Recipes for mindfulness in your library : supporting resilience and community engagement

Title:

ISBN:

9780838917831

Publication:

Chicago : ALA Editions, 2019.

Physical Description:

xii, 132 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

General Note:

Includes index.

Contents:

Part 1. Library as hub. Cultivating a "mindful medicine" ethos -- Accidentally sustainable -- The Be Project -- Providing a space to rest -- Part 2. Innovative services. Mindful McQuade -- Mindfulness experiences -- Craving quiet -- Part 3. Personal practice. Mindful and reflective writing as strategy -- Mindfulness is not a life hack -- Outreach for inreach -- Mindfully managing library teams -- Part 4. Teaching/research. Shifting the pace -- A persistent praxis -- Going with the flow -- Overcoming research anxiety.

Abstract:

"This collection of stories -- recipes, if you will -- explore a wide range of approaches in which librarians integrate mindfulness into their teaching, collections, services, programming, spaces, partnerships, and professional development"-- Introduction, page xi.

Subject Term:

Public services (Libraries) -- Psychological aspects.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness -- Study and teaching.

Libraries and community -- United States -- Case studies.

Librarians -- Psychology.

Librarians -- Psychology. (OCoLC)fst00997324

Libraries and community. (OCoLC)fst00997508

Mindfulness (Psychology) (OCoLC)fst01921242

Mindfulness (Psychology) -- Study and teaching. (OCoLC)fst01983620

Geographic Term:

United States.

Genre:

Case studies.

Local Subject:

LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE COLLECTION

Added Author:

Charney, Madeleine

Colvin, Jenny

Moniz, Richard

Available:

Library	Call Number	Material Type	Status
Searching... State Library of Oregon	025.5019 Recip	4-Week Loan	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Mindfulness not only offers the possibility of a healthy life/career balance for librarians themselves, but in challenging times of rapid social change and uncertainty, it also represents a powerful way to build community resilience. In fact, mindfulness experiences can be structured to nurture the kind of civic engagement and discourse essential for library support. This collection explores a wide range of approaches that demonstrate how librarians have integrated mindfulness into their teaching, collections, services, programming, spaces, partnerships, and professional development. An inspirational idea generator for library administrators, marketers, and outreach staff, in this book the contributors delve into such mindful activities as

using a work journal to practice reflective writing; mindful strategies for leading library teams; yoga and meditation groups at public libraries; helping students destress with a library Zen Zone; deploying digital resources to promote mindfulness; mindful scholarship at Minneapolis College; and overcoming research anxiety using a mindful approach.

As more librarians commit to individual and sustained reflection and practices in their own lives, those approaches can expand to include the communities they serve. This collection offers more than a dozen in-depth examples of mindfulness in action.

Summary:

Reviews (2)

Choice Review

Mindfulness continues to be a popular method for engaging and connecting with surroundings, both individually and as a group. So it makes sense that libraries would become part of the process. The library can be a place of tranquility, collaboration, and knowledge for mindfulness connections. Charney, Colvin, and Moniz have put together a concise collection of "recipes" for all types of libraries in all sorts of communities. Chapters include Building a Meditation Community and Mindful and Reflective Writing as a Strategy. The book shares ways to incorporate mindfulness into everyday life and strategies for making it available within a community; the authors connect mindfulness theory to research and teaching, particularly useful for academic libraries. Each chapter stands on its own and gives library personnel the tools to start programs in public or academic libraries, no matter how small. This reviewer intends to put to use ideas for an undergraduate library in a small community. [Disclosure: Choice is part of the American Library Association, which published this book.] Summing Up: Highly recommended. All public and academic libraries. --Mary L. Strife, West Virginia University Tech/Beckley

Library Journal Review

In this collection, edited by librarians Charney (Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst; 2017 LJ Mover & Shaker), Richard Moniz (Horry Georgetown Technical Coll., SC), and Jenny Colvin (Furman Univ. Libs., SC), a variety of contributors examine ways in which "librarians integrate mindfulness into their teaching, collections, services, programming, spaces, partnerships and professional development." The book is divided into four sections ("Library as Hub," "Innovative Services," "Personal Practice," "Teaching/Research"), and writers offer ideas, anecdotes, and real-life examples. Katia G. Karadjova (Humboldt State Univ., CA) discusses "The Library Brain Booth." Kellie Sparks and Hillary Fox expound on the Zen Zone project at University of West Florida's John C. Pace Library. Michelle Reale (Arcadia Univ., PA) advocates for keeping a work journal, while Lisa Meléndez (Suffolk County Community Coll., NY) encouraged students to keep tree observation journals as contemplative practice (she includes some excerpts). At the "Mindful McQuade" library at Merrimack College, MA, staffers hand out plants and make exercise bikes available near the stacks for a "mindful exercise break." Contributors also share stories related to the challenge of finding and keeping a dedicated space for this environment and explore workshop design and reducing research anxiety. VERDICT A great resource for those interested in taking a mindful approach in their libraries.--Barbara Kundanis, Longmont P.L., CO