In Winter Quarter of 2024, Professor Karen E. Fisher and Phoebe Brand taught the first Trauma-Informed Care course at the University of Washington iSchool for MLIS students. The purpose of this class was to prepare LIS students for the reality of the library workplace, both in terms of trauma experienced by patrons and trauma affecting library staff. This course reflected the findings from our survey and interviews, and also informed our plans for future research.
“I am just so thrilled to be part of this inaugural class. It feels meaningful and urgent, especially given the sobering statistics you presented from your study. I hope a class like this becomes a requirement in LIS programs around the country because clearly this is a pervasive issue that is only getting worse.” -LIS 598 Student
Below is the syllabus for this course. You can also visit this page to see discussion prompts for each modules as well as weekly prompts to promote self-care for students.
LIS 598: Trauma-Informed Care and the Library Profession Syllabus
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The purpose of this course is to learn about the nature of trauma in public libraries. Students will learn about the types and effects of trauma; the trauma-informed care approach for library services; how library staff experience and are affected by trauma in the workplace; and how trauma can be mitigated for patrons and staff through practices of resilience.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Analyze the characteristics and needs of individuals and groups in public libraries from a trauma-informed approach and use trauma-informed approach to meet the needs of people, staff and organizations, and communities that promote resilience.
- Acquire, process, preserve, and provide access to information sources for diverse communities consistent with a trauma-informed approach.
- Empower communities and organizations to engage successfully with information that support trauma resilience in digital, written, and oral forms.
- Promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and access for communities and for the information professionals who serve them in trauma-informed ways.
- Value and incorporate global perspectives on effective information practices that are aligned with trauma-informed practices and supportive of cultural, economic, educational, and social well-being, including non-Western ways of knowing.
- Demonstrate critical thinking, vision, and innovation for understanding, researching, synthesizing, and solving ethical, technological, and other real-world problems that involve trauma in changing information landscapes.
- Communicate and instruct effectively in appropriate formats to a variety of audiences, in different settings and social contexts.
- Lead through engagement with and on behalf of information stakeholders regarding trauma and resiliency.
- Design, evaluate, utilize, and share technologies both traditional and digital in support of trauma resiliency.
COURSE FORMAT/STRUCTURE
The course comprises a series of modules with articles, web resources, lectures, discussion boards, and assignments. All modules open on Tuesdays.
MODULES:
Module 1/2: Course Overview and Introduction to Trauma
In our introductory, 2-week module, we review the course syllabus, and learn about recent trends in community from an LIS perspective and the nature of trauma.
Module 3: Trauma-Informed Care Model for Libraries
This week we focus on approaches for providing trauma-informed care, specifically the SAMHSA approach, and reflect on how it has been adopted by libraries. Libraries are guided by 6 TIC principles: 1) Safety, 2) Trustworthiness and Transparency, 3) Peer Support, 4) Collaboration and Mutuality, 5) Empowerment, Voice and Choice; and 6) Cultural, Historical, and Gender Issues.
Module 4: Types of Trauma & Effects I: Childhood
This week we focus specifically on childhood trauma: its different types, the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) tool and its meanings, long term effects of childhood trauma, and means of resilience. Published in 1998, the ACE Study has profoundly revolutionized how we understand the relationship between childhood and long-term health as adults.
Module 5: Types of Trauma & Effects II: IPV, Sexual Abuse, Racial & Intergenerational
In M6 we learn intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual abuse, racial, and inter-generational trauma. These trauma categories are not mutually exclusive: they can coincide with or be linked to other sources of trauma, and start in childhood. Like all our 598 material, the M5 content can be triggering or cause second-hand, vicarious trauma for the reader. Please take your time with the material and posting, and practice lots of self-care.
Module 6: Types of Trauma & Effects III: Grief, Community, War, & more
In M6 we turn to grief, community and war trauma. Grief is experienced by everyone and affects people in different ways. How we cope with grief can take many years and be affected by personal/community beliefs. While there are recognized stages of grief–these stages may over-simplify people’s trauma. Moreover, we can experience grief from other types of loss such as losing one’s job, home, relationship, etc.
Module 7: Best Practices in Supporting Patron Resilience
At the beginning of 598, we learned about SAMHSA’s 6 principles for trauma-informed care: 1) Safety, 2) Trustworthiness and Transparency, 3) Peer Support, 4) Collaboration and Mutuality, 5) Empowerment, Voice and Choice; and 6) Cultural, Historical, and Gender Issues. In M4-6 we delved into specific types of trauma.
Building on A2 and in preparation for A3, this week we focus specifically on library best practices in TIC to support the resilience of individuals and communities. In addition to reading Tolley’s chapters about the 6 principles, we learn about having social workers in libraries, and recent work on LIS about resilience and how resilience is tied to trauma-informed care.
Module 8: Trauma in the Library Workplace (Staff)
For module 8 we turn our focus to staff–how staff experience trauma in the library workplace. We learn about and discuss the sources of trauma for staff, factors that create or contribute to staff trauma, and how certain demographics are more susceptible to experiencing trauma. We will focus specifically on the Trauma in the Library study by Karen and Phoebe, and the Urban Libraries Trauma study. Note that in M9, we will focus on ways of supporting staff and trauma prevention.
Module 9: Mitigating Staff Trauma: Prevention, Healing, & Administration
For M9 we focus on interventions for preventing and mitigating trauma in the library workplace. We draw upon readings in LIS and cognate fields to understand the most effective ways for helping staff.
Module 10: The Resilient Library & Course Wrap-Up
Course/student reflections on our journey of resilience through trauma-informed care.