Roles and Responsibilities of Libraries in Increasing Consumer Health Literacy and Reducing Health Disparities (Advances in Librarianship)

ISBN 10: 1839093412 / ISBN 13: 9781839093418

Published by Emerald Publishing, 2020

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 26382905384

Bibliographic Details

Title: Roles and Responsibilities of Libraries in ...

Publisher: Emerald Publishing

Publication Date: 2020

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis:

The rampant health injustices that occur daily throughout the world are exacerbated by health information injustice – something which libraries and librarians play an instrumental role in addressing. This volume brings together librarians, LIS students, educators, and researchers, to discuss the many ways that information professionals and libraries serve as agents of securing health information justice. 

Kicking off with an introductory chapter which covers the central concepts of health information injustice, the following chapters focus on the roles of libraries and librarians in improving consumer health literacy and reducing health disparities in their communities. In the final chapter, the editors draw on the authors’ work to highlight the ways in which libraries and librarians are moving us closer to health justice, and they also discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic is both illuminating and intensifying health disparities, reinforcing the need for libraries and librarians to continue their important roles as agents of health information justice to ensure the physical and intellectual accessibility of information for all.

About the Author:

Beth St. Jean is an Associate Professor in the College of Information Studies, Associate Director of the Information Policy & Access Center (iPAC), and an affiliate faculty member of the Horowitz Center for Health Literacy, at the University of Maryland, USA.

Gagan Jindal is a Qualitative User Experience Researcher at Facebook, Inc. She recently received her PhD from the University of Maryland College of Information Studies.

Yuting Liao is a PhD candidate in the University of Maryland College of Information Studies.

Paul T. Jaeger is Professor and Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the College of Information Studies and Co-Director of iPAC at the University of Maryland, USA.