A Health Library for Holyoke, MA

Progress Reports

For current news, see recent progress report entries on another page.

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Progress Reports, January - June 2001

1/8/01
Third general meeting held Monday, January 8, 2001, 1:30-3:00 pm, City Hall Annex, 4th Floor Conference Room. Reviewed Vision exercise from previous meeting and discussed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and dangers of the model we had envisioned. Daniel Ross, Executive Director of Nuestras Raices, spoke of the space that could be used at El Centro Agricola, 329 Main Street. He and Luis Saez, Coordinator of Environmental Education for Nuestras Raices, expressed strong interest in collaborating with the health library project. Nuestras Raices is a non-profit organization that has supported community gardens in Holyoke for over 5 years. 85 families (primarily Spanish-speaking) participate. Nuestras Raices also educates people about environmental problems and related health effects, so the idea of creating a small Spanish-language health library there makes sense. It might be an ideal starting project for us. We hope to meet there next time and see the potential library space.

1/12/01
Jim Craig forwarded this news item from Medical Library Association's MLA-Focus:
NEW MLA CONSUMER HEALTH CREDENTIAL: In conjunction with this week's "The Public Library and Consumer Health" conference presented in Washington, DC, by the MLA, the Public Library Association, and the National Library of Medicine, MLA has launched its Consumer Health Credential (CHC) for librarians. Visit http://mlanet.org/education/chc/ for detailed information about the program, including credential levels, applications, and a downloadable brochure.

Next Meeting: Monday, February 5, 2001, 1:30-3:00 pm
Nuestras Raices, 329 Main Street (corner of Cabot), Holyoke.
We will see the library space (still under construction) within El Centro Agricola and discuss possibilities for collaboration with Nuestras Raices in creating a consumer health library collection and service there. See note re Jan 8 meeting above.

2/05/01
The snowstorm kept most people from today's meeting, so we are rescheduling it. Heather Warner, Sandy Ward, and Daniel Ross compared calendars and picked Monday March 12, 1:30-3pm, for the next meeting at Nuestras Raices. We toured the proposed library space and brainstormed about what might be needed to get started. Sandy thinks she can arrange a gift of surplus shelving from her college; Daniel has a truck for transporting the shelving, and fortunately Nuestras Raices has adequate storage in the basement to store this shelving until the library room is ready.

2/20/01

Sandy Ward attended the CHNA meeting and thanked the CHNA members for considering a donation of money to the consumer health library project. Ruth Jacobson-Hardy suggested an alternative funding source, and Sandy agreed. The library project should draw additional funds into Holyoke, rather than competing with other deserving CHNA projects. Sandy will pursue alternatives.

2/21/01
Library shelving donated by Mount Holyoke College was dismantled by Sandy Ward, Daniel Ross, and Jaime Iglesias and transported to Nuestras Raices for storage until needed by the library project. Total: 50 shelves (36" x 9"), 10 wall-mount supports, 100 end pieces (2 per shelf).

3/12/01
We had a successful meeting with ten participants. We toured the Nuestras Raices site and began to plan how to create a pilot consumer health library in this location. We wrote down tasks that need to be accomplished and began to group the tasks in logical, chronological sequences. We compiled lists of desired equipment and collections. Heather Warner will type up the minutes. Minutes. Sandy Ward will draft a proposal for consideration by the Board of Directors of Nuestras Raices. Arnie Malin will investigate possible donation of some equipment from his employer. Jayne Hannay will continue to scout for funding sources (grant opportunities). Elba Piedra will investigate sources of free information from doctors. And we'll meet again next week: Next meeting: TUESDAY, March 20, 1:30-3:00 pm, Nuestras Raices, 329 Main St, Holyoke. Please come join us! All welcome!

3/20/01
Another good meeting. We reviewed the groups of tasks, discussed the timeline, and began to match names of volunteers with specific tasks. We talked about the benefit of doing some site visits to existing consumer health libraries. We presented our written proposal to the Nuestras Raices office. It will be considered by their Board in April.

3/26/01
We are invited to an OPEN HOUSE at the ARCH resource center in Revere, MA. for Thursday March 29, 8:00am-6pm. www.mgh.harvard.edu/library/arch/. Directions. Sandy Ward called Ming Sun, Health Educator at ARCH, and expressed interest in their project -- even if the distance from Holyoke may be too far for a visit at this time. (Let Sandy know if you wish to go; if several of us decide to go, the trip seems more reasonable.)

4/11/01

Daniel Ross called to report that the Nuestras Raices Board is very excited by our proposal. The vote at Monday night's meeting was unanimous! Note that Nuestras Raices is developing a website.

Next meeting of health library planning group: WEDNESDAY, April 18, 9:00-10:30 am, Nuestras Raices, 329 Main St, Holyoke. Please come join us! All welcome! We'll be celebrating --with good coffee, coffee cake, and fruit-- the Board approval of space for our pilot project.

Optional site visit afterwards: Consumer Health Library (Baystate Medical Center) at 3300 Main St, Springfield, Baystate Medical Center. 11:00 am - noon, April 18. We'll carpool from Holyoke, or you can go independently and meet us there.

4/19/01
We had a lively meeting yesterday and very informative site visit. Whether or not to prepare a proposal in response to the NN/LM's Spring Outreach RFP (deadline April 30) was debated. The opportunity for funding is tempting; organizationally, we are not quite ready. We need to seek collaboration with already established agencies or groups, especially a medical library. After the meeting, much phone calling and consultation was done. Many ideas were generated and many reasons to apply (or not) were discussed. Stay tuned...next week may be VERY busy if we leap for this.

4/26/01
We decided not to pursue the NN/LM grant, but some good progress was made in preparing for future grant-writing.

4/30/01
Good news: 1) A woman in a Northampton church offered to donate a used computer and printer for our project (and store it 'til needed). 2) A friend in Granby will donate 2 racks for holding pamphlets or small books. 3) There's a NEW grant opportunity that may be helpful for our Holyoke consumer health library project: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-LM-01-002.html [Update: we called NLM about this grant on May 24 and were advised instead to apply for an Information Access/Information System Grant. Deadlines: June 1, Oct 1, Feb 1 every year. ]

5/24/01
In May, we met at the Lower Pioneer Valley Prevention Center Resource Library. Thursday, May 24, 2001, 2:00-4:00 pm, 3rd floor, Conference Room, 235 Chestnut St, Springfield.

6/4/01
The administrators of the Holyoke Health Center (HHC) invited Sandy Ward to tour their future site at the corner of Dwight and Maple Streets. Miguel Arce led a tour through the three buildings involved in Phases 1, 2, and 3. The Phase 1 building is in the process of renovation right now. It is (will be) fully occupied, including a pharmacy on the first floor. Miguel pointed out some possible locations for a health library in either Phase 2 or 3. The most accessible option would be within the huge first-floor space of the Phase 2 building (former main showroom of Epstein Furniture company). They wish to retain the openness of this grand space and its fancy columns. That openness would pose a challenge for the library (how to secure computers and collections at all hours that the whole space is open); Miguel wondered aloud about a way to close one module within the space.Then we went to the Phase 3 building and looked as several separate rooms (adjacent offices on second floor overlooking High St). We even greeted Mr. William Epstein, who rents an office there. Interesting possibilities for the future. [We did not discuss timelines, rents, or any other details --just a quick walk thru of the physical space to observe the status of the renovation and see what's where in the HHC plans.]

6/4/01
Sandy Ward met with Tom Schab, a local lawyer who has provided pro bono services for many non-profit organizations in Holyoke. He also is currently the President of the Board of the Holyoke Public Library, a fortuitous coincidence. He listened with interest to the description of our project, asked many good questions, suggested people we might want to contact, and talked about the costs and process of incorporating as a non-profit organization in Massachusetts ($35 to the state, plus $500 to the Federal government to apply for tax-exempt status = $535 total). We discussed alternatives to incorporation, including the possibility of working through the Public Library. The Reach Out to Read project, for instance, used the Holyoke Public Library as the fiscal agent on a temporary basis before they incorporated. Incorporation seems appropriate for our project, since we will need to work with different agencies and to raise money and make decisions independently. Tom agreed to draft Bylaws and the Articles of Organization, which Sandy will bring to the June 11 meeting. 1st draft of Bylaws. 1st draft of Articles of Organization, Addendum.

6/11/01
Mary Caraker and Sandy Ward met for lunch at Holyoke Hospital. Mary could not come to the afternoon meeting, but wanted to review the bylaws draft and give input on other agenda items. She volunteered to be on the Library Collection commitee and immediately began generating ideas for resources (books, websites, subscriptions) to be included.

6/11/01
The planning group met Monday, June 11, 2001, 2:00 pm at Providence Prenatal Center, Conference Room, 317 Maple St, Holyoke. We reviewed the draft Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation. We decided to pursue the process of incorporating as a non-profit organization. A small subgroup will work on bylaws wording and bring a revised draft to the next meeting. We selected the following Officers for the remaining months of 2001:

We also discussed space and facilities issues (e.g., options for Internet access; how to secure library collections within walk-thru spaces such as the room at Nuestras Raices and the proposed open area in Phase 2 of the Holyoke Health Center complex). We toured two rooms in the basement of 317 Maple Street and brainstormed library ideas for a variety of possible sites in Holyoke. We decided to meet on a regular, predictable schedule from now on: 4th Wednesdays of each month, beginning June 27. Maria Pagan will reserve the Public Library meeting room for 1-3 pm. We'll aim for shorter meetings, 1-2 pm. 6-11-01 Minutes.

6/12/01
Jim Craig forwarded news of a new funding possibility. "Consumer Health Information Outreach for Minority Organizations" http://www.nlm.nih.gov/oam/oam.html (scroll to the bottom of page and select RFQ-NLM-01-126/SLS)

6/19/01
Sandy Ward called NLM re RFQ-NLM-01-126/SLS to clarify a few points. Sandy also met with Carlos Vega, Nueva Esperanza, and gave him a copy of this RFQ and information about our project. Nueva Esperanza could provide a letter of support if we decide to apply for this funding. Both Jayme Hannay and Sandy Ward are reading the RFQ closely and conferring.

6/20/01
Sandy spoke by phone with Javier Crespo, the new Consumer Health Coordinator NN/LM, New England Region. He's at University of Massachusetts Medical School, 222 Maple Ave., Shrewsbury, MA 01545-2732. Phone : 508-856-2223 Fax : 508-856-5977.

6/27/01
Meeting at the Holyoke Public Library, 335 Maple Street, Holyoke. Discussion of the NLM RFQ, which we decided to pursue. Sandy, Jayme, and others are actively gathering information. ... Bylaws work awaits Heather's return. Draft of 6-27-01 Minutes.

This webpage is maintained by Sandy Ward.