Creating a Person-Centered Library: Supporting High-Needs Patrons While Caring For Staff
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Support patrons and staff.
Beth Wahler shows how to support high-needs patrons and library staff.
Are you feeling the strain of serving patrons with complex needs? Is your library seeing increased behavioral problems or mental health concerns?
In this webinar, Beth Wahler provides an overview of best practices for how libraries can support both high-needs patrons and simultaneously support their staff. Participants will be able to:
- Articulate the changing needs of library patrons and how these impact staff
- Learn strategies for assessing your library’s unique needs
- Discuss helpful programs, collaborations, and/or services for supporting high-needs patrons
- Apply concepts discussed to determine best next steps for your own library
- Anticipate potential barriers to change
Join us on Wednesday, October 14, 2026
at 2:00 pm US Eastern, 11:00 am US Pacific
Fill out the form to register for the webinar
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Register to receive the recording
If you're interested but not able to attend the live webinar, go ahead and register. We'll send a recording to all registrants after the event.
About Beth
Beth Wahler, PhD, MSW is a consultant, researcher, trainer, and experienced administrator whose primary focus is trauma-informed librarianship, public library patrons’ social service needs, reducing staff stress and trauma, and various kinds of collaborations, services, and programs to meet patron and staff needs (such as social work collaborations).
Dr. Wahler has worked with multiple public libraries- urban, suburban, and rural- as well as large library systems and state library associations across the US and internationally to provide personalized training opportunities, conduct needs assessments, program evaluations, and to develop individualized plans to help meet the needs of their patron populations and staff. She has published and presented widely on library patron and staff needs, trauma-informed librarianship, and library/social work collaborations.
Dr. Wahler’s book, Creating a Person-Centered Library: Best Practices for Supporting High-Needs Patrons, published by Libraries Unlimited, focuses on strategies for supporting patrons with psychosocial needs while simultaneously supporting library staff. She also co-hosts the podcast, Surviving the Stacks, aimed at providing support for and reducing challenges of library staff across the world.
.png?width=686&height=677&name=10-14%20Wahler%20webinar%20Images%20-%20Bio%20Pic%20-%20Wahler%202%20(686x677px).png "Beth Wahler headshot")
Join us
Learn to support high-needs patrons and library staff.