Holyoke Consumer Health Library, Inc. Progress Reports 2003-2004

During 2003 we opened our pilot library at 329 Main Street, Holyoke. [For our history 2000-2002, see copy of our previous website at /oldsite.] The pilot library was within the Centro Agricola run by Nuestras Raíces. Starting February 19, 2003, Sandy Ward spent Wednesday mornings there processing and arranging the books and other resources we had acquired through donations and purchases. The collection was arranged in four sections:

This arrangement was based loosely on the Planetree system (used by Planetree consumer health libraries) rather than using Dewey, Cutter, LC, or NLM systems.

Publicity: By March 2003 we began designing simple business cards, printable on a home computer. By April we realized the benefit and cost-effectiveness of having business cards professionally produced. Sandy ordered a supply from Hadley Printing, Holyoke. On April 10, the Holyoke Plus section of the Union-News published a very nice article about our project. Latin Beat reporter Natalia Arbulú had interviewed us a few weeks before and wrote the article, complete with photograph.

Website: By March 2003, Sandy had revised Anita Smith's design slightly, enlarging the font and adding a navigation bar to every page. The Spanish language page was revised and improved. Statistics of website usage are available for April 2003-present in a variety of formats. (Sandy has printout of statistics from previous period: October 2002-March 2003).

Minutes of HCHL Meetings:
February 10, 2003 meeting. Minutes.
March 10, 2003 meeting. Minutes.
October 6, 2003 meeting. Agenda.
Annual Meeting, October 27, 2003, at Holyoke Public Library. Minutes.
November 17, 2003, meeting re literacy and reading levels. Minutes.
January 26, 2004, meeting re organizational assessment. Minutes.
March 15, 2004, meeting and Workshop with Michelle Eberle, NN/LM. Minutes.

What's New?
April 2004: We prepared for a new phase. We began seeking grant funding for staff -- not for our pilot library, but for a more central location. A new vision is emerging: a network of "modules" coordinated by a health librarian/project manager working out of a larger organization. (e.g., Holyoke Health center or the Holyoke Public Library). Each "module" would have 3 components:
  1. a virtual library (our www.holyokehealth.info website)
  2. a reference shelf (selected handbooks, dictionaries, guides)
  3. training and mentoring in the use of 1. and 2. above
Imagine a module at the Council on Aging, with #2 tailored to the health needs of seniors... and a module at the Teen Center, with #2 tailored to the health needs of teenagers... and a module at Mercy Women's Health Center, tailored to the health needs of women, and pregnant and parenting teens...etc. Our present pilot library could be converted to such a module. Instead of providing a volunteer to "staff" the pilot library two hours/week, we would train existing staff at Nuestras Raíces, thereby increasing the hours of access to the entire week. Key to this new vision is a paid staff person (ideally a bilingual and experienced health sciences librarian) serving as a "hub" of this network and providing training and backup reference service for each satellite site.

August 2004: We got the grant! The National Library of Medicine funded our project to improve access to electronic health Information for the public. We are now actively recruiting candidates for a part-time grant-funded position: Holyoke Consumer Health Information Coordinator. See the Position description and NLM announcement of the funding: 40 projects in 24 states.

September 2004: News page created. See the News page for Sept-Dec 2004 for the next stage of our history.

HOME

This webpage is provided by Holyoke Consumer Health Library, Inc.
For questions or comments about this webpage, please contact Sandy Ward.