Kentucky Public Librarians and Health Information: Experiences, Resource Use, Community Needs, and Roles for Academic Health Sciences Librarians

Abstract

Public libraries serve as sources of health information, and partnerships between public and academic health sciences libraries may improve a community’s access to and understanding of health information. Librarians at a medical school in Kentucky conducted interviews with public librarians to better understand their experiences with health information with the goal of informing future outreach to public libraries. All participants reported receiving requests for health-related information at least occasionally. Most participants used books to answer health questions, although a wide range of electronic resources were also used. Implications for academic health sciences librarians are discussed.

Keywords:

• Academic libraries
• health information
• outreach
• public libraries

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts to disclose.

Data availability statement

Data associated with this article are available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/zv6fa/?view_only=bdc7f72875da48a18d32c276619f78aa

Additional information

Funding

The authors report no funding is associated with the work reported in this article.

Notes on contributors

Gina Genova

Gina Genova, MSI ([email protected]) received her master’s in information science in 2020 and currently works as a clinical librarian at the University of Louisville’s Kornhauser Health Sciences Library. She provides support to faculty and trainees in several departments and medical student research programs for a range of projects, including systematic reviews. She is also active in work related to DEI and leads Kornhauser Library’s community outreach efforts.

Dani LaPreze

Dani LaPreze, MLS, MA ([email protected]) has master’s degrees in Library Sciences and Health Studies. Her current roles include clinical librarian and research data services coordinator at the University of Louisville’s Kornhauser Health Sciences Library. She assists faculty and researchers on various projects, works closely with students on evidence-based medicine education, and serves on multiple university-wide committees and task forces reviewing research protocols for accuracy and providing input on policy.