Library and Information Science Commons^™

The Public Library As Health Information Resource?, Mary Grace Flaherty

School of Information Studies - Dissertations

Public libraries have adapted a variety of services into their institutional missions, including: promoting early literacy, publicly available Internet access, children's summer reading programs, and the dissemination of tax forms. Libraries are disproportionately rural institutions, often serving people with limited health care access. Thus, by public demand they have evolved to become important resources for rural health consumers to acquire information. Some public libraries have approached this role by subscribing to health databases, or by providing a link on their homepage to a health resource such as MedlinePlus, but most have undertaken little organizational change to meet growing patron demand. …