March 22, 2022

A Library Lifeline for Underserved Communities 

How regional medical libraries increase access to health information for those who need it most

With the ubiquity of online resources, you may not realize the role that libraries (UW Health Sciences Library in particular) play in connecting healthcare professionals with critical medical and health information. Access to accurate, evidence-based health information is particularly challenging in rural or under-resourced communities that often do not have the budget, human resources or information infrastructure that larger communities and healthcare organizations do. 

Enter the National Library of Medicine (NLM). In April 2021, The National Library of Medicine (NLM) awarded a five-year, $ 6.3 million UG4 cooperative agreement grant to UW Health Sciences Library (HSL) to serve as the Regional Medical Library (RML) for the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) Region 5 serving Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and the U.S. Territories and Freely Associated States in the Pacific. 

“We (NLM) connect community members with training and access to evidence-based health information by supporting their local libraries…”

While separate entities, the NNLM and HSL work collaboratively toward shared goals to increase access to health information resources. NNLM’s mission is to “advance the progress of medicine and improve the public health by providing all U.S. health professionals with equal access to biomedical information and improving the public’s access to information to enable them to make informed decisions about their health.”

“Our main goal is to connect health professions’ trainees and providers to free, evidence-based biomedical resources; and to connect community members with training and access to evidence-based health information by supporting their local libraries,” says Michele Spatz, NNLM Outreach & Engagement Coordinator.

UW Health Sciences Library has served as a regional medical library since the Network’s inception in 1968, and has expanded the reach of the RML by granting NNLM awards that impact rural and underserved populations throughout the region. Here, we share just a few examples from the communities who benefit from this critical partnership.

Reducing language barriers to improve health 

Multnomah County Library (MCL) in Portland, Oregon is a large, urban public library that serves many of the area’s Vietnamese and Chinese communities. Toan Lam-Sullivan, Bilingual Chinese Regional Librarian and colleague Karen Nguyen, Bilingual Vietnamese Library Assistant noticed that language barriers were preventing many in the community from understanding and receiving important health & wellness information contributing to negative health outcomes such as diabetes, social isolation and low birth weights. To address this need, they conceived of and applied for NNLM funding to start the Healthy Pathways program designed to increase participants’ trust and confidence in the public library as a health information resource by offering educational opportunities and access to reliable health information. With the NNLM grant, they developed a series of sixteen healthy lifestyles workshops across three different branches with a focus on Vietnamese, Mandarin, and Cantonese speaking communities. Programs included education on nutrition and healthy cooking, fitness, and stress relief. The Library’s project team also collaborated with NNLM to provide training to their bilingual, bicultural library staff on how to use MedlinePlus, a health database produced by the National Library of Medicine, to find culturally and linguistically appropriate health information. Staff then created interactive computer classes to teach community members how to use MedlinePlus to search and find information and resources to address their health concerns. 

Bringing people together in a group setting had a very positive, motivating effect,” noted Karen Nguyen. “It encouraged people to seek out healthy lifestyle activities, and helped them learn how to use library tools like MedlInePlus to get health information in the languages that they are most comfortable with.” 

The program was a huge success. While NNLM funding for the program has ended, the outreach and trainings have now become part of routine programming for the libraries. 

Increasing Collection Diversity

In 2021, the RML launched the Collection Equity Award designed to amplify the voices of diverse authors writing on health and medical topics. Throughout NNLM Region 5, 27 awards were given to libraries and organizations including 11 academic libraries; 2 community-based organizations; 1 hospital library and 13 public libraries.

The awards focused on shared goals of ensuring equitable access to health information, promoting health literacy and supporting programmatic outreach in under-resourced communities, such as: 

• Growing a collection of resources with the goal of giving foster, guardianship, kin and adoptive families parenting Tribal children – and their supporting community providers – ample, accessible, culturally appropriate materials to bolster the health and wellbeing of Native children involved with the [State’s] child welfare system.
• Increasing online resources supporting LGBTQIA+ students, faculty, and staff as well as the nurse educators and student nurses who will be providing medical care to LGBTQIA+ individuals in the future.
• Expanding eBook resources on social justice and DEI topics to serve as professional development and continuing education materials for clinical care providers to assist those interested in shifting from learning to action, to challenge existing knowledge and ideology that has been embedded in our daily lives, and to reflect how race and racism and other facets of discrimination impact different communities.
• Building library health and wellness collections that better reflect student demographics and to curate resources and tools in support of curriculum-based inquiry and inclusion. 

“I am excited to encourage our students to use these resources and to use them myself.”

“I am excited to encourage our students to use these resources and to use them myself. And I am always happy to contribute to the great work that [the library] and others do to support diverse populations!!”

 – Claire McKinley-Yoder, PhD, RN, CNE, University of Portland 

Each awardee is required to submit a bibliography of the materials purchased. These will be brought together in fall 2022 to form the NNLM RML’s Diverse Voices Writing on Health and Medicine, a comprehensive resource that will serve as a regional collection development tool for other libraries and organizations wishing to broaden the representation of voices within the health materials they offer. 

Improving Students’ Understanding of Environmental Impacts

Air quality is a significant environmental and health concern in California’s San Joaquin Valley (SJV). The SJV does not meet the state and federal attainment standards for particulate matter and health outcomes are worse in certain zip codes due to social determinants of health such as historical redlining practices and the built environment. The percentage of children ages 1–17 in the region whose parents report an asthma diagnosis is almost 20% higher than that of other areas in California. Knowing these statistics and the lack of awareness within student populations, California Health Sciences University Librarians teamed up with UCSF Fresno librarian to design and deliver a workshop for high school youth focused on the health impacts of bad air quality. Through NNLM Region 5’s Environmental Health Outreach Award, high school students from underserved communities in the Fresno area participated in a two hour session to learn about air quality in the San Joaquin Valley; how air pollutants impact the respiratory system; the health effects of poor air quality; how to search NLM resources for health information; and community resources to improve air quality and reduce the impact of poor air quality on their health.

Students were inspired to make changes as a result of what they learned. One student shared, “I did not know that poor air quality had more health effects than just respiratory diseases or problems. As a result of what I learned today, I will check the AQI every day and make sure that I do not use my car unless it is necessary.”

Bridging the digital divide for the most vulnerable

Census data shows that 14.5% of Springfield, OR residents under age 65 live with a disability, significantly above the state average of 9.9%. Just over 8% of Springfield residents do not have a computer in their home and many do not have a broadband Internet subscription. As more and more government and commercial services, including healthcare providers, are reliant on computer/internet access to utilize their services, the role of the Springfield Public Library in providing that access is increasing. Furthermore, the lack of adaptive work stations to facilitate computer and internet access for Springfield’s most vulnerable residents was– until now– a challenge.

“Libraries are for everyone and with this grant we are able to better serve those members of our community who have specific needs.”

With the funding awarded by the NNLM Region 5 office at UW’s Health Sciences Library, the Springfield Public Library purchased equipment, software and peripherals to create an adaptive workstation including standing desk, screen readers, and more. By consulting with local community and government organizations (Lane Independent Living Alliance, Oregon Commission for the Blind, Developmental Disabilities Services among others) the library purchased the most relevant adaptive equipment based on needs identified by these partners to provide up-to-date computer/internet access (including access to health services) to a wider array of the Springfield Public Library community. 

“Libraries are for everyone and with this grant we are able to better serve those members of our community who have specific needs. We provide access to so many wonderful and necessary resources and with our new ADA station we look forward to more members of our community being able to access them.” – Mark Riddle, Adult Services Librarian, Springfield Public Library.

Beyond the grant

UW Health Sciences Library has served as a regional medical library since the NNLM’s inception in 1968. While the NNLM team at UW facilitates grant applications and funding, their work goes far beyond the selection and transaction of grant funding. Under the leadership of Tania Bardyn, Associate Dean of Health Sciences and PI of NNLM Region 5, and Cathy Burroughs, NNLM Region 5 Executive Director, the entire NNLM Region 5 staff have worked hard establishing relationships essential to expanding the reach of the NNLM program. Staff conduct ongoing outreach across the region to make sure that communities are aware of funding opportunities and to guide them through the sometimes complex application and award funding process every step of the way. The Region 5 team travels and works on site with local communities to provide training on technical resources like medical databases, ensuring that local staff are ready and able to facilitate community use of these tools and other funded resources. 

The NNLM posts new grants regularly. Learn more.

Questions? Your NNLM Region 5 staff is here to help. Please reach out to Michele Spatz, Outreach and Engagement Coordinator at:

mspatz@uw.edu or Cathy Burroughs, Executive Director at: cburroug@uw.edu

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