Student Wellness and Academic Libraries: Case Studies and Activities for Promoting Health and Success

Postsecondary institutions are high stress environments for many students: Undergraduates may be living on their own for the first time, coping with demanding academic requirements, and experimenting with drugs, alcohol, and new social relationships and identities. Advanced degree students tend to have a high level of job insecurity and are also more likely than other students to be juggling family obligations on top of their studies, research, and teaching. Mental health disorders have their peak onset during the university and college years, and severe anxiety is on the rise.

Many university libraries across North America are expanding their service offerings to include student wellness initiatives or are making their space available to other campus entities to provide wellness support as mental health issues and awareness of mental health challenges on campus have increased. Student Wellness and Academic Libraries gathers multiple perspectives on wellness programming and discussions of current activities, with case studies, commentary, and research on student wellness initiatives in academic libraries. Some chapters explore one initiative in detail, and others look at a variety of activities and how they fit within a strategy; some focus on a particular aspect of wellness, and others on a particular at-risk group.

Academic libraries have always promoted student success through teaching and research support and through instruction in information literacy, a skill that is understood to be useful not just for academic success but also for life success. For college and university students, learning to live well and attend to their mental health are life skills they can and should develop during this time, and academic libraries are increasingly playing a role in this part of the student experience. Student Wellness and Academic Libraries can help those charged with leading these efforts gain valuable insight into ideas and directions the library can take in pursuit of that goal.