White Lake Township Library Welcomes Teens with Wellness Cart
(Elizabeth Schanz, March 10, 2023)
White Lake, MI – White Lake Township Library has recently expanded a station in its teen section as a way to provide further mental health resources and fun activities to young adults.
The station currently called the “wellness cart” houses many items such as coloring pages, fidget toys and other tools that can help individuals concentrate and relax. The goal of the wellness cart is to expand the capabilities of library resources to create an enjoyable library-going experience.
“Since I became a librarian, a personal goal of mine is to have wellness resources to patrons and especially teens and kids, just to offer different stuff if they need, no questions asked,” said EmmaLee Herlocher, the head of youth and teen services at White Lake Township Library.
Herlocher became a librarian in 2021 and soon after joined the White Lake Township Library staff. Since then she has worked on her goal to expand engagement with young adults.
In January, Herlocher’s idea for the library began to take root. Huron Valley Community Coalition has recently obtained a grant that would help to “kickstart” wellness projects at White Lake Township Library. The coalition connected with the library and brought in physical resources mental health and wellness supplies to create the foundations of the wellness cart. They discussed additional resources that would be of interest to teenagers and what the library had noticed to be “a hit” from giveaways in the past.
“We already had a small cart in our teen room that just had coloring pages, card games, embroidery floss, that kind of stuff in it,” Herlocher said. “So they (Huron Valley Community Coalition) just kind of brought in a bigger cart for us and brought in some more art supplies, journals and all the fidget toys and that kind of stuff and just made it a little better.”
Herlocher said that the teens who come to the library are able to see the cart right when they walk into the teen section. She said that many of the patrons were familiar with what the cart previously offered and now are able to utilize new options as they do homework or just hang out in the library.
Herlocher wants the cart to be an extension of how the library can help to serve and provide a space where especially teens feel safe.
“I think most librarians agree that libraries are a safe space for patrons,” Herlocher said. “Especially for teens it’s a place they can come after school, they can spend their time, they’re not running around town doing something reckless. They can read a book they can do a program they can do crafts, it’s really everything.”
Additionally, Herlocher aims to continue to expand the resources the wellness cart offers beyond solely mental health resources. She also wants to provide physical health items that may not be accessible for teenagers or that they may be in need of.
“We are working right now to reach out to local businesses to see if they want to sponsor the wellness cart to get hygiene products like deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush, period care products, that kind of stuff as well,” Herlocher said.
Herlocher wants to continue to connect to teens in the area and feels that the wellness cart can be a great stepping stone in further encouraging students to utilize what the library has to offer.
She said that the library offers a wide range of resources for people in the White Lake community. Herlocher noted that after a large ice storm in February left many residents without power people came to the library to gain internet access and find an opportunity to take time outside of their homes.
“I think every day you see how the library impacts different people while you’re here,” “Like helping people fill out job applications, teaching some of our senior patrons how to connect digitally, finding a book someone read when they were a kid.”
She says one of her personal favorite experiences she has as a librarian is helping a kid who “says they don’t like to read” find a book and get excited over it is something that she looks forward to within her career and that makes the library experience special.
In addition to the wellness cart, the library offers various resources and materials, engagement opportunities, activities and programs that people can get involved with.
Some programs are specifically geared to a teenage audience. White Lake Township Library offers a middle school and young adult book club program that alternates between chapter books and graphic novels. Additionally, teens can participate in the Board of Library Teens (BLT) program that give teens a chance to get volunteer service hours and make suggestions for the library. Currently, this group meets every other month.
Other various library programs and engagement opportunities for all ages can be found on the White Lake Township Library website.
