Blogs

The Role of Libraries and Librarians in Health Literacy

by Semhar Yohannes, MPH, MLS

As a science librarian for nearly 10 years, I have encountered numerous patrons who need help locating information on a recent medical diagnosis, locating reliable websites about different supplemental vitamins, navigating databases, etc.

Libraries and librarians have been involved in patient education and health education for over a century. Increasingly, libraries and librarians have focused on improving the community’s access to high-quality health information, expanding their involvement in research to address health literacy disparities, and producing inclusive training programs and evaluation tools. This increased activity by libraries and librarians is due to support and funding from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM), which is part of the National Library of Medicine (NLM)—one of the National Institutes of Health.

NLM supports and conducts health literacy research, development, and training in biomedical informatics and is the world’s largest biomedical library. It maintains a vast print collection and produces electronic information resources that are available to the public. NLM also created and maintains PubMed—a free biomedical and life sciences database of literature whose goal is to improve global health.

Libraries and librarians are great resources for improving the health literacy of the general public. Public, academic, and medical libraries are already essential partners in community-based health literacy efforts. Library employees provide health information to patrons through a variety of methods. For instance, they provide free internet access, refer patrons to local health services, distribute and post information, teach instructional classes, provide reliable health information resources (print and electronic), and teach the public how to evaluate the content they consume.

As individuals face increasingly complex decisions regarding all aspects of their health, they will seek out trusted sources of information. However, even if they are able to locate accurate information, navigating and evaluating it is still challenging for most people.

This is where libraries and librarians come in. My profession has automatic buy-in from the community that we are trustworthy and that we can help patrons locate accurate and reliable sources of information, evaluate resources, and teach patrons how to critically think about the information they are reviewing.

Libraries and librarians are trusted parts of the community. By demonstrating their expertise, librarians can help break down barriers to health information within their communities.