Libraries, public health work together on community health: Settings serve as community hubs
============================================================================================

* Lindsey Wahowiak

When it comes to finding the best health information available, getting a blood pressure check or even finding a safe, cool place to spend an afternoon during a heat advisory, many people do not turn to their doctor or health department. In the U.S., they visit their local library.

In 2015, Americans stopped by their libraries more than 1.39 billion times, according to the Institute of Museum and Library Services. In comparison, they visited health care professionals 990.8 million times, according to 2015 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data. The Pew Research Center in 2016 reported that 38 percent of people using libraries did so to seek out health information.

![Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/48/8/1.2/F1.medium.gif)

[Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/48/8/1.2/F1)

People practice yoga at a class at the *Boston* Public Library in 2016. Across the country, public libraries serve as locations for exercise, health education, outreach and public health services, often partnering with local health agencies.

Photo by Lane Turner, courtesy The Boston Globe/Getty Images

As people are more likely to visit their library than a doctor, health advocates have an opportunity to reach people where they live and learn. Libraries are free, accessible to everyone and are key points of community engagement — making them the perfect partner for public health programs and education, according to research published in May in *Preventing Chronic Disease.*

In the last year or so, news reports have detailed how libraries are training their staff on how to use naloxone, part of efforts to curb the opioid surge in the U.S. But the truth is librarians and library staff have been on the frontlines of public health for years.

“One of the best approaches that public libraries in particular have been taking over the last 10 years or so has really been working on community engagement,” said Monique le Conge Ziesenhenne, PhD, MLIS, president of the Public Library Association, a division of the American Library Association, and director of the Palo Alto City Library in California.

Health programming is popular at many local libraries. At the Queens Library in New York City, two full-time staff have backgrounds in public health, and in 2017 organized 600 health events across the library’s 53 locations. They do not work alone: The library has built partnerships with local hospitals, health centers and other organizations to offer programs from prenatal classes to sessions on cancer and Ebola to family-building programs for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

The library is also a trusted resource in many communities. About half of Queens residents are immigrants, and the library works to ensure resources are available that meet each community’s needs, said Tamara Michel, MPH, the Queens Library community health coordinator.

“Public libraries are often people’s first point of access” into a community, Michel told *The Nation’s Health.* “(Library programs offer) really meaningful interactions with otherwise difficult-to-reach populations.”

Libraries are particularly suited to serve certain high-risk populations, including very young children, seniors, teens and people who are homeless, have disabilities, are incarcerated or have an addiction.

“Libraries are a safe place to get information, especially if you don’t have access in other ways,” Kt Zawodny, MLS, programming and outreach librarian for Anne Arundel County Public Library in Maryland, told *The Nation’s Health.* “Many people have internet at home or a smartphone in their pocket, but some of our most vulnerable people don’t. I used to work in a library near a hospital and we were often the first place people stopped after an overwhelming diagnosis — particularly seniors who aren’t comfortable using computers.”

Libraries can offer targeted programming for such populations — for example, the Palo Alto library addresses high suicide rates in teens by offering extra programming during finals week at local high schools, including staying open late just for teens, providing therapy dogs for a comforting presence and announcing frequent break periods to keep kids moving. The New York Public Library in New York City announced in August its Grow Up Work Fashion Library, a free lending library of professional accessories including neckties, briefcases and handbags, available to job seekers and others.

The Meridian Library District in Meridian, Idaho, checks out bicycles and conducts a regular exercise class for seniors, Fit and Fall-Proof. And some California libraries have partnered with local departments of education to continue lunch programs for kids during the summer.

In Anne Arundel County, library staff work beyond the walls of the library, leading its Open Book Family Reading Club at the Ordnance Road Correctional Center. The club allows incarcerated parents and their children to bond while reading together.

![Figure2](http://www.thenationshealth.org/http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/nathealth/48/8/1.2/F2.medium.gif)

[Figure2](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/48/8/1.2/F2)

Richard Ortega, center, who is homeless, speaks with staffers at the Denver Public Library in January 2017 while charging his wheelchair. Libraries often provide health resources for residents.

Photo by Andy Cross, courtesy The Denver Post/Getty Images

Zawodny said she is excited to see the library’s mental health resources grow. The library offers a Teen Tough Topics bookmark offering teens discrete sources for finding information on such topics as suicide, incest, abuse or acne — without having to ask a librarian. The Anne Arundel County Department of Mental Health now partners with the library to distribute the bookmarks.

Many people still turn to librarians first when they have health questions. It is a relationship built on trust and expertise, which librarians take seriously, Zawodny said.

“While librarians aren’t health experts, we are information experts,” she said. “As a librarian in a branch, I answered many health-related questions, from getting more information about a health diagnosis, to requesting a book a doctor recommended, to looking up reviews about doctors.”

Library staff often seek continuing education to offer help accessing the best information in the most useful ways. For example, at the Queens library, Michel said the library partnered with its local Planned Parenthood affiliate to train staff on how to answer questions about reproductive health with sound science.

Helping the public gain a better understanding of health is part of libraries’ efforts to promote health literacy, or understanding of health information. But in the age of Google, sometimes the public needs a reminder of why the library remains so important, and that finding good scientific information is a skill. To counter this, the American Library Association and National Library of Medicine have partnered to offer Libraries Transform, which equips library professionals with customizable tools to raise awareness of how libraries serve their communities.

Libraries are also working to ensure that people seeking health information get the best information possible — even if they do not visit the library. In April, the National Library of Medicine hosted its first Wikipedia edit-a-thon, a nationwide event in which volunteers updated Wikipedia pages about rare diseases with high-quality sources from NLM and the National Institutes of Health. The event was so successful that a second is planned for Nov. 7 on women’s health.

Amanda J. Wilson, MSLS, head of the NLM’s National Network Coordinating Office, told *The Nation’s Health* the edit-a-thons are an easy way for people to support their local libraries and public health. Any volunteer can take 10 or 15 minutes out of their day to add one or two citations.

For more information on Libraries Transform, visit [www.ilovelibraries.org/librariestransform](http://www.ilovelibraries.org/librariestransform). To sign up for the Nov. 7 editing event, visit [www.nnlm.gov/wiki](http://www.nnlm.gov/wiki).

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association