Kentucky Public Librarians and Health Information: Experiences, Resource Use, Community Needs, and Roles for Academic Health Sciences Librarians.

Abstract

Public libraries serve as sources of health information, and partnerships between public and academic health sciences libraries may improve a community's access to and understanding of health information. Librarians at a medical school in Kentucky conducted interviews with public librarians to better understand their experiences with health information with the goal of informing future outreach to public libraries. All participants reported receiving requests for health-related information at least occasionally. Most participants used books to answer health questions, although a wide range of electronic resources were also used. Implications for academic health sciences librarians are discussed.