Library Moon Walk

To paraphrase Lao Tzu, every journey - even a 238,900-mile trip to the moon - begins with a single step. The idea of a simple action leading to profound change inspired the Mohawk Valley, Upper Hudson and Southern Adirondack Library systems to collaborate on a regional pilot project, Library Moon Walk. This project will develop community awareness of NNLM resources and build relationships between public libraries and health organizations while encouraging people in the Mohawk Valley, Southern Adirondacks, and Capital Region of New York State to create healthy habits. The project has two parts and a challenge. The first targets library professionals and representatives from community health organizations by providing training sessions encouraging the use of online NNLM consumer health resources. The second part focuses on 25 public libraries developing consumer health programs for the public. The challenge, will build excitement by having the public log the amount of exercise they get on a webpage, with the goal of accumulating enough steps to cover the distance it would take to walk to the moon. This goal ties into the 2019 Collaborative Summer Library Program theme, A Universe of Stories, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first man on the moon.