Research: The role of the university library in student mental health - survey launched

The role of the university library in student mental health - survey launched

Mental Health Awareness Week

In Mental Health Awareness Week, we are launching a survey of how academic libraries are supporting the mental health and well-being of students.

University libraries have become increasingly interested in developing services to support student mental health and well-being. Often, these services are physically located in the library space, but in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic, this has changed to offering digital support. We are interested in your university library’s response to the shift in demand and the accompanying changes in student concerns and anxieties that are affecting their mental health and well-being. 

Our aim is to explore how university libraries understand student mental health and well-being and act to prevent poor mental health. To do this, we will map well-being related activity across the UK in two ways.

First, we are interested in what your library is doing now to support student mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 crisis. We aim to produce a rapid-response review of this data which will be shared across library networks to give others ideas of potential activities and ways to support students, and how to assess their effectiveness. Second, we would like to know more about what your library was doing to support student mental health well-being before the pandemic and how the impact of this work was being measured. 

To find out more and to participate go to:

https://limesurvey.shef.ac.uk/limesurvey/index.php/868187?lang=en

Andrew Cox, Information School, University of Sheffield

Liz Brewster, Lancaster Medical School