Purpose This paper describes how two academic health science librarians exposed graduate students to health literacy concepts in a graduate-level nutrition course. This paper aims to present an easy method for librarians to expose students in the health professions to concepts of health literacy. Design/methodology/approach The Information and Health Literacy course is an online course co-taught by nutrition faculty and librarians at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. The librarian-led one-week health literacy module begins with readings that define health literacy and continues with two online discussion board activities. One activity is identifying an example of low health literacy in their personal or professional lives, and the other is using criteria from the readings in their analysis of a consumer health website. Findings Students often comment that prior to taking this course, they had not considered how patients might think about and understand their own health care, but they will now take it into account going forward. Many students also felt that the assignment made them view Web resources for patients differently and with a more critical eye. Originality/value Those in allied health professions like registered dietitians often have direct contact with patients and have the ability to make a significant impact. If students are exposed to health literacy concepts through online activities within the curriculum, they may be more aware of this important concept when working with patients in the future.
The Medical Library Association’s InSight Initiative provides an open and collaborative environment for library and industry partners to discuss vexing problems and find solutions to better serve their users. The initiative’s fifth summit, continuing work from the previous summit, focused on understanding how users discover and access information in the clinical environment. During the summit, participants were divided into working groups and encouraged to create a tangible product as a result of their discussions. At the end of the summit, participants established a framework for understanding users’ pain points, discussed possible solutions to those points, and received feedback on their work from an End User Advisory Board comprising physicians, clinical researchers, and clinical faculty in biomedicine. In addition to the pain point framework, participants are developing MLA InSight Initiative Learning content with modules to educate librarians and publishers about critical aspects of user behavior. The 2020 Insight Initiative Fall Forum will serve as a virtual home for constructive dialogue between health sciences librarians and publishers on improving discovery and access to information.
Academic Library Metamorphosis and Regeneration by Marcy Simons is focused on documenting the history of change in libraries, while also looking to the future.
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