Westborough Library Director Headed To Health Conference In PA

WESTBOROUGH, MA—Via the town of Westborough: Westborough Public Library Director Maureen Ambrosino is one of 45 public library workers from across the country who have been selected to receive a stipend to attend Stand Up for Health: Health and Wellness Services for Your Community a pre-conference workshop to be held at the Public Library Association (PLA) 2018 Conference in Philadelphia. The conference will be held from March 20-24, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

The workshop is part of Promoting Healthy Communities, a new nationwide initiative from PLA and National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) that will increase public library workers’ knowledge and skills related to consumer health services.

Through activities such as the pre-conference and stipends, PLA and NNLM are increasing the capacity of public libraries nationwide to provide quality health reference services, increase health literacy in communities, and tackle important challenges like privacy, cultural sensitivities, and fake or misleading health news.

The awardees will receive $500 each to cover pre-conference fees, travel and lodging.

The one-day preconference (Tuesday, March 20) will review core competencies of providing health and wellness services; coach participants through understanding their communities’ needs; and explore how to create fun and informative health-related programming for different age groups and special populations. Participants will learn about core reference and other materials, tips for helping library users evaluate health materials, and an action plan to put their new expertise to work.