Library Lines
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s so wonderful that it bears repeating. Thanks to Jud Worth and the Pocahontas Center, I have $100 a month to spend on materials for the library dealing with health issues. It is essential for public libraries to keep its health books current -the standard is nothing over five-years-old. Of course, that can be difficult for libraries on tight budgets, and so this monthly donation has been a true blessing for us.
During the month of August, I began searching for a hole in the collection—some topic which was drastically lacking, even absent, in our collection. I didn’t come up with any brilliant ideas right away, so I put it off for a bit.
In the course of some research for a patron, I ran across some statistics from the American Association of Suicidalogy. Data collected in 2010 reports that someone attempts suicide every 32 seconds. We lose someone to suicide every 13.7 minutes. It is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S., and the third leading cause of death among young Americans, ages 15-24.
Turning to our collection, I found very little on suicide. What I did find was my topic for my next batch of health books.
I ordered a few books dealing with suicide prevention, such as “How I stayed alive when my brain was trying to kill me” by Susan R. Blauner and “The Suicidal Mind” by Edwin S. Shneidman. Then I found some titles dealing with the aftermath of losing a loved one to suicide - “Silent Grief,” by Christopher Lukas and “Dying to be free,” by Beverly Cobain.
I also found some books aimed at teens, discussing how to help a friend who might be suicidal, how to manage feelings of anger and anxiety, and Stopping the Pain: a workbook for teens who cut and self injure by Lawrence Shapiro.
If you know someone who may be struggling and might find any of these titles useful, please stop in and browse this new collection. You can see the full list of titles on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/McClinticPublicLi brary.
