by Ginny Barnes, First Year Success Librarian

College campuses in the last few weeks of the semester and airports have at least one thing in common: they are full of stressed-out people. 

Last summer, I was in LAX on my way back home from traveling. I had been on planes and in terminals for almost 24 hours and was exhausted. Walking through a long corridor to find my gate, I noticed something that made me pause. 

Along the walls were large floor-to-ceiling photos of airport employees. Each included a short narrative about their life. With “The Portrait Project,” artist Eileen Cowin sought to make airport workers and their lives visible: “We do not always pay attention to the employees helping us. The person checking us in could also be a mother, father, sister, maybe a poet, artist, fisherman, entrepreneur.” This unexpected experience with art made me smile, take a step back from my stress, and reconnect with my humanity. 

This is an example of passive programming: self-directed activities or exhibits that users interact with at their own time and pace. Our library has been exploring passive programming the last few semesters–coloring pages and pencils left out on a table, “graffiti” walls, community puzzles, etc. Passive programs are often unassuming, require minimal promotion, and lean on engagement with students who are already in the building. 

For the last few weeks of the semester, myself along with a crew of library workers and staff from our Student Health and Counseling Center are excited to formally announce our wellness campaign, Press Paws at the Fresno State Library. Recognizing National Stress Awareness Month and the finals season, we want to encourage students to Press Paws and take a break to reduce their stress. 

On the First Floor of the Library, students will find our Press Paws Library Lounge. Tables full of art and craft supplies for knitting, origami, journaling, collage, and coloring, are available for students to pick up, tinker with, and enjoy. Also featured is our Creative Reuse Cart stocked with old books, magazines, and multimedia discarded from our library collection and available for students to repurpose. Music from our vinyl record collection, puzzles, board games, our Stress Awareness Digital Book Display, celebrity visits, and more programs will continue to roll out through the end of the semester in additional spaces throughout the library.

The library is already a popular place on campus, seeing upwards of 100,000 visits each month. While killing time between classes, studying, or meeting with peers in the library, students can stumble upon these programs in our open spaces, and be invited to check in with their mental health. Engaging with the senses is a relaxation technique that can help slow heart rate and lower blood pressure, and each of these programs intends to generate a tactical, visual, auditory, or multisensory experience. 

Often I hear students remark that they don’t really use the library. What they mean is that they don’t browse or check out our books or media; however, taking up space to relax between classes or just charge your phone is using the library. Public spaces like airports, parks, bus stops, coffee shops, and libraries are third-space hubs where community gathers between work, school, and home. In these spaces it can be easy to fall into autopilot and disappear into the crowd or into a mind reeling with anxiety about time commitments, tests, deadlines, grades, bills, family, and on and on. By integrating wellness into the design of these public spaces through passive programming and public art, we can prompt people to engage with the present and their surrounding environment. 

It wasn’t that long ago though that we craved the feeling of being near one another. Now that we are, it is important to take these pauses to remember that blessing. We are a community. Long after finals, we will still be a community. 

Check out the schedule below to catch some of the programs happening now and until the end of the semester…

Press Paws Lounge
April 10th – May 18th

1st Floor North,

Soft seating area between the Popular Reading and Graphic Novel Collections

The Press Paws Lounge, located on the 1st Floor North, is a space for students to pause and check in with their mental health. The lounge will feature coloring stations, a community puzzle, livestream monitor of nature and animals, and Crafternoon, a pop-up arts & crafts space.

Coloring Stations 

April 17 – May 18

1st, 2nd, 3rd Floor North

Soft seating area

Press Paws with a coloring break! Find coloring pages, coloring pencils

and crayons on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Floors North in the soft seating areas.

Library Listening Hour 

Tuesdays at 1:00pm

April 25th, and May 2nd

3rd Floor North, Music & Media

Press Paws and listen to some classic tunes from our LP collection! Visit Music and Media for the Library Listening Hour.

Press Paws in the TRC – Game Time

Tuesday, April 25th, 11:00-3:00pm

3rd Floor North, Teacher Resource Center Reading Room

Life-size Jenga, Connect Four, and other hands-on games and activities. 

Journaling for Calm 

Tuesday, April 25th, 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Room 2108 next to Starbucks. 

A free-flow journaling time providing prompts and guidance (as needed) for journaling to reduce stress, organize thoughts, and calm anxiety. Drop in or stay the whole hour. 

Victor E. Bulldog Finals Pup Talk 

Monday, May 15 1:00-1:30pm

First Floor North