Health literacy and libraries: a literature review

Librarians’ support in improving health literacy: A systematic literature review

The last couple of decades health literacy has gained significant momentum among the issues listed as priority within the public health sphere. In addition, the advances of Information and Communications Technology, the adoption of digital technology to perform basic tasks in our daily lives and thus the re-orientation of health care has led to the introduction of e-health literacy and digital health literacy. Hence, different groups of users needs to develop and acquire the additional digital skills and competences to search, retrieve, access and use health information. This study aims to review the literature concerning librarians’ involvement in health literacy that published between 2010 and 2020 using the principles of systematic literature review. Specifically, search terms such as “health literacy,” “information professional/s,” “librarian/s,” and “library” were run on ACM Digital Library, Scopus, Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts (LISTA), Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA), Citeseer, Google Scholar, e-prints in Library and Information Science (e-LiS), Digital Library of Information Science and Technology (DLIST), PubMed and Science Direct. The searches were performed during October–November 2020 and were repeated in January–February 2021; and after considering a series of inclusion and exclusion criteria 57 peer-reviewed papers were considered. Six broad areas of interest emerged through a thorough analysis of the identified, relevant literature namely “role of librarians in relation to health literacy development,” “user studies related to health literacy,” “health literacy programs,” “health literacy and LIS education,” “ health literacy initiatives” and “tools used by librarians in health literacy projects.” Main findings showcase that libraries as secure and trusted places can play a key role in developing and promoting health literacy to different groups; new job titles emerge for librarians (consumer health librarian, health information services librarians, health literacy librarian); whereas collaboration is a key element for developing and offering health literacy training programs to diverse group of users as well as the public.

Study of health information needs among adolescents in Croatia shows distinct gender differences in information seeking behaviour

BACKGROUND

Understanding the health information needs of adolescents is the first step towards providing them with relevant information to aid them in their decision making regarding health issues.

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this study is to assess adolescents' needs, perceptions and sources of health information.

METHODS

Four hundred sixty-nine high school students in Osijek, Croatia, participated in this study by answering a questionnaire. The collected data were analysed using basic frequency and non-parametric statistical methods.

RESULTS

The most popular health topics identified by adolescents in our study were nutrition, diseases, depression, relationships, sexual intercourse and alcohol. Adolescents consider their parents the most reliable personal source of health information (72.0%), while they perceive the Internet as the main non-personal source of health information (29.8%). Adolescents wish to get more education about health issues at school (54.4%). Significant gender differences were found in adolescents' needs, perceptions and sources of health information.

CONCLUSIONS

It is important to provide adolescents with systematic institutional health education and improve health advisory services and library/information services to assist adolescents in locating health information and resolving their health related questions.

Public libraries as health literate multi-purpose workspaces for improving health literacy

Now more than ever, in this COVID-19 pandemic, our individual and collective ability to access, understand and apply information to inform our health care and broader lifestyle decisions ie, to be health literate - has life or death consequences. This paper reflects upon the proposition of public libraries as health literate multi-purpose workspaces for improving health literacy. We draw upon our combined experiences as evaluators of organizational health literacy initiatives, and library sector development, engagement and advocacy. Key ideas were presented as part of the 2020 State Library Victoria seminar series on 'Libraries: The Heart of a Healthy Community'. Key messages included: Public libraries are well positioned to contribute to the health literacy movement, as they provide the general public with: universal free access to information and services; extensive in-house and outreach educational collaborative learning opportunities; and health and wellbeing support by being welcoming, safe, and trusted community spaces. To date, limited discussion exists about conceptualizing public libraries as health literate multi-purpose workspaces for supporting and sustaining public library health literacy efforts. A health literate organizational framework is suggested to support libraries simply supporting health information literacy to being recognised as health literate organizations. Five workspace principles (empowerment, equitable, inclusive, collaborative and integrated) are suggested to provide directions for public libraries as health literate multi-purpose workspaces for improving the health literacy of individuals, communities, organizations and indeed systems. To inform the design, implementation and evaluation of public libraries as workspaces for improving health literacy, key principles-focused evaluation questions are suggested for consideration. SO WHAT?: Public Libraries as welcoming, safe, and trusted community organizations are well placed to be health literate multipurpose workspaces for improving health literacy.

Health information literacy awareness and capacity building: Present and future

Health literacy is increasingly important in today’s complex information ecosystem, both nationally and globally. Across the world, whether people live in “information rich” or “information poor” societies, the role of our profession is a vital one. In the developed world, the ubiquitous nature of health information creates a wealth of accessible content and simultaneously has created confusion as to what information is reliable, how health information can be utilized, and whether or not information is produced in a meaningful manner. In the developing world, content may be non-existent, culturally inappropriate or inaccessible in terms of language and other barriers. In order to mitigate the health information crisis we are now facing, we need to collaborate and respond to the challenges raised by the complexity of health information. Librarians and other information professionals can and must play an important role in improving health literacy in their communities. This paper considers international efforts towards improving health in both information poor and information rich settings, including work showcased in recent years at IFLA’s Health & Biosciences Libraries Section Open Sessions at the World Library & Information Congress (WLIC). It discusses health literacy in the US and other developed economies, and looks in detail at innovative work by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC)where the Health Sciences Library (HSL), a part of the University Libraries, has strengthened efforts surrounding health literacy in local communities and throughout the state. This paper provides examples of how to partner with multiple constituencies on health literacy and discusses future opportunities for growth and engagement.

Library instruction and information literacy 2016

Purpose

This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2016.

Findings

The paper provides information about each source, describes the characteristics of current scholarship and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

Originality/value

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

Information literacy literature in the social sciences and humanities: a bibliometric study

Purpose

This paper aims to map information literacy literature in social sciences and humanities published during the period of 2001-2012.

Design/methodology/approach

The data for the study are obtained from Scopus, accessible at www.scopus.com. Study used the Transformative Activity Index (TAI) and relative citation impact (RCI) to know the impact of most productive countries and prolific institutions. The SCImago Journal and Country Rank accessible at www.scimagojr.com/ was used to determine the SCImago Journal Rank and source normalized impact per paper.

Findings

The study found that 1990 documents originating from 79 countries were published in this study area. These papers are published in 160 journals with an average ∼12.51 papers per journal. These papers have been cited 10,025 times with ∼5.0. average citations per publication. Study also found that information literacy literature is published in 16 languages and the majority of the papers are in English, 1,879 (94.4 per cent). The highest growth of publications (106.7 per cent) was found in 2005. The USA contributed the highest number, 1,035 (52 per cent) papers. Moreover, of the 15 most productive countries, three recorded TAIs >100, and 12 countries recorded TAIs <100. In all, 160 institutions worldwide have contributed in information literacy research. Study also found that maximum literature published on the subject by a single author is 828 (41.6 per cent). Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain has produced the highest number of papers (24, or 1.2 per cent) and received 61 (0.6 per cent) citations, while University of Strathclyde has the highest RCI (∼2.7) for its publications. Pintos, María from Universidad de Granada has published the maximum number of papers (18) that have been cited 78 times.

Social implications

The study endeavors to showcase information literacy research outcomes in social sciences and humanities. It involves quantitative analysis of the literature in this domain using bibliographic elements such as keywords, authors, affiliation, publication and citations.

Originality/value

No study has been conducted so far to map the information literacy literature in social sciences and humanities. Study will be useful in understanding the progress on information literacy in the area of social sciences and humanities. The study is significant for social scientists to foster further research in this emerging area.