Consumer Health Education Center: An Overview of Library Services

ABSTRACT

This paper provides a brief review of the development and history of the Community Health Education Center (CHEC), a library for patients and their family members over its past 14 years. Over time, CHEC management recognized new patient needs and evolved to meet the needs of its users through a variety of value-added services. This article discusses current services that CHEC offers including reference, business services, and health and wellness programs. Libraries planning to provide consumer health information services to patients and their family members can learn valuable lessons from the history, development, challenges, and services of CHEC.

KEYWORDS:

• Consumer health information
• consumer health libraries
• health literacy
• library services

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dana L. Ladd

Dana L. Ladd, PhD, MS, SLIS ([email protected]) is Associate Professor, Community Health Education Center Librarian, Community Health Education Center, Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1200 East Marshall Street, Richmond, VA 23298, USA.