Libraries can transform communities locally and globally, says Dr. Noah Lenstra.
Wherever you are, even if you don’t have a car or access to public transportation, there’s a good chance you can get to a public library.
“The average American lives within 2.1 miles,” says the associate professor of library and information science. That stat powers his mission.
Since 2016, Lenstra has helped libraries in America and around the world boost healthy living in their communities through his “Let’s Move in Libraries” initiative.
In just the first two years, the movement drew libraries from every state and every Canadian province. The Let’s Move in Libraries website has nearly 50,000 visitors, 14 percent outside the United States, and Lenstra has been invited to speak about the work in the United Kingdom, Taiwan, and Australia.
Lenstra has always understood the power of libraries as a jumping-off point to a bigger world.
As a child growing up in northwest Illinois, he played video games in his local library. “In the 80s, there was nowhere else you could access a computer,” he remembers.
He had his lightbulb moment as a doctoral student experiencing difficulties with his own health. “My chiropractor told me, ‘You can keep coming in here, but it won’t do any good unless you get at the root cause.’”
Lenstra’s resulting quest for fitness opportunities led him to the discovery that, across the country, libraries were offering access to streaming fitness classes.
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