Spotlight on Social Work Student Fellows 2024-2025, Part 3
As 2024 comes to an end, we are just reaching the halfway point for our Social Work in Libraries Fellowship. This year students have been incredibly active throughout the county, participating in community food distributions, establishing new pantries, designing after-school tutoring programs, launching support groups, and more. We couldn’t be more thrilled with their efforts […]
Spotlight on Social Work Student Fellows 2024-2025, Part 2
This month ACLA Community Support Services is thankful for our amazing Social Work in Libraries Fellowship! Since the fall semester began in September, our Fellows have logged nearly 1000 patron interactions. Helping our neighbors find and access affordable housing continues to be a top concern, with employment, education, food security, and medical needs following just […]
Spotlight on Social Work Student Fellows 2024-2025, Part 4
TK –Katrina Mink, BSW/MSW, Social Work in Libraries Program Coordinator Sam Tarolli, CLP – Knoxville What was your educational and work background prior to your placement? Currently, I am working towards my BASW as well as an Urban Studies Bachelors degree. I have had experience working with youth at my hometown local library, as well […]
Spotlight on Social Work Student Fellows 2024-2025, Part 1
Between summer and fall, ACLA Community Support Services has welcomed its largest cohort ever to the Social Work in Libraries Fellowship, with 20 social work students and 1 student specializing in both library science and social work! This summer, fellows engaged in research and planning toward long-term education and food security projects, organized a highly […]
Spotlight on Social Work Student Fellows
As we reflect on the joys and challenges of 2023 and move forward into a new year brimming with promise, I am so inspired by the work of our Library Social Work Fellows. Each of the students featured below has been passionately dedicated to serving our communities this year. Throughout the county, at libraries big […]
Spotlight on Social Work Student Fellows
It’s been a busy time for our Fellows! Megan has been promoting community health in Homestead; most recently by offering personal wellness groups for adults and hosting a special story time event encouraging our smallest patrons to take good care of their teeth! Selina assisted CLP East Liberty toward their goal of being a welcoming […]
Spotlight on Social Work Student Fellows
ACLA’s Social Work in Libraries Program has grown by leaps and bounds this year. We’ve expanded our reach from seven communities to eleven, and our Fellows have been hard at work. From September through December they logged a combined total of 400 individual patron interactions, and an additional 444 interactions related to group programming and […]
Whole Person Librarianship: A National Movement
Whole Person Librarianship is an approach drawing from social work concepts, such as cultural humility and person-in-environment, to help librarians become more confident in learning from, interacting with, and serving diverse patrons. Sara Zettervall, MLIS, and Mary Nienow, MSW, started the movement in 2012, and since then dozens of libraries across the country have […]
Celebrating Three Years of Social Work Students in Libraries
In recent years, the role of libraries in our communities has changed significantly. Today’s library-goers visit for any number of reasons: to use a computer, take a tutoring session, attend a story time, join a yoga class, or just to be somewhere safe. Library staff are trusted fixtures in their communities and, as such, […]
Meet ACLA’s Social Work Program Coordinator, Katrina Mink
ACLA is pleased to introduce the newest member of our team: Katrina Mink, BSW/MSW, Social Work Program Coordinator. Katrina directly oversees all aspects of the social work program, including field instruction for students, coordinating with Pitt’s School of Social Work, and providing additional social work services to libraries without a student placement. Katrina has […]
