Poster Board Number: 169
Title: Recharge, Replenish, Rejuvenate: Celebrating Inspirational Writing in Medicine
Objective:
• To develop community and nurture creativity by providing opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to set aside their denser, professional reading for relevant but lighter works, which foster opportunities for discussion and reflection.
• To promote the library as a place of ideas, conversation, and inspiration, especially in response to catastrophic worlds events with far-reaching public health ramifications.
Methods: Staff at a health sciences library at a large academic medical center with six professional schools, a medical center, and allied programs were involved in several endeavors designed to promote reading for both pleasure and inspiration including participating in a campus-wide common book project, purchasing popular reading materials, and showcasing poetry and other creative writing that appears in professional journal literature for patrons. Book group discussions and occasional films have also been held around particular themes tied in with exhibits and other events. Having a creative outlet for librarians to be involved with has also been very rewarding. Drawing on world events such as the Banda Aceh tsunami, Haitian earthquakes, Hurricane Katrina, World AIDS crisis, terrorism threats, etc., the library is able to respond with writing that inspires and offers up hope and solutions in challenging times.
Results: Response to having a variety of experiences for faculty, staff, and students to "take 5" and contemplate while in the library has proved to be a great way to help build a brand for the library as a nurturing space that both challenges and informs. This kind of experience in particular resonates with students who are used to more group learning and interdisciplinary problem solving.
Conclusions: The library can be a vital place for reflection, even in an academic health sciences library primarily associated with scholarly literature. In addition, focusing on popular health sciences-related literature provides librarians the opportunity to draw on their own vast reading experiences and showcase the institution's vast collections and allows library users to step outside of their everyday research interests and gain exposure to new ideas and sources of inspiration.
Author: Lisa Oberg, Head, Outreach Services, Health Sciences Library, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
