Patient Resource Library at the Middlesex Hospital Cancer Center

When Nancy Goodwin, Library Director at Middlesex Hospital, was trying to decide what to name the patients’ library at the Hospital’s new Cancer Center, she considered a more modern name like the “Cancer Resource Center.” Her non-librarian friends, however, helped convince her not to abandon a friendly, welcoming name like “library.” She also realized that a library designed first and foremost for patients should have a name that honestly conveyed that message. The “Patient Resource Library” seemed the best fit.

Designed with librarian input, the Patient Resource Library certainly fulfills the goal of being welcoming and accessible. Located in the Middlesex Hospital Cancer Center on Saybrook Road in Middletown, the Library is one of the first rooms you see when you enter the building. It is considered an integral part of the Cancer Center’s services and Hospital administration gives it the attention and support it requires to accomplish its mission. This mission “is to be the leading resource center for consumers in Connecticut with cancer-related information needs.” Unlike some hospital consumer libraries manned by nursing staff or volunteers, the Patient Resource Library is professionally run and committed to informing and assisting cancer patients and their families.

Janis Leird, a registered nurse and now a degreed librarian, serves as librarian. Jan provides guidance and reference service for all library users, as well as serving on various Cancer Center committees. She also plays a critical role in the Center’s quarterly newsletter. Jan gets involved in the Center’s activities and communicates regularly with Center staff. For instance, Jan worked with staff in the various departments of the Center in order to provide appropriate library material in the various waiting rooms of the building. With a background in public libraries, Jan brings a real public service commitment to this unique, patient library setting.

The Patient Resource Library itself provides books, videos, and magazines on general cancer topics, specific cancers, drug information, grief management, and complementary therapies. In keeping with making its collections more accessible, the Library uses a Planetree classification system, a system specifically designed to organize health-related library material for easy use by consumers. The Resource Library benefits from generous donations from the Clinton Rotary, which allows the Library to purchase far more published material than its book budget would normally allow. In addition, Jan borrows children’s books and books on CD from the Middletown Library Service Center to help supplement her collections

Besides library materials, the Patient Resource Library provides access to numerous cancer-related databases, many not freely-available at home. The Library has several public access Internet work stations where patients can do research or just check their e-mail. Jan provides extensive lists of reliable cancer resources which patients can access over the Internet. Jan’s reference service often involves a concerted effort to assist patients in better understanding a diagnosis or treatment.

Jan is quick to point out that the Patient Resource Library is not just for patients at the Cancer Center. The Library serves all members of the community looking for cancer-related resources. The collections are represented in the reQuest state-wide catalog, and the Library accepts interlibrary loan requests, including those made through reQuest ILL. The Library has its own web page (http://www.middlesexhospital.org/go/prl) with an online catalog anyone can search at home. Also, the Library partners with the Light One Little Candle Foundation to promote reading as a means for people with cancer to connect with the children in their lives. As part of this free program, the Library distributes new children’s books at the Cancer Center.

The Library takes part in many other outreach activities. Library staff promote the Library at staff and committee meetings, they participate in Open Houses and special Cancer Center occasions, and they provide library orientations to staff, visitors and Support Groups. Staff also sponsor Library events such as meet-the-author evenings where authors of cancer-related books discuss their work.

In a time when managing one’s health-care is so much more complicated, the Patient Resource Library serves an important role in assisting cancer patients and their families in becoming better informed and knowledgeable regarding their health-care. The Library, located at 536 Saybrook Road, Middletown, is open to the community Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Questions for the librarian can be e-mailed to cancer_center_library@midhosp.org, or you can call (860) 358-2020.

An edited version of this article appeared previously in Connecticut Libraries.