How will you celebrate Health Literacy Month?

Posted by benniefinch on September 23rd, 2026 Posted in: Blog, Newsletters, NLM Resources
Tags: Health Literacy

---

Many factors influence health literacy. During Health Literacy Month this October, we can raise awareness of how clear communication and access to reliable health information support better health outcomes.

Health literacy occurs when health information and services created for the public match with people’s capacity to find, understand, and use them (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality).

What is health literacy?

Health literacy involves the information that people need to be able to make good decisions about health. There are two parts:

• Personal health literacy is about how well a person can find and understand the health information and services that they need. It is also about using the information and services to make good health decisions.
• Organizational health literacy is about how well organizations help people find the health information and services that they need. It also includes helping them use that information to make good health decisions. Health Literacy: MedlinePlus

Visit NNLM Guide An Introduction to Health Literacy to learn more about why health literacy is important and who is at risk and Health Literacy Framework | NNLM for more information concerning factors that influence health literacy.

Looking for ideas to support health literacy?

Host a book discussion with resources from the NNLM Reading Club: Health Literacy

Create a book display.

Share health literacy resources with patrons in person or in a newsletter. Here are some of my favorites:

• Talking With Your Doctor: MedlinePlus
• Five Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Doctor’s Visit | National Institute on Aging
• or A Guide for Older Adults. Talking With Your Doctor (downloadable PDF)
• Evaluating Health Information: MedlinePlus
• Finding and Evaluating Online Resources | NCCIH

Plain Language Challenge: Have a whiteboard in your library? Share a confusing health message and invite students or faculty to rewrite it in plain language. Or create a matching game with medical jargon and plain language. You could display some of the before-and-after examples throughout the month.

Ex. “Patients with hypertension should monitor their blood pressure regularly.” could be “If you have high blood pressure, check it regularly.”

Take a class with NNLM:

• Effective Health Communication and Health Literacy: Understanding the Connection | NNLM
• Assessing Health Education Materials | NNLM

Review some resources to learn more about health literacy and universal precautions for clear communication.

• Health Literacy Month Resources – Health Literacy Consulting for health literacy month toolkit
• AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit | Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
• What Is Health Literacy? | Health Literacy | CDC
• NNLM Region 7 previously funded DetecTogether. While this project was not funded by NNLM, this is an example of video messaging created to inform fire fighters about the importance of cancer screening.

Book spine poetry?

The Rules

1. Grab some books (at least 3).
2. Stack them up!
3. Arrange the titles to create a health-related poem.

Examples of Book Spine Poetry