Collaboration and marketing ensure public and medical library viability

Library Trends, Wntr, 2005 by Stephanie Weldon

Public librarians providing consumer health information must let their institutions know that they are participating in the CAPHIS listserv in order to collaborate with medical librarians, thereby ensuring that the public receives the best, most current information. Does your public library administrator know that you participate in a listserv sponsored by the Medical Library Association? Do they know that you receive consumer health collection development suggestions and tips on providing outreach? Share the various collaborations you are a part of with your administrator. What may seem second nature to you may appear very innovative to the administrator. The citizens your library serves also may be interested in a newspaper editorial stating the ways that the library saves the community money by partnering with local medical librarians to provide current health information and expert searching

LIBRARIANSHIP BY ANY OTHER NAME IS LUCRATIVE

There is money to be made in the provision of consumer health information. The demand for consumer health information exploded in the 1990s in conjunction with the mainstreaming of Internet access. Fifty-two million American adults, or 55 percent of those with Internet access, have used the Web to get health or medical information (Fox & Fallows, 2003).

Many for-profit companies are developing health information Web sites. Their advertisement campaigns continue to carry weight with the health professional. When exhibiting at health professional conferences, one routinely has to explain the difference between WebMD and MedlinePlus and why a health professional would bother accessing MedlinePlus for patient information. Pharmaceutical companies sponsor health information portals. Pfizer lists health information resources and suggestions for quality control. Pfizer has also taken a lead in health literacy education, offering monies to support health literacy initiatives in underserved populations (Pfizer, 2004). Merck, to their credit, has made the Merck Manual and other valuable manuals available online in several languages on their Web site (Merck & Co., 2004). Abbott Laboratories has a health information portal that provides consumer health information, while at the same time advertising the drugs they produce (Abbott Laboratories, 2004). The Eckerd drug store developed an online clinical pharmacy whereby one can search drug interactions and find out more about Eckerd. Advertisements permeate the Eckerd Web site, but good information is available (Eckerd, 2004).

Most of these companies are offering quality health information and initiatives to the public. They are doing so because that is what the public wants. At the same time they are advertising their services. Hospitals would do well to follow these giants of industry and give the public what they want. A great basic marketing strategy for those in the health care business is to provide health information to the public. Librarians must make sure they are included in this campaign.