Tuesday, October 3, was my first day at the Nashua Public Library, and so far, so good!
I am very excited about my new job as a Reference Librarian and look forward to working with you. I will staff the reference desk, teach computer classes, and order books for the 600 section of the nonfiction collection, which includes cooking, gardening, health, pets, engineering, carpentry, and manufacturing, among other topics. If you would like the library to order books on those subjects, or if you just have an interest, let me know. You can contact me at alison.zaya@nashualibrary.org.

I previously worked in the medical library at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston. When patients and their families visited, I often referred them to my favorite consumer health website, MedlinePlus.gov. This website offers information from numerous reliable sources such as the Mayo Clinic and National Institutes of Health. People without medical backgrounds, such as myself, can understand the publications.

Two additional great resources that the Nashua Public Library makes available are Consumer Health Complete and Health Source Consumer Edition. Both are accessible through our EBSCO database. Consumer Health Complete includes information from encyclopedias, reference sources, pamphlets, and reports. It also includes resources in Spanish. If you are looking more specifically for magazine articles, take a look at Health Source Consumer Edition. This will give you access to articles on numerous health topics.

To reach either Consumer Health Complete or Health Source Consumer Edition, click here or visit the library's databases page and click on the link for EBSCO. After entering the last 5 digits of your library card number, choose "health resources" on the top of the screen for Health Source, or Consumer Health Complete at the bottom of the screen.