October 8, 2018, by Katherine Beers

Libraries Week 8-13 October 2018. My Time. My Space. My Library.

My Time. My Space. My Library. The theme for this year’s Libraries Week is wellbeing and we’d like to share some of the ways University of Nottingham Libraries can help you and your personal wellbeing thrive and flourish.

5 ways to wellbeing

We think that Libraries are the ideal place to to help you to take care of yourself. Following the 5 ways to wellbeing that Mind and the Government suggest can help to improve personal wellbeing, here are our suggestions:

1. Connect
   Connect with the people around you.
   Libraries are a great place to meet other members of the University community, all of our libraries have collaborative study spaces. Library staff build connections with our library users all of the time, it’s one of the things we love about our job.
   We’ve got an activity space in George Green Library for this week – with colouring, jigsaws and craft. Take a seat and make a friend.
2. Be active
   Exercising makes you feel good  and we can offer you many stairs or in the case of Djanogly LRC a 1/4 mile long ramp from bottom to top.
   More of the outdoorsy type? then why not use the gym outside Hallward Library or take a walk between libraries. We’ve got spaces on all campuses, the libraries furthest apart are James Cameron-Gifford Library (Sutton Bonington) and Djanogly LRC (Jubilee Campus) at just over 10 miles between them.
3. Take notice
   Catch sight of the beautiful. Be aware of the world around you.
   The views from some of our libraries are spectacular and autumn is the best season to appreciate our wonderful green campuses. Sit by a window and have a good think whilst in the library – hopefully you’ll feel inspired. We always love to see your pictures on our Twitter feed, here are some of our competition winners from last year.
4. Keep learning
   Try something new. Sign up for that course. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving.
   Now we are talking –  this is us all over. You’ve kind of done this already by being at the University but from a library point of view NUsearch the library discovery tool is a great way to keep learning. It’s the gateway to all of the Library print and digital resources and there is literally millions of them.
   You don’t have to limit yourself to reading, watching, listening and learning about your academic subject there’s so much more. Just a few things to consider:
   The leisure reading collection
   Read eTheses or research outputs from your teachers, or researchers here at UoN
   Delve into the Manuscripts and Special Collections archives and find out about local historical figures, nearby places and the heritage of UoN
   Kanopy, BOB and the DVD collection
5. Give
   Smile. Join in. Do something nice.
   Well if you smile at us we will definitely smile back, we know some of you have a love/hate relationship with us but it’s all good.
   On a more practical basis you could:
   Time Capsule  –  contribute to the University archive by sending us your photos and memorabilia

If you have any top tips to share with us why not Tweet @UoNLibraries and we’ll pick our favourites to win a prize.

Mental Health First Aiders in libraries

We’ve recently trained 26 of our library staff to be part of the University network of MHFA’s, this team are present in all of our libraries. They can help people on our spaces by responding effectively to anyone showing signs of mental health problems.

Beck Maguire our Library Disability Support Officer who organised the MHFA training says

Libraries are a central resource where people meet, study and potentially need support and it’s imperative that Libraries staff feel confident to provide that support when it’s needed.

To find out more about the programme of mental health first aid training from the Chief Executive of Mind. For some useful information about student mental health we find that student minds are a really great organisation.

During Libraries Week will be running a competition with prizes for the best tips using the 5 ways to wellbeing shared via Twitter @UoNLibraries.

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