As soon as they realise their time on the planet is limited, people begin searching for ways to improve and prolong their life. With the advent of the Internet, there has been an exponential increase in health information available to Joe Public. Health literacy is required to surf through this cornucopia and use their findings judiciously, and as important as these skills are, only 12% of American adults have the necessary skills to scrutinise, understand and prioritise the products of that search. As Flaherty discusses in Promoting Individual and Community Health at the Library, libraries have the opportunity to foster health literacy and add to the repertoire that already includes financial, digital and literal literacy. Flaherty argues that libraries are well placed to guide patrons to appropriate information due to both the staff’s expertise in sifting through masses of information and the library’s position in society as a community hub.
Despite the brevity of Promoting Individual and Community Health at the Library, its breadth of discussion covers health information provision, health programming in public libraries and an inspirational dive into the library’s potential partners in the community. The volume’s 120 pages contain within a supply of digestible vignettes from around the United States providing examples of past medically orientated library promotions and events. Many of these are collaborations with local medical practices or primary health organisations, proving that such a team-up is possible and often highly effective in educating the community about health topics or providing basic medical services like blood pressure checks. Such interventions provide the public with an opportunity to engage meaningfully with health services in their local library – a context they are comfortable with.
If the reader themselves does not feel comfortable enough to label themselves as health literate, this book is a more than adequate introduction to the topic. The first chapters tackle consumer health and provide useful information about reliable sources of health information. While many of the websites suggested are applicable primarily to an American audience, the discussion about what makes them trustworthy is still worth the read.
This book is recommended for public librarians wishing to establish or enhance their consumer health information service, and for community health providers wishing to understand how the public searches for information and public libraries can effectively provide community health information.