Holyoke Consumer Health Library, Inc.

The vision

This is the original Vision Statement that motivated us: "We envision a comfortable, easily accessible, community space where Holyoke residents could drop-in and find helpful information about health issues and medical problems of concern to them. The information should be in an accessible language (Spanish, English, or other) and style (layman's terms rather than medical jargon; appropriate reading levels). Information resources would include a physical collection (books, pamphlets, videos), Internet resources (links to selected health-related websites), and trained staff helpful in connecting people to the information they seek."

In Spring 2002 we revised our Mission statement to emphasize ways that we could collaborate with existing libraries, health services, and community agencies. The vision of a new consumer health library is still attractive, but improving the flow of information --with or without creating a whole new library -- is the core of our mission. We can do much with the Internet, and teaching people about available resources.

Mission statement

The Holyoke Consumer Health Library, Inc. aims to provide Holyoke residents with access to health information to empower them to better advocate for their health needs.

We seek to:

Build awareness of health information resources available in the community;
Promote coordination among hospitals, agencies, health centers, and libraries in order to provide access to health information;
Identify and assess gaps in health information resources and barriers to accessing information resources.

The Holyoke Consumer Health Library, Inc, is committed to reflecting and affirming the diverse ethnic and racial cultures and spirit of Holyoke by promoting information that is in the appropriate language and reading level and is culturally sensitive.

For more information:

See our News page for recent happenings.
See our History page for overview of our past.

updated: 6/19/2007

For questions or comments about this webpage, please contact the Webmaster or Sandy Ward.