Consumer Health Minute: Consumer Health Collection Management

Posted by Carolyn Martin on February 18th, 2021 Posted in: Health Literacy, Public Libraries, Training & Education
Tags: consumer health, Consumer Health Information Specialization, health information, librarian roles, nnlm pnr, online education, professional development

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Many of you may be familiar with our consumer health classes that we offer for free and are eligible towards obtaining the Medical Library Association’s (MLA) Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS).

Many attendees have expressed concern about what resources to include in their library collections, especially print. Print health information resources are a conundrum as health information changes so often and many of the authoritative resources by medical associations or organizations are now only available online. Some of this is explained in the new NNLM on-demand course, “Consumer Health Collection Management”.

This 4 credit hour on-demand course reviews collection management principles and resources for health-related collections in public libraries.  It includes a video and 2 assignments to complete at your own pace. It is also eligible to put towards earning your CHIS specialization.

The learning objectives for the course include:

• Assess the quality of their library’s current health information materials and identify any collection gaps
• Identify quality health information resources online, in print, and other formats when conducting health information reference
• Select authoritative health information resources, in a variety of formats, for their library’s collection while meeting the needs of their community
• Explain and provide justification of the library’s health information collection
• Consider including health related things that can be offered for lending in their library

“Consumer Health Collection Management” works well with another NNLM course, “Introduction to Health Reference: Ethics and Best Practices”. Register for one or both and to learn more about consumer health services for your library.