receive Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS)?     I wanted to earn my CHIS specialization because I was new to medical libraries and providing consumer health. After starting my position, I realized how unique health resources are. I felt an obligation to provide the best information I could, and although I had great research skills, I wanted to be able to apply them to the health field more accurately. How have you used what you learned in NNLM CHIS courses in your work?     I can find information much quicker and know that it is unbiased and accurate because I have an extended bibliography of quality resources to use. I have taken some tools and shared them with my co-workers to benefit our whole department. I also have implemented many accessibility ideas into my daily communications and research for the public too better reach all types of people. Why do you feel providing health information is important to your work/community? I have become more aware of the marginalized populations who struggle to access information because of language, education, age, or other barriers. Being able to be an extended support structure and provide quality information for free in a format they can understand is such a relief to people. Any tips or advice you have for someone interested in taking classes to achieve CHIS? Sign up early! Classes fill up quickly. Also plan to spend quality time on the course work. These are not fluff classes. They are engaging and require serious thought but will help you look at health information and its limitations in a new way.