Professor Karen E. Fisher and Phoebe Brand completed the first ever Trauma-Informed Care Course at the UW iSchool. Course registration was at maximum capacity and we received overwhelmingly positive feedback from students.
Course syllabus and discussion prompts can be found here!
Phoebe Brand will be presenting our findings at the Diversity Poster Fair at the ALA Annual Conference in San Diego on June 29th at 3:30 PM in the Sails Pavilion.
In recent years, the pressures and expectations put on libraries across the country have resulted in increasing trauma and PTSD in library staff. Library staff of diverse backgrounds are disproportionately affected by this increase in trauma. This poster shares research insights from three years of IMLS-funded research with public, school, and academic librarians across the country. Content will include common themes and sources of trauma, statistics on trauma rates for different populations, suggestions for policy and training adjustments, and resources for library staff and management. A major finding of this study was that staff from under-represented backgrounds are much more susceptible to library workplace trauma. So, how can libraries change to better support these staff? This poster will provide information to make you better equipped to understand, identify, prevent, and address trauma in your library workplace, especially for diverse staff. Solutions proposed here come directly from the mouths of survey and interview participants because library staff know best what is needed to improve conditions. Whether you are a librarian, manager, library assistant, or administrator, a rural or urban librarian, we welcome you to learn about paths forward to better support and sustain our diverse library workforce.