Community-based partnerships are an important means of addressing cancer health disparities in medically underserved communities. Public libraries may be ideal partners in this effort. To assess the readiness and capacity of a public library system to implement cancer recruitment and outreach campaigns, 58 librarians in the Queens Borough Public Library System in New York completed self-administered questionnaires before and after a training on breast health, cancer, and screening. Results indicate that they are interested in participating in a cancer outreach campaign and feel it is a critical need in their community. Many librarians lacked the knowledge about cancer and cancer information resources needed to participate optimally. Nevertheless, librarians provide a cultural bridge to medically underserved communities. Partnering with a public library system to improve access to care has great potential, yet a number of challenges need to be overcome.
This new clinical service has been well-integrated into its public urban hospital setting and constitutes an innovative model of health-care delivery for socio-economically challenged, culturally diverse adult cancer survivors.
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