Appleton Public Library Needs Assessment
Beth Wahler completed a needs assessment with APL staff and patrons regarding patrons’ psychosocial needs, which include needs such as mental health, substance use, housing instability, and poverty-related needs, and staff difficulties with addressing those needs. Wahler then partnered with APL and a local university to pilot a social work student field placement and provide assistance and support to APL throughout the placement. She also designed two user-friendly “toolkits” to be distributed by APL to the Wisconsin City Library Collective, one focused on how libraries can initiate and host their first social work student intern and another for how to measure the impact of a library-based social work student. The toolkit documents can be found at this link. Dr. Wahler continues to provide support and consultation to APL as needed.