Librarians help Health students connect research with community impact
When students in HLTH 480: Competencies in Health set out to address complex community health challenges, Rachel Figueiredo, entrepreneurship librarian, and Siu Hong Yu, a health and science librarian, helped ensure their ideas were grounded in evidence.
The capstone course, run in partnership between the Faculty of Health and United College's GreenHouse social impact incubator, brings together students, community organizations and other experts to tackle real-world health issues. This term, students worked in teams to explore topics related to social prescribing, an approach that connects people with community supports and services that can improve health and wellbeing.
Supporting research and discovery
As consultants, Figueiredo and Yu participated in two workshops and a demonstration day throughout the winter 2026 term. Working with approximately 100 students, they helped teams refine their research questions, identify credible information sources and connect with subject experts who could strengthen their projects.
By participating early in the ideation process, the librarians and other community partners helped students move beyond initial assumptions and build solutions informed by evidence and real-world experience. Their support ensured students could explore community health challenges with a deeper understanding of the issues and the research surrounding them.
"As a librarian, I love working directly with students. This project perfectly demonstrates how research, collaboration and community-building can come together to address real healthcare challenges," says Yu.
“When students engage with the library early, they build on evidence instead of guesswork; that changes the quality of everything that follows, from the problem statement to the final prototype. This partnership with the Librares is exactly the kind of support students need to make community-engaged learning work.”
From inspiration to action
One student group was particularly inspired by their conversations with librarians to solve library-related issues. The team chose to focus its capstone project on public libraries as hubs for social prescribing.
Working closely with staff from the Waterloo Public Library, the students developed a proposed solution that included a prototype app to support library users and training resources for library employees. The project demonstrated how libraries can serve as important community connectors.
For Figueiredo and Yu, the experience reinforced the important role librarians play in helping students connect research, community expertise and innovative thinking to create meaningful impact.
