Cultivating a community of practice: the evolution of a health information specialists program for public librarians. J Med Libr Assoc 2017 Jul;105(3):254-261
Date
07/04/2017Pubmed ID
28670214Pubmed Central ID
PMC5490704DOI
10.5195/jmla.2017.83Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85022084041 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 12 CitationsAbstract
BACKGROUND: To help improve the culture of health in Oklahoma-a state that frequently ranks poorly on multiple measures of health and wellness-faculty librarians from an academic health sciences library sought to create a collaborative network of health information professionals in Oklahoma's public libraries through the implementation of the Health Information Specialists Program.
CASE PRESENTATION: Health sciences librarians offered a variety of consumer health information courses for public library staff across the state of Oklahoma for three years. Courses were approved by the Medical Library Association for credit toward the Consumer Health Information Specialization. A total of seventy-two participants from public libraries attended the courses, sixty-five achieved a Level I Consumer Health Information Specialization, and nine went on to achieve Level II.
CONCLUSIONS: Feedback from participants in the Health Information Specialists Program has indicated a positive impact on the health information expertise of participants, who in turn have used the knowledge that they gained to help their patrons.
Author List
Clifton S, Jo P, Longo JM, Malone TAuthor
John Maclou Longo MD Associate Professor in the Radiation Oncology department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Consumer Health InformationHumans
Information Services
Interprofessional Relations
Librarians
Libraries
Libraries, Medical
Professional Competence
