A Good Book is Good Medicine

My project was to assist the Dell Children’s Family Resource Center Library in formulating a suitable collection of books that were specifically for the purpose of bibliotherapy. To understand the concept more thoroughly I did some research on bibliotherapy and how hospitals have used it in the past, identifying its effectiveness on patients, and completed an additional PowerPoint presentation for the hospital staff on the topic. To form the collection, I looked at a list of books already owned by the library and some of the common topics that were researched by patients, and then looked online for novels whose subject matter was specifically related to the ailments listed. After I found them, I placed them in an Amazon book list created by Darlene Ennis, the director of the center. I also made a list of them categorized by the physical or mental illness discussed within, and shared it with Ms. Ennis on Google Drive. After the list was completed, we discussed ways to indicate that they were related to bibliotherapy, and our ultimate decision was to have them marked with a sticker, possibly one that looks like a row of books and has “Healing” written on it. The outcome of all this was that I successfully created a list of new books for the library to add to their shelves that would hopefully help patients coping with specific types of ailments.