August 2000
Sandy Ward attended meetings of the Holyoke CHNA (8/1/00) and the Holyoke Community Health Planning Commission
(8/3/00), made short presentations about the health library idea, and collected names of many enthusiastic
supporters. She also attended a meeting at Holyoke Community College (8/29/00) to explore college-community
cooperative projects for a potential Community Outreach Partnership
Centers (COPC) grant proposal.
9/27/00
Heather Warner and Sandy Ward worked together to create a database of names and addresses of interested people.
We composed the invitation to the first general meeting and planned the agenda. Heather later created a flyer
about the meeting and coordinated the first mailing.
9/28/00
Sandy Ward purchased airflight tickets for a family visit to California for Thanksgiving and made an appointment
(10 am, November 21) to consult with the Library Director of the Stanford Health Library, Stanford, CA.
10/3/00
Information packet received from Stanford Health
Library. Good information about this library's history and current brochures.
10/6/00
Sandy Ward spoke by phone with Lise LeCours, marketing manager, Holyoke
Mall at Ingleside, and followed up with an email to Lise and to Jeff Clark, giving the URL for webpage and a
copy of Oct 10 meeting invitation. This was just an initial outreach to the Mall management asking if they
would be at all interested in the concept of a health library at the mall. Lise listened attentively and asked
good questions. Sandy stated that other locations in Holyoke are sought, but two outside advisors (Director of
Stanford Health Library and the Librarian at Bay State Medical who supervises two consumer health libraries)
urged consideration of the Mall as a strategic location. For example, the Stanford Shopping Mall provided rent-free space for the health library,
which turned out to be a "destination" drawing visitors; the Mall has now relocated the library to a larger,
more prominent space. A mall in another state has made inquiries about how to add such a good "draw" to their
location!
10/10/00
Sandy attended Women in Development breakfast and met Tina Clark, Western Massachusetts Funding Center,
413-452-0615. They offer free 2-hour workshops about fund-raising and research skills. Located in Springfield
near Public Library (65 Eliot St).
10/10/00
Daniel Ross, Executive Director, Nuestras Raices, confirmed his offer of temporary space for the Health Library,
if we want to start in Nuestras Raices's "library" room on Main Street (near corner with Cabot St.). This is a
room now under construction for a future agricultural library in support of the Community Gardens and the
Greenhouse. Sandy toured this space in September and estimates that it is about 200 sq ft in area. The walls
were just being framed. Sheetrock will be added during the winter. The space could be usable by Spring, Daniel
estimates. Shelving, furniture, and equipment for their library has not yet been planned in detail or funded;
contributions would be appreciated.
10/10/00
The first general meeting about this project was held Tuesday, October 10, 2-3pm, at the Holyoke Public
Library. Representatives attended from Holyoke Community College Library, UMass, Holyoke Health Center, Holyoke
Dept of Health, Holyoke Hospital, Sisters of Providence, Headstart, and other community organizations. Minutes.
The next meeting will be Wednesday, December 6 at 10 am, location to be announced. We decided to wait until December so that Sandy Ward can return from CA with additional information from her visit to the Stanford Health Library. (She will ask them the size of their budget, how they raise their money, and other practical questions.)
10/14/00
One attendee at the Oct 10 meeting sent a thank you message and several suggestions for possible funding
sources.
10/20/00
"It's a medical library at the public library level." A casual conversation with an out-of-town visitor yielded
this phrase. The visitor advised saving it for future publicity.
11/8/00
Location for next meeting decided and reserved: Wednesday, December 6 at 10
am, City Hall Annex, 4th Floor Conference Room.
11/21/00
Sandy Ward visited the Health Library at the Stanford Shopping Center and met
with Barbara Ralston, Director. Also met with the medical librarian, Howard
Fuller. Sandy will bring information to the Dec 6 meeting. Photo of Entrance.
Photo of painting
on exterior wall. Photo
of Sandy doing research at Stanford Health Library.
11/22/00
Sandy Ward visited the PlaneTree Health Library in San Jose, CA, and met with Candace Ford, Director. Sandy
will bring information to the Dec 6 meeting. Photo of exterior. Interior by fireplace. Journals reading area. Books and reading table. Sandy consulting reference books.
12/6/00
The second general meeting was held 10:00-11:30 am at City Hall Annex,
4th Floor Conference Room, 20 Korean Veterans' Way, Holyoke. Fourteen attendees discussed their visions for the
health library. Heather Warner led us in a
"Victory Circle" visioning exercise. See the resulting Victory Circle on which we wrote various impressions and
visions of a successful, operating health library for Holyoke: close-up photo (288K). Minutes.
***For current news, see recent progress report entries on another page.***
This webpage is maintained by Sandy Ward.
