@article{4d38b5d09389481a94c8912e5d40b949,
title = "Health Sciences and Public Librarians Partnering to Create a Culture of Health",
abstract = "Individuals with low health literacy experience negative health outcomes such as longer or absent recoveries, diminished quality of life, frequent and longer hospitalizations, and morbidity. The role of librarians is changing and librarians are playing a proactive role in fostering community health by providing health information resources, offering training opportunities, and partnering with local health organizations and health care providers to develop programs. This article discusses how an academic health sciences librarian and a public librarian combined their expertise and resources to create a successful partnership that continues today. The librarians were also invited to participate in a community health improvement plan (CHIP) of two major hospitals in New Jersey. The CHIP culminated in a symposium that brought together public and academic health sciences librarians and other constituents from the community who are interested in building a Culture of Health in New Jersey.",
keywords = "Academic health sciences libraries, community health improvement plan, consumer health, cultural competence, culture of health, health literacy, public libraries",
author = "Yingting Zhang and Karen Parry",
note = "Funding Information: The East Brunswick Public Library (EBPL), located in central New Jersey, is a good example of a public library that actively engages with its community members to improve their health and well-being. The librarians have a large base of repeat patrons who turn to the library as a centralized hub to learn about their health matters and that base is constantly growing. The librarians have knowledge of where to go in the community to find answers to the most esoteric questions. They promote health and wellness through creative workshops and programs. These include CPR training, diabetes and blood pressure screenings conducted by nurses at a local hospital, or the latest in cancer treatments taught by local medical oncologists. The library is a place to go where embarrassment and judgment is left at the front door. This sense of trust makes public librarians very effective players on the frontlines of consumer health. EBPL has garnered national recognition for its “Just for the Health of It” health literacy outreach program (East Brunswick Public Library 2014). This is a custom research program funded by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Mid-Atlantic Region (NNLM MAR). The program includes weekly visits to places in the community where people gather, such as farmers markets, fairs, schools, fitness centers, and hospital support groups. Onsite librarians address health and wellness questions using knowledge gleaned from ongoing, specialized training of the Medical Library Association{\textquoteright}s (MLA) Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS) program (Medical Library Association 2017). The EBPL librarians have deep knowledge of websites and resources for consumer health that spans all life stages from infants through seniors. They regularly receive training in culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) so that they are able to venture into the community and assist new immigrants, seniors, and other marginalized groups due to cultural, linguistic, and physical barriers. The librarians provide health information at an appropriate reading level, in multiple languages, and will enlarge print to help individuals suffering from normal aging or eye disease. In January 2017, Just for the Health of It was recognized by the New Jersey Hospital Association in an award to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and Saint Peter{\textquoteright}s University Hospitals. The award cited the program as a baseline to inspire public libraries to engage in health literacy with “potential to touch more than 50,000 community members in 2017 through direct questions, health information and education events, and a direct health portal” (New Jersey Hospital Association 2017, 25). Figure 1 shows the members of the Healthier Middlesex Committee who received the 2017 Health Research and Educational Trust of New Jersey Community Outreach Award for their project, “Outside the Box: Partnering with Local Libraries to Increase Community Health Literacy.”",
year = "2018",
month = apr,
day = "3",
doi = "10.1080/15398285.2018.1434348",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "22",
pages = "102--111",
journal = "Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet",
issn = "1539-8285",
publisher = "Taylor and Francis Ltd.",
number = "2",
}