In This Issue:

• Home
  
  
• The Upper Corner
  
  
• Announcements
  
  
• Chic Chat
  
  
• ILLAdvised
  
  
• Public Health Review
  
  
• Tech Time
  
  
• Featured Members
  
  
• From the NLM Technical Bulletin
  
  
• Links
  
  

If you were at MLA 2007 in Philadelphia, you surely heard about the Medical Library Association Health Literacy Research Project. This $250,000 two year contract from the National Library of Medicine, aims to heighten awareness of the role of the hospital librarian as an advocate for health information literacy particularly in the eyes of hospital administrators and care providers. The project involves an assessment of the perceptions of hospital administrators of the importance of health information literacy and development of a health information literacy curriculum for hospital librarians.

Phase one of the Medical Library Association Health Information Literacy Research Project is well underway. A needs assessment survey of hospital library administrators is currently being conducted. The survey, developed with the American Hospital Association, was distributed to over 9000 hospital administrators in early September. Responses are pouring in. A summary of results will be compiled this fall.

Phase two consists of development of a curriculum for health information literacy to be piloted by seven hospital libraries throughout the country. The seven hospital libraries will be chosen through a competitive process. A requirement will be that the hospital library does not already have a formal consumer health program. The goal of the project is to find out if a hospital library with consumer health services is viewed more favorably by hospital library administrators.

The NN/LM-New England Region is hoping one of our region’s hospital libraries will be chosen as part of the pilot project. Stay tuned to MLA news for information about how to apply.

Here are the project goals as outlined by the Medical Library Association:

1. To demonstrate whether or not hospital administrators favor funding consumer health information resource centers over hospital libraries targeted for health care providers.
2. To gain a better understanding of the awareness of health care professionals of NLM's consumer resources including MedlinePlus and the MedlinePlus Magazine and their promotion of such valuable resources to new audiences as well as their confidence levels with referring patients to them.
3. To prepare a health information literacy curriculum in multiple formats that can be replicated throughout the United States and internationally to be taught by librarians to raise awareness of this important public health issue among first-line health care providers and to heighten the awareness of quality health information resources that are available to the general public.
4. To encourage NLM Information Prescriptions use among health care providers by referring hospital patients and families to MedlinePlus and using support such as that provided by hospital librarians.
5. To study the diffusion of the role of hospital librarians as key providers of consumer health information in primary health care facilities and teams.
6. To enhance NLM’s relationship with hospital librarians, hospitalists, attendings, residents, nurses, social workers, allied health providers, pharmacists, hospital administrators and their support for information prescriptions.
7. Obtain support of the American Hospital Association (AHA) membership for information prescriptions and consumer health information provision within member hospitals.
8. Evaluate process of accomplishing the above goals and analyze results achieved.

MLA’s Health Information Literacy Research Project is spearheaded by project coordinator Sabrina Kurtz Rossi, a Massachusetts native, formerly employed at World Education where she authored the well known Family Health and Literacy: A Guide to Easy to Reach Health Education Materials and Web Sites for Families (http://healthliteracy.worlded.org/docs/family/index.htm). Former MLA President 2006-2007, Jean Shipman and Executive Director of MLA, Carla Funk are the Principal Investigators for the project.

For more information about the project, http://www.mlanet.org/resources/healthlit/hil_project_overview.html