Statewide Initiative to Embed Consumer Health Librarians in Public Libraries: A Case Study
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Date
2014-11-20
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Language
Book title
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Peer Reviewed
Yes
Type
Article
Research Area
Jurisdiction
Collections
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Abstract
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Table of Contents
Description
In 2004 a collaborative, statewide outreach project in Delaware
was undertaken where consumer health librarians were embedded
in public libraries. In order to explore the effect of the embedded
librarians on the quality of health information provision, unobtrusive
reference visits were made to half of the public libraries
in the state. The query “Do vaccines cause autism?” was posed to
library staff; resources provided were recorded. In 67 percent of
visits, public library staff provided authoritative health information
resources. It appears the embedded librarians had a positive
residual effect on the provision of authoritative health resources for
addressing an ambiguous query.
Citations
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