The University of South Florida School of Information's Responsive Librarianship Lab (RLL) has been awarded a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant to create positive health outcomes for those vulnerable and at-risk populations residing in the Tampa Bay Library Consortium (TBLC) service region. The services will target library services to individuals of diverse geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, to individuals with disabilities, and to individuals with limited functional literacy or information skills.
Working collaboratively with the Temple Terrace Public Library (TTPL), the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative (HCPLC), and the Pasco County Library Cooperative (PCLC), the RLL, led by Dr. Natalie Taylor and Denise Shereff, will broaden our empirically supported, data-driven Responsive Librarianship (RL) scheme to address an individual's mental health and family wellness concerns through the delivery of personalized reader's advisory (RA) services, therapeutic reading materials, mental health literacy (MHL) skills development, and family wellness instruction. This RL scheme seeks to deliver on USF's promise to expand the previously funded and successful DACCO Library program to our residents most in need of services in the TBLC service area.