Whole Person Librarianship applies social work concepts to library practice to improve patron services across library types. As library-social work collaborations expand in number and type across the country, all library staff members can learn to provide more holistic service by applying tools and technique that are grounded in decades of social work practice and experience. The techniques used in a Whole Person Librarianship approach bolster library staff skills in areas of mental health, self care, and understanding and working with patrons in crisis, and more.

This training will focus on these topic areas: introduction to library-social work collaboration, Person-in-Environment, resource mapping, Cultural Humility, and Reflective Practice. Participants will gain new perspectives on service that they can apply in their library work.

Sara Zettervall is the founding consultant and trainer for Whole Person Librarianship, which applies social work concepts to library practice. She also works at Hennepin County Library as the community engagement librarian for East African refugees in Minneapolis. Her experience includes leading innovative projects in public, academic, and school libraries and archives. She was the 2017 winner of the Bogle Pratt International Travel Fund, in support of presenting on library-social work collaboration at the Symposium of the International Consortium for Social Development in Zagreb, Croatia. A 2014 American Library Association Emerging Leader, Sara has continued to serve ALA through involvement in the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Recommendations Implementation Working Group. She has published on outreach services in Public Libraries, VOYA, American Libraries, and Library Youth Outreach. She holds an MLIS from St. Catherine University (St. Paul, MN) and a MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan.