Making Space for Wellness: Grant-funded Projects to Support Visitor Well-being in the Library

Background: Libraries can support the well-being of their visitors through wellness collections of resources and mindfulness programming, but can also offer wellness in their spaces. The project team of [institution] pursued multiple internal-grant funded initiatives to support visitor wellbeing. One phase of the program introduced desk treadmills, and the other introduced a free-standing cell phone charging locker, with assessments planned to determine how effective visitors feel these new features are at improving their wellbeing. The new equipment would allow for students studying for long hours an opportunity to increase physical activity, as well as take a break from distracting technology.

Description: These grant programs stemmed from the desire to support the physical and mental well-being of library visitors. Equipment was purchased and installed when the library reopened to visitors in its physical spaces. Research was conducted on the self-described wellness needs of library visitors which confirmed the importance of these initiatives, but data was also collected from users about the perceived effectiveness of the charging locker to reduce digital distraction and the underdesk treadmill to increase focus. In order to encourage use, the project team developed a Walking Challenge component to the treadmill assessment- a walking contest will be held between six health science colleges, with the winning college receiving a trophy. Entering steps for the competition will serve as incentive to fill out the full survey associated with treadmill usage.

Conclusion: While data collection and analysis is currently on-going, the project team knows that there is interest in wellness support at the libraries based on previous surveys. The completed data analysis will help the libraries assess the perceived effectiveness of these programs and decide whether to move forward with acquiring more equipment to make library spaces more conducive to visitor well-being.