Bibliotherapy, Poetry, and Reading
How Arleen McCarty Hynes' Legacy Can Help Our Information Crisis
Infophilia, a Positive Psychology of Information | January 18, 2025 | Vol. 3, Issue 3
Welcome to Infophilia, a weekly letter about the human love of information and connections. We began the year by tracing the origins of information literacy 50 years ago and Paul Zurkowski’s attempts to build it up as infrastructure. Now, we’re beginning to see how all this is playing out in real life. The Getty Villa gardens stand as an oasis amid the devastation of the recent LA fires. As our Southern California communities grapple with this disaster, a parallel crisis unfolded: the spread of misinformation complicating relief efforts. This convergence of natural and information disasters is why I’m temporarily setting aside my planned exploration of another pioneer, Christine Bruce's seven faces of information literacy to address a more urgent need: how reading print books, bibliotherapy, and poetry therapy can help us with digital weariness and prepare us for the long days ahead of misinformation battles.
Cite this as: Coleman, Anita S. (2025, January 18). Bibliotherapy, poetry, and reading: How Arleen McCarty Hynes’ legacy can help our information crisis. Infophilia, a Positive Psychology of Information, 3 (3).
These are unsettling times. Thursday's Orange County Register, our local newspaper featured two telling headlines: Misinformation about California fires spreading like wildfire and Google signs deal with AP to deliver 'timely, accurate' news through Gemini AI. On social media, I witness friends struggling with political uncertainties and librarians engaging in nuanced discussions about AI's role in our profession. Many people are feeling overwhelmed and questioning a constant online presence.
In the midst of this digital turbulence, I found myself turning to print books for centering. David Ulin's The Lost Art of Reading particularly resonated —both its 2010 edition subtitled Why books matter in a distracted time and its 2018 update subtitled, Books and resistance in a troubled time.
I read what David Remnick wrote in The New Yorker, “Across the land, a willing suspension of disbelief has taken hold.” (January 12, 2025). What we need isn't more suspension of disbelief. What we need is a return to the grounding force of literature. Can we do this? Will we? Why should we?
Bibliotherapy—a therapeutic practice that uses books and poetry to support emotional and mental well-being—offers a path forward through the haze of misinformation and digital fatigue.
My reading journey led me to reflect on Arleen McCarty Hynes (1916-2006), a pioneering librarian in bibliotherapy and poetry therapy. Her work highlights the power of literature to heal and provide clarity in troubled times, and feels particularly apt for today. Bibliotherapy—a therapeutic practice that uses books and poetry to support emotional and mental well-being—offers a path forward through the haze of misinformation and digital fatigue.
As the American Library Association approaches its sesquicentennial in 2026, some of us have been writing honorary essays about the librarians we have lost during this time. Arleen’s legacy offers valuable insights for our current information challenges. Her work reminds us that literature is more than a pastime; it’s a tool for reflection, connection, restoration, and resistance too.
So today I offer an essay about her life and legacy and I close with a link to National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, a native of Los Angeles, reading her most recent poem Smoldering Dawn.
Arleen McCarty Hynes (1916–2006)
Bibliotherapy and poetry therapy pioneer's legacy for all of us
With over 1,300 recent academic studies on bibliotherapy and poetry therapy in PubMed, the therapeutic use of literature has never been more relevant. Libraries have evolved into wellness spaces and incubators of healthy information engagement—what we call "infophilia" and librarians as curators and nurturers of it. Arleen McCarty Hynes embodied this concept through her pioneering work, demonstrating how librarians can nurture both curiosity and healing through literature. Her methods resonate powerfully in our current mental health crisis, where libraries increasingly serve as community mental health resources. But they can also help any one of us.
Born in Iowa, Arleen graduated with a library science degree from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn. She married Emerson Hynes, a professor of sociology and philosophy, Saint John's University. The young couple, both of whom were Benedictine oblates, built a home in Collegeville, Minn. They named it Kilfenora and they hosted regular gatherings with members of a progressive Catholic circle, which included liberal activist Dorothy Day and novelist J.F. Powers, associated with the Catholic Worker Movement. They were also active in the Agrarian Society (a rural life movement).
In 1959, the Hynes family, which included 10 children, moved to Arlington, Virginia, when Emerson Hynes agreed to serve as legislative assistant to his former classmate, Eugene J. "Gene" McCarthy, who had been elected to the U.S. Senate.
Arleen Hynes, as the Virginia president of the American Association of University Women, did a pioneering study of the role of women in 1962. She also worked with a study group on Vatican II and served on the National Council on Aging.
In 1968, during the height of the Vietnam War, when McCarthy ran for president in opposition to the war, Arleen served as the head of Volunteers for McCarthy. The campaign took its toll on her husband, contributing to a stroke. The couple suffered the sad drowning of their 18-year old son and in the following year, 1971, Emerson Hynes died of a fatal heart attack.
Arleen…new job in the library at St. Elizabeths Hospital and found herself pioneering a form of healing called bibliotherapy. Later it became poetry therapy. It was lovely and engaging work. In fact, she described it as “falling in love all over again.”- Nancy Hynes in McCloskey
At the age of 55, Arleen faced the loss of her husband, with her remaining 9 children, three of whom were still at home, and turned to new challenges including her work at St. Elizabeths Hospital, in Washington D.C., the nation’s only federal mental hospital. Here she’d been hired in 1970 as a patient’s librarian. Her Wikipedia page describes the many programs that she started and the kind of people who benefited—as well as the state of the library with 10,000 books uncataloged in a hospital with no windows.
Arleen became an early advocate for the idea that literature could heal when she discovered the work of New York psychiatrist Jack J. Leedy, who edited the book Poetry Therapy: The Use of Poetry in the Treatment of Emotional Disorders (1969). She assembled a group of women experiencing mid-life change—a widow, a retired librarian, deskworker—and they became her first poetry therapy students.
Arleen saw quality, carefully chosen literature as “tools for the liberation of the human spirit”—one aspect of her own spiritual approach—and soon she was working alongside a psychiatrist who helped her develop her theory as a therapeutic model. - Joy Roulier Sawyer
She taught herself and trained the librarians in therapeutic practices too. Her groundbreaking work at St. Elizabeths from 1970 to 1981 led to the creation of the first federal bibliotherapy training program in 1974. Arleen’s compassion for the people she worked with was matched only by her commitment to building a strong foundation for bibliotherapy, ensuring it became a formalized therapeutic practice. She transformed the neglected library into a therapeutic haven, founding the Bibliotherapy Roundtable, worked with Dr. Ken Gorelick to develop the curriculum, and after establishing the first federal bibliotherapy training program, hiring her colleague Rosalie Brown as one of the first bibliotherapists under the newly created federal position at St. Elizabeths.
At the age of 65, she joined the Sisters of St. Benedict in 1981, after retiring from St. Elizabeths but continued to be active in bibliotherapy, serving at women's shelters and national associations.
Her co-authored work Bibliotherapy—The Interactive Process: A Handbook (1986, with her daughter Mary Hynes-Berry) remains in continuous print after 38 years, serving as a cornerstone text for professional practice.
With psychiatrist Dr. Ken Gorelick, she established certification programs that evolved into today's National Association for Poetry Therapy (NAPT) credentials: Registered Poetry Therapist (RPT) and Certified Poetry Therapist (CPT). She was a key figure in the National Federation of Biblio/Poetry Therapy, which later changed its name to the International Federation of Biblio/Poetry Therapy (IFBPT), the credentialing organization for biblio/poetry therapy laying the groundwork for the professionalization of bibliotherapy.
Her achievements garnered recognition including the Dorothea Dix Award (1978) and NAPT honors (2002). When diagnosed with liver cancer in 2004, she approached her final "Bonus Days" with characteristic insight, finding continued solace in reading until her passing in 2006.
Arleen’s impact though extended far beyond the written word. She used art and created environments where patients could explore their inner worlds and find healing through the exploration of poetry. Her deep spirituality and belief in the transformative power of words were reflected in both her professional and personal life. As Dr. Ken Gorelick noted in his reflections at her memorial service, Arleen “opened to me the amazing use of poetry and imaginal literature for healing.” Arleen’s devotion to healing, combined with her vision and curiosity, shaped a lasting legacy. Her ability to see the potential for growth and healing in each person and the transformative impact of literature remains a guiding light in the field of bibliotherapy and poetry therapy.
Print reading encourages us to slow down, reflect, and rediscover the deep healing power of the written word.
We can draw inspiration from Arleen Hynes's vision of libraries as spaces where all people can flourish. In our fast-paced world, Arleen’s life reminds us that literature heals and restores. I am a lifelong reader. I love to read. Nowadays, even I sometimes struggle to sit down with a print book without the pull of digital distractions or the convenience of audiobooks while walking, driving, or working out. But reading a print book—holding it in my hands and sharing it with others in a way I can’t with digital copies—is a different experience. Print reading encourages us to slow down, reflect, and rediscover the deep healing power of the written word.
Print reading remains as relevant today as it was in Arleen’s time. The challenges of screen fatigue and information anxiety are real, but her methods offer proven strategies for fostering digital wellness—not just by healing mental health through intentional reading practices but by helping us reconnect with ourselves and each other.
Smoldering Dawn by Amanda Gorman
LA’s losses are heartbreaking and the pain is indescribable. Rebuilding is not going to be easy but we can reclaim hope and rest in the revelation this young poet offers. LA native, Amanda Gorman, National Youth Poet Laureate wrote: “I’m releasing this poem as a fundraiser for the California Fire Foundation, which is offering support and aid to firefighters families, as well as those who have been impacted by the fires.” Her Instagram post, a recording of her reading, is embedded below. If it doesn’t show up, here’s the direct link: https://www.instagram.com/p/DEqfcZHSM4t/
