Twinsburg Public Library Receives NNLM Public Library Partnership Award

Posted by Darlene Kaskie on July 14th, 2019 Posted in: All of Us, Blog, Consumer Health, Funding, News from the Region, Outreach, Public Libraries, Success Stories

Twinsburg Public Library is located in northeast Ohio, between Akron and Cleveland. It’s famous for its annual Twins Days Festival held in August. Because of its commitment for providing information and education to the community, the Library is using its award to host three speaker programs in August to raise awareness of health issues impacting Twinsburg: addiction, online behavior, and vaccinations.

Supporting evidence from the proposal indicates that Summit County schools fall short of the 80% vaccination rate. Vaccine hesitancy, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), threatens to reverse progress made in tackling vaccine-preventable diseases. Measles, for example, has seen a 30% increase globally.

More than half of persons who took a survey at Twinsburg Public Library revealed that they either use a substance or know a family member who does. The library recommends a public education program raising awareness of addiction.

A recent incident brought awareness for Internet Safety training. The library will invite Elizabeth L. Jeglic Ph.D., author of “Protecting your Child from Sexual Abuse” and provide copies of her book as well as copies of a children’s book titled, “Creepy Street: The Spider on the Web,” which will help give parents the tools to discuss abuse and online predators with smaller children.

MedlinePlus and All of Us information will be shared at each program so that the community will become knowledgable of trustworthy, accurate health information.

The NNLM All of Us Public Library Partnership Award allows for the development of projects and programs that increase access to and capacity to use National Library of Medicine (NLM) and other authoritative health information resources to enable individuals to make informed decisions about their health. Each award recipient receives up to $20,000.

The award also supports the NNLM All of Us Community Engagement Network (CEN) mission to increase public and participant awareness and understanding of the NIH All of Us Research Program using approved health literacy topics, programs, and materials in support of public libraries providing outreach to populations that meet the NIH Underrepresented in Biomedical Research (UBR) criteria as defined by the NIH All of Us Research Program.

Learn more about JoinAllofUs.org

ABOUT Darlene Kaskie
Darlene Kaskie, M.L.S. is Community Engagement and Outreach Specialist for Region 6 of the Network of the National Library of Medicine. She connects communities to training, engagement, and funding to improve access to health information and NLM Resources such as MedlinePlus. Advancing health literacy and digital skills training helps people make informed decisions about their health. She earned her Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS) from the Medical Library Association.

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