Tania says: I wanted to ask if you have any advice for finding library practicums that embrace WPL. I am a library student with previous experience as a case manager at a not-for-profit mental health organization. I am having difficulty finding library practicums combine librarianship and social work. The thing about library-social work collaboration is that… Continue reading Ask WPL: How can I find a library practicum that incorporates social work?
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Ask WPL: Social Work Interns and Patron Privacy
Heather asks: My questions/comments are about the balance between a patron's expectation of privacy vs. making them aware of available services. We have social work interns at my library a few days a week, for a few hours at a time. They have made connections with some of our regular patrons, either because library staff told… Continue reading Ask WPL: Social Work Interns and Patron Privacy
My library wants a social work intern! How do I make that happen?
by Mary Nienow Libraries are great places to host a social work intern. Because these are public spaces, librarians are faced with many of the challenges that come from being a place where people with numerous complexities in their lives come to for safety, warmth, connection, and information. Social workers use libraries to hold support… Continue reading My library wants a social work intern! How do I make that happen?
ALA 2015 Follow-up and Thanks!
Thanks to everyone who came to our conversation starter at ALA! We estimate 60-70 people in the audience, which was great. Mary and I were so glad to get to know and talk with so many of you. One of the most actionable items to come out of that conversation is connecting libraries with social… Continue reading ALA 2015 Follow-up and Thanks!
WPL in Public Libraries Magazine
WPL at ALA in San Francisco!
And we have a conversation starter at ALA in San Francisco! Right now it's just me and Mary, but you know I'm going to invite everyone I can think of who has some involvement in this work to participate, and hopefully we can build a panel. When the scheduler is up, I'll share a link… Continue reading WPL at ALA in San Francisco!
Two awesome articles on librarianship and social work
I can't tell you how excited I was to see this title: Westbrook, Lynn. 2015. "I'm Not a Social Worker": An Information Service Model for Working with Patrons in Crisis." Library Quarterly 85, no. 1: 6-25. Library Literature & Information Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost (accessed March 31, 2015). This has by far the best… Continue reading Two awesome articles on librarianship and social work
WPL Presentation Slides
Thanks very much to Professor Nicole Cooke and UIUC's GSLIS students in Information Services for Diverse Patrons for hosting the first ever virtual presentation on Whole Person Librarianship this morning! Here's a PDF of the slides: Whole Person Librarianship (As always, please cite me if you use anything from it.)
What is “Whole Person Librarianship”?
If you're visiting this page because you searched for "whole person librarianship" after seeing it on my ALA Emerging Leaders card, welcome! This post is for you. Whole Person Librarianship is a nascent set of principles and practices to embed social justice in every aspect of library work. It began as with this blog as… Continue reading What is “Whole Person Librarianship”?
Putting the Social in Social Science
Within the last couple of weeks, I've done an informal survey of LIS faculty interests across our most reputable PhD programs, based on how they present themselves in online profiles. To summarize my impression: virtually everyone outside of youth services (and to some extent archives, but that has always been its own world) is focused… Continue reading Putting the Social in Social Science
