Whether you're spelling it out by hand or typing it out on your computer: Garland's library system offers online courses to help writers hone their chops.

Have you always dreamed of writing a book? Or maybe writing a few short stories? You could try your hand at writing by taking one of the online creative writing courses offered through Garlands library system.

The Nicholson Memorial Library System, which includes all four of Garlands public library branches, offers eight online creative writing courses focused on making participants better fiction writers.

In a social media post, the library said the courses are available 24/7 through Universal Class, an online learning platform.

Universal Class offers introductory creative writing courses, workshops, a historical fiction class and a mystery writing lesson, among other opportunities for writers, according to its website.

The library promoted the courses to mark National Novel Writing Month, but the coronavirus pandemic has also seen the library system bulk up its online offerings, including story time sessions for youngsters, adult learning classes and other e-activities.

Through the library system, users can also take language lessons, courses designed to prepare participants for citizenship tests and trade-related classes, among others.

With COVID-19 cases spiking again, Garlands libraries have recently reduced their hours and scaled back their capacity. But residents can apply for a temporary, 60-day library card online in the meantime.

For more information, see the Nicholson Memorial Library Systems online learning webpage.

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Do you have a book in you? Garland librarys online creative writing courses could help - The Dallas Morning News

The Lewis Library and Technology Center will be celebrating the holidays with several digital events during the upcoming weeks.

Visits with Santa on Zoom will be available on Tuesday, Dec. 8; Wednesday, Dec. 9; and Thursday, Dec. 10. Persons can call in advance to sign up at (909) 790-3146 (time is limited to five minutes per family).

Programming for "Little Artists" (ages 0-5) will be on Tuesdays at 5 p.m. on Facebook; "Craft Corner" (ages 6-11) will be on Thursdays at 5 p.m. on Facebook; and virtual Storytime live on Zoom will be Tuesdays at 4 p.m. (ages 6-11) and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. (ages 0-5). A library card is required in order to participate. Program kits are available to pick up weekly. For more information or to register, call the library at (909) 574-4500.

Storytime with Santa on Zoom will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Starting Tuesday, Dec. 8, registration information can be picked up at the library.

"Sing-A-Long with Santa" will be held on Facebook Live on Thursday, Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m.

The Lewis Library is located at 8437 Sierra Avenue.

In addition to those digital events (which are coordinated by San Bernardino County):

----- A DRIVE THRU HOLIDAY EXPERIENCE will take place on Saturday, Dec. 12 from 5 to 9 p.m. in front of the Lewis Library and Technology Center, 8437 Sierra Avenue.

This one-of-a-kind free event, coordinated by the City of Fontana, will feature roving entertainment, light displays, festive entries and more.

Participants must pre-register for one of the four one-hour time slots at FontanaCa.PerfectMind.com. One registration per vehicle; no walk throughs will be allowed.

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Lewis Library in Fontana is offering several digital events - Fontana Herald-News

A virtual reality field trip. A lesson on how to create a podcast. A tutorial on how to create a paper circuit board that uses LED lights. For a new generation of educators, these pursuits have something in common: Theyre all appropriate learning exercises that can take place in the school library. Makerspaces, or library media centers that encourage collaboration and support student invention, are on the rise across the United States.

This has always been the case, but in a prevailing learning culture that promotes outside-the-box problem solving, these activities are growing more common in the 21st-century school library. At the intersection of analog and digital learning opportunities, the value of school libraries has increased at all levels of education. And at the helm of these spaces, school librarians must negotiate how best to support students with library resources, adapt to new technological advancements in education and pass on the fundamental tenets of digital and information literacy to students.

As the U.S. public education system has evolved throughout its history, school libraries have also developed with a consistent central goal: to give students the best opportunity to succeed academically.

The Evolution of the School Library

Before school libraries would begin to morph into multimedia digital information centers, they supported student literacy-building practices by providing access to their on-site book collections. From the first plans for a school library in the United States drafted in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin, school district libraries would continue to sprout across the nation during the next two centuries. By the mid-1950s, schools would adopt localized, attached libraries in which librarians are considered qualified teachers, educating both students and instructors.

The face of public education has fundamentally changed since then, through the nationwide integration of schools, the rapid progress of education technology and the academic opportunities offered to students, to name a few. Because of these dramatic changes to the world of education, the expectations and responsibilities of school library faculty have understandably seen a dramatic shift as well.

Today, school librarians are not only responsible for administering and collating their collections. Instead, librarians promote creativity and discovery in student learning by offering multimedia resources. With school libraries beginning to function as digital media centers, these tools enable students to explore new modes of thought and include:

Modern Librarian Roles and Responsibilities

With these new responsibilities, librarians now occupy a multitude of additional roles, too. The Association of College and Research Libraries, which is an organization of college educators and librarians and a division of the American Library Association, lays out the seven rolesof librarians in school systems today. The goal with highlighting these different titles librarians must take on is to conceptualize and describe the broad nature and variety of the work that teaching librarians undertake as well as the related characteristics which enable librarians to thrive within those roles.

While these roles were drafted to appeal specifically to university and college librarians, they are universal enough to be relevant to school librarians working in primary and secondary school media centers, too.

At the University of West Alabama Online, youll pursue your personal and career goals in a culturally and intellectually diverse environment, all in a flexible environment designed to fit your lifestyle. Youll also benefit from a generous credit transfer policy, affordable degrees and personal support from application to graduation.

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The Making of the Modern Librarian: The Value of School Libraries - eSchool News

CHATHAM In conjunction with the Chatham Synagogue, the Chatham Public Library will host the online presentation FDR and the Jewish Question: Did the President Do Enough? at 2 p.m. Dec. 6.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is deemed by many to be the greatest President of the 20th Century for his leadership during the Great Depression and WWII. With regard to the Holocaust, FDRs goal was to win the war as quickly as possible and to save as many people as was consistent with that priority. Most historians from the time of the Presidents death until the mid-1980s agreed that Roosevelt did all he could to help save Jews in a time of strong anti-Semitism here at home. Some contemporary historians, however, have found FDRs foreign policy leadership lacking when it comes to dealing with Hitlers genocide of six million Jews. Did Roosevelt achieve as much for humanity as he might have in dealing with the Jewish Question?

Roosevelt researchers and Hudson Valley historians Linda Bouchey and Al Vinck have spent time studying both sides of this question and will attempt to clarify this conundrum on Dec. 6. As Roosevelt educators at Hyde Park, FDRs presidential retreat, they will offer background information on this countrys isolationism and right-winged conservatism, which restricted President Roosevelts ability to deal with Americas own version of Nazism as well as Europes fascism. Bouchey and Vinck will discuss how the U.S. State Department restricted efforts to save those fleeing Nazi horrors. Eleanor Roosevelts views will be examined, as the First Lady had a decidedly different perspective from the Presidents. Lastly, parallels will be drawn to the modern-day question of immigration to this country, which is once again dividing Americans.

The program is open to the public and will be followed by a Q & A. Log in at 1:45 p.m. for pre-discussion. To sign up, contact the library, or sign up online at the librarys website http://chatham.lib.ny.us.

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Library hosts online presentation 'FDR and the Jewish Question' - Hudson Valley 360

Fort Bend County Libraries (FBCL) will present a series of introductory online demonstrations in December to introduce people to various aspects of computer use and technology.

These how-to tutorials can be viewed on the Fort Bend County Libraries website http://www.fortbend.lib.tx.us by clicking on the Classes and Events tab, selecting Virtual Programs, and finding the virtual class on the dates listed.

Some of the topics includes multiple sub-topics, and participants can choose to view the whole series or the individual parts of their choice.

The schedule for December is as follows:

MS Publisher 2016: Greeting Cards Thursday, December 3

Discover how to use this desktop-publishing software to create greeting cards. Learn how to insert different images and text to create personalized greeting cards for any occasion.

MS Word: Table of Contents Thursday, December 3

Learn how to format a table of contents in this word-processing software program.

MS PowerPoint: Creative Holiday Cards Saturday, December 5, 3:00-5:00 pm.

In this livestreamed videoconference, members of Unite and Inspire will demonstrate how to use MS PowerPoint to make holiday-themed cards and colorful invitations. These personalized cards can be shared with family and friends. Registration is required; a link to the videoconference will be sent to all who register.

Intro to MS Word -- Monday, December 7

Learn the basics of using this word-processing software program to create letters, resums, forms, and other types of documents. Different segments in this multi-part series will demonstrate various features, such as text effects, changing font style and size, adding images, footnotes and endnotes, page numbers, tables, mail merge, and more.

MS PowerPoint: Transitions & Animations Thursday, December 10

Learn how to include transitions and animations in a PowerPoint presentation.

MS Excel Survival Basics Monday, December 14

Learn the basics of using this spreadsheet software program, which features calculation tools that are helpful for financial and statistical needs. In this multi-part series, learn how to use different features of MS Excel, such as formulas, filters, tables and graphs, pivot tables, VLOOKUP function, and more.

MS PowerPoint Survival Basics Monday, December 21

Learn the basics of using this slideshow-presentation software program. In this multi-part series, learn how to use different features of MS PowerPoint, such as creating slides, inserting text and pictures, and adding transitions and animations.

Cyber Security Monday, December 28

In this multi-part series, learn about steps to take to ensure your online accounts remain safe and secure from virtual attacks and breaches. Get tips on how to create strong passwords, recognize and avoid email scams, verify fake news, avoid malware and viruses, and protect ones privacy on social media.

The sessions are free and open to the public. Registration is required for the livestreamed Zoom/WebEx events ONLY; a link to the Zoom/WebEx session will be emailed to participants who register. To register online at the librarys website (www.fortbend.lib.tx.us), click on Classes & Events, select Virtual Programs, and find the program on the date indicated. For more information, call the library systems Communications Office (281-633-4734).

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LIBRARIES PRESENT INTRODUCTORY TECHNOLOGY HOW-TO VIDEOS ONLINE - Fort Bend Herald

LONDON An Italian rabbis letter to King Henry VIII concerning the Tudor monarchs effort to annul the first of his six marriages, a 16th-century spellbook, and what is believed to be the earliest dated copy of the Guide for the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides are among the Jewish treasures featured in a Hebrew manuscripts exhibition at the British Library.

The exhibition, which is available online for virtual visitors around the globe and will open for in-person viewing beginning December 3, showcases around 40 of the roughly 3,000 Hebrew manuscripts held by the UKs national library. Running through April 11, 2021, it aims, among other themes, to highlight the interaction between Diaspora Jewish communities and their non-Jewish neighbors.

The librarys collection which has been put together over the past 250 years has recently been digitized. Ilana Tahan, the exhibitions curator, describes it as a sort of celebration of the completion of the six-year project.

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By digitizing these manuscripts we ultimately expose them to a global audience and people wherever they live in every corner of the world, can access them freely, she says.

Spanning across science, religion, law, music, philosophy, magic, alchemy and kabbalah, the displays feature items from Europe and North Africa, the Middle East, India and China.

Alongside iconic documents and manuscripts that people know, we wanted to place things that people have never seen before, says Tahan.

Biblical fragments, First Gaster Bible, 10th century. (Credit: British Library Board)

The earliest object on display is a 10th-century Hebrew Bible which is thought to be one of the oldest-surviving Hebrew biblical codices. The manuscript, which hails from Egypt, shows the influence of Islamic art with its geometric and floral-patterned illustrations. Among several other religious texts in the exhibition are a Catalan Bible whose vivid colors belie its 14th century origins and a Torah scroll which belonged to the Jewish community in Kaifeng, China, some three centuries later.

But the exhibition is not primarily focused on religious texts. The relationship between Diaspora communities and their non-Jewish neighbors sometimes harmonious but often also marked by discrimination and persecution is a major theme of the exhibition. The curators wanted to show the interplay, the interaction, the mutual influences between the two, says Tahan.

A 13th-century deed of sale for a house in Norwich in the east of England shows Miriam, the wife of Rabbi Oshaya, giving up her rights to the property before it could be sold. Its a rarity in more ways than one, and depicts a Medieval Jewish woman owning property and engaging in business dealings. The deed is one of a small and, argues Tahan, extremely important historically collection of charters among the librarys Hebrew manuscripts.

British Librarys Hebrew manuscripts exhibition curator Ilana Tahan. (Courtesy)

What fascinated me about these documents some of them are in Latin with a little bit of Hebrew but there are some that were written entirely in Hebrew is that it appears that these kind of documents were accepted in England at that period, says Tahan.

Henry VIII (Wikimedia Commons)

But, although the deed indicated that Jewish legal documents written in Hebrew were in use in Medieval England, it is dated just 10 years before King Edward Is infamous expulsion of the Jews from the country in 1290.

A consequence of that decision was felt by one of Edwards successors, Henry VIII, nearly 250 years later. Desperate for biblical grounds on which his marriage to Catherine of Aragon who had failed to bear him a male heir might be annulled, the king canvassed the opinion of religious scholars.

Having previously obtained a special dispensation from the Pope to marry Catherine, who was the widow of Henrys brother, the validity of the levirate marriage was a focus of attention and a rabbis opinion was among those sought. But, given the expulsion of the Jews, the kings advisers had to cast a wider net and obtained the view of Italian rabbi Jacob Rafael.

Catherine of Aragon (public domain via Wikipedia)

The rabbis response shown in a letter contained in a ledger of correspondence in the exhibition didnt provide the answer Henry wanted. The rabbi stated that the justification for the levirate marriage in Deuteronomy overrode the prohibition in Leviticus (which bars sexual relations with a brothers wife), which Henrys advisers were attempting to use as a loophole to annul the marriage.

Undeterred, the king separated from Catherine in 1531, and had the marriage annulled by the Archbishop of Canterbury in May 1533 (five months after hed secretly married his new wife, the ill-fated Anne Boleyn). At the same time, a burst of legislation in parliament including the 1534 Act of Supremacy which declared the king to be Supreme Head of the Church of England ushered in the Reformation and the break with Rome.

Response of Jacob Rafael of Modena, to a question relating to Jewish marriage law that might apply in the divorce of King Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon. Italy, 1530. Arundel MS 151, ff. 190-191v. (British Library Board)

More often, though, Jewish opinion was stifled rather than sought. A rare copy of a Babylonian Talmud, which dates back to the 13th century, illustrates the manner in which Medieval Christian authorities destroyed many Jewish texts they considered to be blasphemous.

But such manuscripts were not always destroyed. A 17th-century edition of the 1596 Book of Expurgation, which is also on display, lists in alphabetical order some 450 Hebrew texts which the Catholic Church viewed as theologically dangerous or blasphemous. Censors then set to work deleting suspect passages.

An intricately decorated marriage contract from Calcutta (1881). (Credit: British Library Board)

The books author, Dominico Irosolimitano, censored more than 20,000 copies of Hebrew books and manuscripts. One of the manuscripts scanned for potential anti-Christian content is a 700-year-old text on Jewish law by German Jewish scholars. The constant checks that were undertaken are indicated by the signatures it contains of four different Italian censors three of them Jewish converts to Catholicism who examined the text between the years 1599 and 1640.

Of course, many Jews suffered a fate far worse than censorship. A copy of Rabbi Ishmael Haninas account of the interrogation and torture he suffered at the hands of the Papal Inquisition in Bologna in 1568 details how he was forced to explain the meaning of certain passages in the Talmud.

He was on trial as a representative of his religion and he had to defend the religion, says Tahan.

The rabbis ordeal occurred just months before the Jewish community was expelled from the Italian city. Another description of persecution comes from a 17th-century manuscript which tells of the aftermath of an Arab revolt in the Maghreb in 1589 in which Yahya ibn Yahya, a local religious leader, temporarily seized control of territory ruled by the Ottomans.

A work on the calculation of the calendar from Tlemcen, Algeria 1804. (Credit: British Library Board)

Before the Sultans army reestablished control, the rebel leader gave the Jews who fell under his sway a stark choice between conversion or death. You know that God has helped me with his good hands to abolish the kingdom of the Turks, ibn Yahya is recorded in the manuscript as telling the Jews of Misrata. Thus, from today onwards do not remember the name Israel any more. And if you rebel, I will do to you what I did to the Turks.

But, as the exhibition shows, despite the threats, oppression and violence they so frequently suffered, Jews contributed mightily to furthering the spread of knowledge in the West.

Living scattered across the globe, many Jewish scholars were multilingual, the display explains. At the crossroads of different cultures, they translated works between Arabic, Latin and Hebrew. Their most important contribution was transmitting Greek and Arabic ideas from these works to Christian Europe.

One such example held by the library is a 15th-century copy of a Hebrew translation made some 200 years previously by an Italian Jew, Nathan ha-Mati, of the Canon of Medicine. Originally in Arabic, the 11th-century text by Ibn Sina became the most influential work of Medieval medicine. The richly illustrated page on display is from Book V which lists 650 medicine recipes.

An illustrated copy of Abraham bar Hiyyas shape of the Earth, 15th century, (Credit: British Library Board)

Other examples contained in the exhibition include a 16th or 17th century copy of the translation made some 300 years before by another Italian Jew, Jacob Anatoli, of al-Farghanis Compendium of Astronomy and Elements of Heavenly Movements. Anatoli was able to consult both the original Arabic and a Latin translation of the work which summarized Ptolemys Almagest, a 2nd-century treatise on the apparent motion of the stars and planetary paths. Such translations helped to spread Greek astronomical knowledge in Medieval Europe.

Maimonides Guide for the Perplexed, circa 1325-1374, Spain. (Credit: British Library Board)

Similarly, the 12th-century Jewish astronomer, mathematician and philosopher Abraham bar Hiyya translated Arab scientific work into both Hebrew and Latin, pioneering the use of the former for scientific purposes. The exhibition displays the librarys 15th-century copy of Hiyyas Hebrew work Shape of the Earth in which he wrote about the creation of the earth, heavens, moon and stars. Also exhibited is a copy of a book on calendrical calculations vital for working out the dates of religious festivals helpfully written in verse to make them easier to remember.

One of the most impressive items curators have included in the exhibition is a 1380 copy of the Guide for the Perplexed by Maimonides. The 12th-century Jewish philosopher born in Cordoba, Spain, was one of the most influential Talmudic scholars of the Middle Ages. The manuscript, owned by the Jewish community in the Yemen and written in Judeo-Arabic, is considered Maimonidess most authoritative philosophical work. Alongside it, the exhibition has a brightly colored 14th-century copy of a translation into Hebrew; its images of a lion, scholars believe, may suggest it was commissioned for a royal court.

Some of the items on display, however, are perhaps less rooted in scholarship and science. Elisha ben Gads 16th-century Tree of Knowledge contains 125 spells and medicines. Its very, very charming, says Tahan, a lovely, beautiful book.

A spell book containing 120 magical and medical recipes, Ancona 1535-1536. (Credit: British Library Board)

It was, Elisha writes in his introduction, compiled from his journeys to Venice where he gained access to the library of Rabbi Judah Alkabets and copied down the contents of a Hebrew book of magic he discovered in the collection and secret knowledge he acquired in Safed on the shores of the Galilee. The recipes cover a wide range of eventualities from catching thieves to warding off demons, as well as curing fevers and diarrhea. Theres even some useful wedding-night advice: To increase love between bridegroom and bride when the bride comes from the hupah [wedding canopy] after finishing saying the blessing, write their names in honey onto two sage leaves and give the leaves to each other to eat, the spellbook suggests.

But for the light-fingered thief detained thanks to Elishas spell, help is at hand from Mafteah Shelomoh, the Key of Solomon. A compilation of several magical works translated from Latin and Italian into Hebrew, it contains a drawing on how to escape from prison. Draw a boat on the floor and step into it, it indicates, and spirits will appear to carry you away.

After a year of lockdowns, curfews and restrictions, this Medieval magic manual might just have some contemporary resonance.

The British Librarys Hebrew Manuscripts exhibition available online now and in person from December 3, 2020 through April of 2021. (Courtesy/ David Jensen)

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Dont divorce her: Rabbis letter to Henry VIII at heart of British Library show - The Times of Israel

Executive Summary

The U.S. has long suffered from a severe shortage of mental health care services. The pandemic has put a spotlight on the effectiveness and wide availability of digital and virtual mental health care, and by doing so might have thrown a lifeline to our mental health system.

We have a crisis in mental health care in the United States. Sixty percent of young people with major depression received no mental health treatment in 2017-2018, and one quarter of adults with mental illness reported an unmet need for treatment. In the U.S., 55% of counties have no psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker, and 70% dont have a single child psychiatrist. Queues for substance abuse care can be weeks long; 70% of those who needed substance use treatment in 2017 did not receive it. To make it worse, many practices have closed or reduced their capacity in response to pandemic health concerns.

Because of the pandemic, virtual care and other digital tools are more important than ever in supporting existing care, providing scale and increasing capacity. Clinician-based virtual care replaces traditional in-person office visits with synchronous video or audio visits or with asynchronous text messaging. This provides alternatives to the traditional 50-minute therapy hour and allows for a better match of supply and demand across times of day and geographies. Asynchronous messaging, for example, lets patients text a clinician or coach at any time and get a response later.

Non-clinician based digital mental health services, such as chatbots, video and written content, gamified user exercises and digital cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) programs, are a good adjunct to clinician-based virtual care, allowing 24/7 access for those with less intensive needs.

Increasingly, innovative mental health vendors are combining digital tools and virtual care to create a robust ecosystem for end-to-end patient care, including steering patients to in-person care when needed. This combination of tools provides the mental health care system with scalable solutions and increased flexibility while improving access and convenience for consumers. Because of these benefits, the majority of employer-sponsored health plans now offer virtual and digital options for mental health care.

How well do digital services and virtual care work? A 2016 metanalysis of 452 studies of telepsychiatryfound high patient satisfaction and quality equivalent to in-person care. And a 2020 Veterans Administration study found that video telepsychotherapy was as effective as in-person office-based care for treating depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Overall, most published studies show telephonic mental health care is as effective as in-person care in treating depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Similar results have been generated by digital tools that provide animated and/or human video instruction, content libraries and exercises. Digital CBT programs have proven as effective as in-person CBT in treating anxiety and depression and insomnia. One randomized, placebo-controlled trial of web-based CBT for insomnia demonstrated improvements in sleep quality and wakefulness. That technology, marketed today as Sleepio, has been implemented by many large employers. A chatbot developed by Woebot which provides CBT, DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) and mindfulness support led to significant improvement in young adults anxiety and depression in randomized clinical trials. And meQuilibrium, a stress and resilience app and program now available through many employers, showed a significant positive dose-response effect on stress and related symptoms in enrollees in a digitally administered resilience program.

Each of these types of care solutions can be delivered in a HIPAA-compliant manner with appropriate privacy protections.

Ginger is an on-demand support program that guides users in addressing low-acuity mental health care needs, such as mild depression or anxiety, through secure asynchronous texting with trained coaches supervised by therapists and supported by artificial intelligence. (Many virtual care platforms use algorithms to match users to providers; theres some evidence this can increase patient satisfaction and even clinical efficacy.) With Ginger, patients are escalated to a therapist or physician if they request it, or if the AI or coach recognizes the need for escalation. Coaches focus on needs including stress management, goal attainment, and recovering from loss using tools such as motivational interviewing and app-delivered content. By addressing less acute issues directly and triaging people to therapists or physicians as needed, the program provides scalable, cost-effective support. Ginger is offered directly by many employers, is in-network with several health plans, and counts Cigna and Kaiser Permanente among its investors. Vendors, including Spring Health, Lyra and Modern Health, likewise provide a continuum of care from addressing low-acuity needs to triaging users to more advanced care.

Talkspace, a platform with more than a million users, also scales access as it connects users to licensed providers. Members or employers pay a subscription fee for unlimited 24/7 access to therapists via texts, voice messages and/or videos within their secure application. Members or employees can also schedule video or phone sessions with a therapist as needed. While traditional 50-minute sessions are available, much care is delivered in small bites, allowing therapists to care for more patients and have more flexible schedules.

In addition to the scheduling flexibility and efficiency of therapy such platforms offer both patients and providers, these digital solutions have the potential to lower practitioners overhead. (They neednt have an office.) They also broadly increase access at potentially lower cost to patients and employers than the cost of providing traditional face-to-face care to the same population.

The Covid-19 pandemic led to a dramatic increase in the use of virtual and digital mental health services. The pandemic and associated lockdowns left more patients in need with little choice but to move away from in-person care. Clinicians who had resisted virtual visits faced devastating loss of income, and they, too, moved online. However, maintaining and building on the gains in access to care will be key. Many users and clinicians have had good experiences with digital tools and virtual care, and their availability and use can help us meet our mental health needs as the pandemic recedes.

Clearly, virtual and digital care isnt for everyone, and is inappropriate in some cases for instance in most emergency situations. But virtual and digital care can improve affordability and provide critical additional access for those in need. In a study on virtual care, Accenture reported that 46% of patients would choose to receive mental health appointments virtually. Those in Gen Z (born in 1997 or later) were more than four times more likely than Baby Boomers to prefer virtual care to in person care. In addition, some communities which have historically faced stigma and discrimination may prefer virtual or digital care.

The pandemic has put a spotlight on the value of digital and virtual mental health care, and by doing so might have thrown a lifeline to our mental health system. If we can harness learnings from the pandemic to drive increased, appropriate use of digital tools and virtual care, we can significantly improve the long-standing problems of inadequate access to mental health services. Critically, digital tools and virtual care will allow us to effectively meet the mental health needs of more Americans than ever before.

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Digital Tools Are Revolutionizing Mental Health Care in the US - Harvard Business Review

Fort Bend County Libraries (FBCL) will kick off the holiday season with a special online performance of holiday music by the Paragon Brass Ensemble of Houston on Saturday, Dec. 5.

Paragon Brass Ensemble will perform a free online holiday musical. From left are Jeff Grass (trumpet), Kevin McIntyre (horn), Steve Curtis (tuba), Thomas Hulten (trombone), Tom Tillotson (trumpet).

A link to the video performance will be posted on FBCLs online calendar of virtual programs (www.fortbend.lib.tx.us) so that families can enjoy the event from the comfort and safety of home.

Enjoy the classic sounds of the holiday season when members of the Ensemble perform familiar tunes and holiday favorites. Viewers will also hear music representing other countries and cultural traditions around the world.

Since its formation in 1983, the Paragon Brass Ensemble has become especially noted for its versatility and unique repertoire. The quintet has toured Texas, the Midwest, and the South, and its Houston concerts have been recorded for broadcast on KUHF and heard nationally on Performance Today.

Through its association with Young Audiences, Inc., the group has introduced thousands of children to classical music each year since 1985 and was nominated for the General Electric Artist Award for excellence in arts-in-education.

This performance is made possible by Young Audiences of Houston.

The online performance can be viewed on the Fort Bend County Libraries website http://www.fortbend.lib.tx.us by clicking on the Classes and Events tab and selecting Virtual Programs, and then finding the program on the date listed.

For more information, call the Fort Bend County Libraries Communication Office at 281-633-4734.

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Libraries host online holiday musical performance Dec. 5 | Arts And Entertainment | fbherald.com - Fort Bend Herald

Fort Bend County Libraries will host online programs in December that are intended to encourage new writers by providing tips and tricks, writing and publishing advice, and support from other aspiring novelists.

The Missouri City Branch Library will host an online Short Stories Writers Challenge during the month of December. A story prompt and activity guidelines will be posted on FBCLs online calendar on Monday, December 7. Writers are encouraged to create a story from the prompt, and submit it to mcpublic@fortbend.lib.tx.us before the deadline on December 31. One of the stories will be selected to be featured on the Missouri City Branch Library Facebook page in early January.

The Story Spinners Writing Club, which normally meets once a month at George Memorial Library, will meet virtually on Thursday, December 17, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm. The topic for December is Exposition. From beginning blogger to published novelist, writers of all genres and experience levels are welcome to join the Story Spinners Writing Club to write, share, learn, support, network, and critique each others work. This activity will be livestreamed via Zoom/WebEx. Registration is required; a link to the sessions will be emailed to all who register.

The sessions are free and open to the public. Registration is required for the live-streamed Zoom/WebEx event ONLY; a link to the Zoom/WebEx session will be emailed to participants who register. To register online at the librarys website (www.fortbend.lib.tx.us), click on Classes & Events, select Virtual Programs, and find the program on the date indicated. For more information, call the library systems Communications Office (281-633-4734).

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LIBRARIES SUPPORT NEW WRITERS WITH ONLINE ACTIVITIES | Community | fbherald.com - Fort Bend Herald

The Digital Age has been upon us for a while, and yet, as an industry we have been slow adopters, dipping the toe in the water with technology rather than being bold and diving in. The pandemic has been the catalyst that has forced the worlds fitness industry to embrace the possibilities on offer and adjust to meet the needs of the consumer. However, the increased consumer engagement with digital fitness, accelerated by global lockdown restrictions, has also awoken the sleeping giants of Silicon Valley.

As an industry, we have been caught on the back foot by tech giants such as Apple, Facebook, Mirror and Tonal who have been alerted to the consumers appetite for home fitness and fitness tech, recognizing the commercial opportunity, and have launched their own tech-driven fitness services and products. With bigger budgets, seemingly endless resources, established brand loyalty and a global audience, these newcomers to the fitness space have placed a huge amount of pressure on our industry, forcing us to expand digital offerings, enhance quality and meet customer demand in a fast-changing marketplace.

The biggest brands in technology, now with their sights firmly set on the fitness industry, will take no prisoners. How can club operators fight back in a David and Goliath style battle to win over consumers and secure their industry place for the future?

Anything that gets the population moving is a good thing. Getting more people more active more often is the whole reason we all work in the fitness industry. We all have a passion and drive to improve peoples physical and mental well-being through activity. So any new solution that promotes this is positive.

The focus that big players have placed on the fitness industry drives more investment, awareness and interest in exercise, creating a much bigger potential net of customers. As they say, a rising tide lifts all boats. It is also the case that as digital solutions help more people work out from home, confidence and ability increases, and these people may soon seek a facility or club as their next step.

More people engaging in activity is a good thing. The data that digital brings also allows companies to analyze at a whole new level, adjusting offerings to meet real-time engagement. But as a business in the fitness industry, recent moves by these companies have the potential to steal customers from facilities, tempting them with more accessible and affordable digital offers. They can rapidly develop new technology and new high-quality content, and they have the ability to stifle any creative moves the fitness industry makes to open new revenue streams through digital delivery.

An argument exists that some of these companies, including Apple and Google, are operating with a conflict of interest, as they can self-promote their own product, hold data from devices pushing their own product and operate in a developer-locked environment.

Health club operators offer fitness experiences, not just a workout. In-club activity offers a social aspect that cant be replicated through virtual experiences, and the four walls of a facility act as a cathartic change of scene, a space away from both work and home.

Many clubs also offer a range of activities, including spas, work-spaces, cafes and restaurants, sport facilities and child-care, as well as the unrivaled access to experienced professionals and support and a wide range of equipment options that cannot be matched by at-home gyms.

Digital fitness often offers no personal accountability, individual goal setting or performance reviews. This brings a risk of injury or a lack of professional support with no one focused on the assessment of technique. The nature of the digital fitness scene also highlights trainers with perfect bodies, the fitness ideal, but this is an unrelatable and unrealistic representation, especially to those new to fitness, which many of the home-fitness users are, and can have a negative impact on mental health, self-confidence and self-esteem.

In the United Kingdom, we know that roughly 16 percent of people participate in gym or fitness classes at least on a monthly basis. But these tech giants will attract to fitness a whole new consumer group, reaching a greater percentage of the population, not just in the United Kingdom but globally. Yes, this will grow the interest in fitness and in turn, the industry butand this is a big butunless we can compete we wont get a slice of this pie. When Silicon Valley does something, it does it well. The quality of this product will not be substandard, and we need to up our game with quality content and member engagement in order to remain in the game. One thing the fitness industry does have to its advantage is community. Despite the exciting appeal of some of these new developments, there is still something to be said for working out with people from your local area, socializing with them as a community, training with your trainer who knows you and your goals, and having loyalty for your local gym chain. No one wants to be a faceless number at the back of a digital class when they can be seen and heard, surrounded by a supportive community of people they know.

Digital is here to stay. But there is still a demand for the personable experience that in-club activity can deliverreal people delivering real experiences. Therefore, the hybrid model, a wrap-around combination of both in-club and digital on-demand offerings, is the perfect solution to meet consumer demands, providing personalization, accountability and connection to others while allowing the user the ability to select when and where they train.

Digital cannot replicate the in-person experience and community creation that drives a sense of belonging and the feeling that we are in this together or the face-to-face access to professional support. But digital options can supplement the in-club experience and help consumers integrate their fitness journey into their lifestyle, giving them the ability to train anywhere, anytime.

To date, Silicon Valley does not have the assets to deliver the in-person experience. As long as our sector has brick-and-mortar facilities, thisand the communities we create around themremain our standout unique selling proposition.

There is a lot of talk in the United Kingdom about the missed opportunity of our sector to be considered by government as essential to a preventive health care strategy. Currently, gyms are classified with pubs and cinemas. To protect our market position, we need to think much wider than the fitness outcomes we deliver and focus more on the wider health outcomes. We need to talk more about protection against infection and disease and prevention against long-term health issues such as diabetes, heart disease and some forms of cancer. Our language needs to shift from COVID secure to regulated.

If we shift into the health space and start to link our services more to government prevention rather than cure health care strategies, we create an opportunity to serve a much bigger segment of the population. Most people seeking health outcomes from exercise are likely to be deconditioned non-exercisers who need help and support from professionals to be able to train smart and safely toward personal health outcomes. This will require an in-person service. This is where the opportunity lies for our sector. Let the tech giants support the fit-natics and the health conscious who want to track and monitor health indicators; we will deliver the in-person exercise prescription. I honestly cant see our GP service ever moving online because people need and want a face-to-face consultation. Yes, digital services can enhance and support this, but I dont ever see the personal in-person consultation vanishing from our health care system. This should be the same in the prescription of physical activity plans for a healthy, fulfilling life.

The sector now needs to re-evaluate our market position and ambition for the future. We need to unite via our trade associationsIHRSA, Europeactive, UKactive. The case for change is well established. The positive impact of regular activity on health has been proven time and time again. We dont need any more evidence to support the case for change. What we do need is a joined-up strategy to drive the charge.

Digital will undoubtedly play a part in this, but the ability of brick-and-mortar clubs to deliver an outstanding in-person physical experience remains our biggest selling point. Tech giants from Silicon Valley cant compete with us on this. In fact, we should be collaborating with them rather than competing with them. Their health monitoring and tracking technology will be useful as we move into the health space. If we try to compete with them like for like, we will struggle. Instead, we need to create our own niche in the market.

We must focus on the delivery of an outstanding in-club experience, a unique selling point that Silicon Valley cannot yet match, supported by a quality digital provision. The two together will create a future-proof, closed ecosystem, enabling club operators to become an integral partner in a persons health and fitness journey.

If you would like to discuss the introduction or enhancement of your digital offer, visit http://www.fisikal.com or email: [emailprotected].

BIO

Rob Lander, CEO of Fisikal, has more than 20 years of experience in the health and fitness industry, as a former personal trainer who built a successful business of 50 sessions per week. Lander has also spent many years as an international presenter lecturing on technology in the fitness industry. He started with little knowledge of technology other than the vision that one day we would all be using it for many areas of our lives. Organizations all over the world now come to Fisikal seeking our advice on how systems and processes can be optimized. Landers experience working in all areas of the fitness industry gives him multiple perspectives to help advise on how solutions can be created. His advanced knowledge of technology also gives him insights into what the future holds and how we can adapt internal processes so they can leverage technology efficiently.

Originally posted here:
Tech Giants of Silicon Valley: Friend or Foe to the Fitness Industry? - Club Industry