Information Literacy Commons^™

A Public Health Approach To Uncovering The Health-Related Needs Of Library Patrons, Jennifer R. Banas, Michelle Oh

Faculty Research and Creative Activities Symposium

As libraries are re-envisioned and reborn as community centers and resource providers, what is their role in understanding and positively contributing to a given neighborhood’s social determinants of health (SDOH), particularly among vulnerable populations? To answer this question the Teen Services department of Chicago Public Library, a licensed professional counselor, and a NEIU team made up of a faculty researcher, an academic librarian, undergraduate students majoring in community health, collaborated to conduct a needs assessment. The aims of the needs assessment was as follows: 1) To uncover the most common health-related needs among community teens as perceived by Teen Services …