Tools and Resources

Resources for Coping with Grief

Separate page that provides several resources to help those in grief and/or those who want to help others dealing with grief, particularly in the workplace.

General Health and Wellness

MedlinePlus Health Check Tools
Interactive tools for assessing your health with interactive tools: calculators, quizzes, and questionnaires. Mostly related to physical injuries and disease, but also includes tools related to stress, communication with health professionals, nutrition, and more.

MedlinePlus Herramientas para Evaluar la Salud
Evalúe su salud con herramientas interactivas (cuestionarios, calculadoras, evaluaciones personales y guías).

HealthNewsReview.org
A watchdog site that reviews and rates health care journalism, advertising, marketing, public relations and other “sound bite” medical tips and stories. Their goal is to help improve the public dialogue about health care and to help consumers critically analyze claims.

MyHealthfinder.gov
A tool from the US Department of Health and Human Services that will give you personalized recommendations related to preventive health services.

Mayo Clinic Healthy Lifestyle
Find information and tools for a variety of health and wellness topics including caregiving, stress, and fitness.

Wellness Weekly Review Journal
A document for recording your weekly wellness goals in all areas of personal wellness and for gathering information on how well you are meeting those goals. Good for a one time self check-in, and even better to do periodically to see how you are doing in the long-term. (PDF Document)

Ergonomics

Ergonomics from Mayo Clinic Infographic
Useful visual about the basics of office workspace ergonomics.

Ergonomics from the National Institutes of Health
This page provides info and tools related to all aspects of ergonomics including: exercises and stretches for workers, advice on ergonomic chairs and office configuration, and lists of vendors who sell ergonomic office equipment.

Ergonomics Self Assessment from the National Institutes of Health
Use this checklist to help optimize your workspace for ergonomic comfort.

Exercise and Fitness

American Council on Exercise: Tools and Calculators
Free tools and calculators related generally to fitness and exercise, and more specifically to body mass index (BMI), target heart rate zone, blood pressure, body fat composition, daily caloric needs, etc.

President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition
Tips and stories on health, as well as information on presidential programs and initiatives for health across the country.

Family, Parenting, and Children

Guide to the Family Medical Leave Act
Family Medical Leave Act (requires employers of 50 employees or more to provide employees that have worked for at least 1250 hours, up to 12 weeks unpaid leave a year, with job protection, to take care of an immediate family member or themselves for a birth, adoption, or serious illness. Some states such as CA, NJ, and RI provide state-paid maternity/paternity leave as well.

Caregiver Toolbox
An extensive set of tools to help Topics range from communication and finances, to independent living assessment and nutrition. Also included are resources for caregivers’ self-care and support.

Symptom Checker
An interactive tool from the American Academy of Pediatrics that can help you determine what to do next when a child experiences different symptoms and/or injuries. It includes levels of professional care, as well as when and how to manage the symptoms on your own.

Household Products Database
Check to see if an item in your house or library is dangerous and learn more about safety and handling.

Tools and Information from the National Partnership for Women and Families
Provides information and tools on a wide variety of wellness and work issues, including paid leave, pregnancy discrimination, general health care, and reproductive health. Among the tools are a Work and Family Policy Database (searchable by state, issue, and year) and section-by-section summaries of laws like the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Finances, Salary, and Budgeting

ALA-APA Salary Surveys
Links to the APA’s Salary Survey Database, as well as articles, summaries, and fact sheets for Librarian Salary Surveys and the Rural Library Salary Survey.

ALA-APA Advocating for Better Salaries Toolkit
This toolkit is designed to provide library workers with the resources and strategies they need to improve their salaries. The toolkit has four parts: Building Your Case for Better Salaries; Pay Equity; Unions; and Speaking Out. This toolkit will be helpful whether you are a librarian, administrator, or support staff.

Tools at MyMoney.gov
Budgeting worksheets, calculators, and checklists for a wide variety of financial situations and to help ensure financial wellness. Among the calculators are: debt payoff, tax withholding, savings (long and short term), investing, etc. Checklists include: buying a car, getting a mortgage, refinancing, financial privacy and protection, etc.

Federal Student Loan Forgiveness
Many library workers can qualify for student loan forgiveness after a period of time in particular employment, eligible payments, and/or a triggering event. Official information on forgiveness based on many factors: public service, teaching, disability, death, school closing, etc.

LibraryWorklife Newsletter Archive of Articles on Salaries
A publication of the American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA), LibraryWorklife is a monthly electronic publication about issues that concern all library workers.

Taking the Mystery out of Retirement Planning
An online booklet from the US Department of Labor is for people who are 10 to 15 years from retirement that includes interactive worksheets and other planning tools and calculators.

Savings Fitness Worksheets
A series of 6 worksheets from the US Department of Labor to help you begin saving and having better financial fitness. Topics are: Goals and Priorities, Financial Documents Checklist, Calculating Net Worth, Retirement Saving, Cash Flow Spending Plan, and Debt Reduction.

Food and Nutrition

ChooseMyPlate.gov
Information on balanced eating, healthy eating on a budget, and age-specific tips, tools, videos, and games to help preschoolers and school-age kids learn wellness habits

What’s Cooking? (USDA Mixing Bowl)
Look for healthy recipes, create and print your own cookbook, watch how-to videos, and find other resources on nutrition.

SuperTracker
A free food and activity tracker from the US Department of Agriculture, as well as other tools related to goal setting, weight management, group challenges, etc.

Portion Distortion
2 sets of interactive slides from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute that show how portions have changed over time and how to better judge the health of food-on-the-go.

Stress and Emotional Wellness

Stress and Stress Management from the Mayo Clinic
A series of pages covering stress basics, in-depth topics, videos, health news about stress, links to books and webpages, as well as a q-and-a section and a regular blog written by a medical expert. The in-depth pages are particularly wide-ranging, covering topics as diverse as job stress, empty-nest syndrome, relaxation techniques, pet therapy, meditation, preventing stress set-backs, and more.

Relaxation Techniques for Health
A fact sheet from the National Center for Complimentary and Integrative Health (part of the National Institutes of Health) summarizing information on relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, and self-hypnosis. Includes links to other stress- and relaxation-related articles and resources.

Action on Workplace Stress
A guide and resource toolkit provided by the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) that provides a place to start to learn about workplace stress and what to do about it. Although some of the legal materials are focused specifically on Ontario, it includes tools that are more universal, including links to a smartphone app and an online survey that can help you measure your stress levels.

MentalHealth.gov
A collaborative government site that includes resources for all types of people who may be dealing with Mental Health issues themselves, in their family/friends, or in their wider community. Provides direct advice for how to communicate, what to say, and further resources to share.

Work-Life Balance

Work-Life Balance Fact Sheet
A nice general overview from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, with links to other, question-and-answer fact sheets

LibraryWorklife Newsletter Archive of Articles on Work-Life Balance
A publication of the American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA), LibraryWorklife is a monthly electronic publication about issues that concern all library workers.

Work Life Balance Toolkit
Created by the National Health Service of Wales, this is a resource for goal setting and provides suggestions for relaxation, managing stress, and creating more balance in your health and work life. (PDF Document)

The Greater Good Science Center
Based at the University of California, Berkeley the GGSC studies different aspects of well-being. At their site, you can find educational resources, study information, videos, and podcasts on general well being and work-life balance.

General Workplace Wellness

Worksite Health Scorecard
A tool for assessing workplace implementation of science-based health promotion and protection interventions related to a variety of health problems like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and obesity. Designed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Total Worker Health Webinars
A series of archived webinars on a variety of topics like Advancing Working Family Well Being, Sedentary Work, and Workplace Stress. Created by The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

Quality of Worklife Questionnaire
A survey you can use for workplace wellness assessment at your own workplace. Designed to help study longitudinal changes, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) selected 76 questions dealing with a wide assortment of work organization issues. These include (but are not limited to) hours of work, workload, worker autonomy, layoffs and job security, job satisfaction/stress, and worker well-being.

Drug-free Workplace Toolkit from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
This toolkit can be used to support drug-free workplace policies and programs and includes information on assessing your workplace, developing policies, providing education and support for employees, and more.

Workplace Wellness Pathfinder
Start researching better workplace wellness with this tool created by former ALA President Loriene Roy’s Workplace Wellness Task Force.

Wellness Programs at Work

The Step by Step Guide to Successful Workplace Wellness Programs
A report with best practices, tips, and tricks on workplace wellness programs including info on wellness committees, etc.

Workplace Health Solutions
A program through the American Heart Association that includes assessment of programs and environment, tools and trackers for employees, and progress reporting.

Workplace Wellness Programs Study
The Department of Labor’s final report on all aspects of workplace wellness programs, including information on program elements, impact of financial incentives on program uptake, and impact of wellness programs on health and costs.

Workplace Health Promotion from the CDC
An online toolkit for workplace wellness programs from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It has tools, resources, and step-by-step guides, including information on making the business case for wellness programming, pre-program workplace assessment, employee needs surveys, program evaluation, etc.

Library-Specific Wellness at Work

Workplace Wellness Inventory
Use this form to assess workplace wellness and perceptions of workplace wellness at your library. (PDF document)

Library Workplace Wellness Surveys
In 2007-2008 the ALA-APA surveyed library workers on their thoughts and attitudes concerning work-life balance issues and workplace wellness initiatives in libraries. These are the summaries discussing the results and the conclusions drawn from them.

LibraryWorklife Newsletter
A publication of the American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA), LibraryWorklife is a monthly electronic publication about issues that concern all library workers, including wellness-related issues like work-life balance, career advancement, salaries, etc.

Finding Health and Wellness @ the Library
Funded by an IMLS grant anc completed by the California State Library, this document includes annotated links and sources related to all aspects of wellness. Included is a section specific to library workplace wellness.