Niche Academy Webinar – Whole Person Librarianship
In normal times, a library’s relationship-based reference collection empowers librarians to direct patrons with the greatest needs to the resources that best help them—which sometimes includes an in-house social worker. In our current state of crisis, the relationship-based reference collection can be the foundation for ensuring library patrons continue to receive the information they need.
The first book on library-social work collaboration, Whole Person Librarianship: A Social Work Approach to Patron Services, was published last year by a practicing librarian, Sara Zettervall, and a social work professor, Mary Nienow. It provides research-based guidance on establishing relationship-based reference collections through library-social service partnerships, while also providing helpful information on maintaining professional boundaries so those partnerships are complementary, not burdensome.
In this webinar, Sara Zettervall covers the basics of library-social work collaboration to help you determine if this approach may help your community stay safe together.
Click the link below to download the presentation slides:
Whole Person Librarianship.pdf
Sara K. Zettervall, MLIS, MFA, is founding consultant and trainer at Whole Person Librarianship. She is the co-author (with Mary C. Nienow) of Whole Person Librarianship: A Social Work Approach to Patron Services. She currently works at a public library in Minneapolis, MN, serving East African immigrants and refugees. Sara instructs library staff across the nation and world on applying social work concepts to improve library services and has led community-engaged projects in public, academic, and school libraries and archives. She is the 2017 winner of the Bogle Pratt International Travel Fund, a 2014 American Library Association Emerging Leader, and has published on outreach and social justice in Public Libraries, VOYA, American Libraries, Library Youth Outreach, and Progressive Librarian.
Whole Person Librarianship 