Health literacy and COVID‐19

In early 2020, the world experienced an unprecedented health crisis. When the pandemic of coronavirus was declared by the World Health Organization, it brought with it sudden and dramatic changes to everyday life. In the UK, the key message from the Government was to ‘Stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives’, sending out a clear warning that failing to stay at home would put other lives and the ability of the NHS to cope at risk. This editorial discusses COVID‐19, how society responded and the vital role that health literacy plays in saving lives during a global health emergency.     

The Covid‐19 ‘infodemic’: a new front for information professionals

The virus, commonly known as COVID‐19 which emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, has spread in 213 countries, areas or territories around the globe, with nearly 144 683 deaths worldwide on 18 April 2020. In the wake of this pandemic, we have witnessed a massive infodemic with the public being bombarded with vast quantities of information, much of which is not scientifically correct. Fighting fake news is now the new front in the COVID‐19 battle. This regular feature comments on the role of health sciences librarians and information professionals in combating the COVID‐19 infodemic. To support their work, it draws attention to the myth busters, fact‐checkers and credible sources relating to COVID‐19. It also documents the guides that libraries have put together to help the general public, students and faculty recognise fake news.     

2BIC: taking your adventuring gear to organise pop‐up health information literacy sessions

Academic libraries play an important role in the provision of health information literacy (IL) skills and there are many approaches to how these can be delivered. In this paper, guest writers Inge Discart and colleagues from KU Leuven Libraries 2Bergen Information Centre (2BIC) in Belgium discuss a pop‐up information literacy skills project. In particular, the article presents the findings from an initial information skills needs assessment conducted at the University, followed by how the concept of the pop‐up sessions was developed and promoted throughout the organisation. The paper identifies the variety of sessions offered and the format in which they were delivered, with final results on how these were received and which sessions were the most popular. This article provides insight into an alternative approach to health information skills delivery and the outcomes from it. H S     

International Trends in Health Science Librarianship Part 19: The Balkan States (Bulgaria and Croatia)

This is the 19th in a series of articles exploring international trends in health science librarianship in the 21st century. The focus of the present issue is the Balkan Region (Bulgaria and Croatia). The next regular feature column will investigate two other Balkan states ‐ Serbia and Slovenia. JM     

Integrating information literacy into the education of public health professionals: roles for librarians and the library

Objective: The paper reviews the core competencies for public health professionals presented in the Institute of Medicine''s (IOM''s) report, Who Will Keep the Public Healthy: Educating Public Health Professionals for the 21st Century; describes improving information literacy (IL) as a mechanism for integrating the core competencies in public health education; and showcases IL as an opportunity for solidifying partnerships between academic librarians and public health educators.Methods: The IOM competencies, along with explicit examples of library support from a literature review of current IL trends in the health sciences, are analyzed.Results: Librarians can play a fundamental role in implementing the IOM''s core competencies in shaping public health education for the twenty-first century. A partnership between public health educators and librarians through a transdisciplinary approach is recommended.Conclusions: IL skills and competencies integrated into public health curricula through a collaborative partnership between public health educators and librarians can help integrate the IOM''s core competencies and improve public health education.

Highlights

• Exploring and solidifying transdisciplinary partnerships with public health educators and librarians through curriculum-integrated information literacy (IL) is one avenue to continue successful education of public health professionals.

Implications

• Librarians can be considered public health collaborators essential to the twenty-first century education of health professionals.
• Future research is required to effectively evaluate the best practices of curriculum-integrated IL into public health education.
• Transdisciplinary research is advantageous for achieving the shared goal of educating public health professionals.

     

International trends in health science librarianship part 12: South Asia (India,Pakistan and Sri Lanka)

This is the 12th in a series of articles exploring international trends in health science librarianship. This issue describes developments in health science librarianship in the first decade of the 21st century in South Asia. The three contributors report on challenges facing health science librarians in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. There is consensus as to the need for education, training and professional development. Starting in the next issue, the focus will turn to Africa, starting with countries in southern Africa. JM     

Data disaggregation: the case of Asian and Pacific Islander data and the role of health sciences librarians

Health disparities within Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities are often masked due to aggregated data. Lack of adequate data limits required health care services for these communities. While moving forward toward health equity, it is critical that disparities for API communities are acknowledged and addressed. This article focuses on the issues of aggregated data for API communities followed by suggestions on how health sciences librarians can support and promote better practices for data disaggregation.     

The impact of COVID‐19 on the UK publishing industry: Findings and opportunity

• Challenges of the current environment are balanced by opportunities – more digital delivery, more efficient systems, greater collaboration.
• Consumption has not reduced, but delivery mechanisms need adaptation to ensure the right products in the right media are offered and delivered.
• Changes to the cost base by redeploying staff and rethinking premises are underway and support improved resource allocation.
• Leadership is required to accommodate adaptive and flexible remote working.
• Ensuring access and implementing licences that permit non‐commercial use is both a moral and a practical response.

     

University presses and the impact of COVID‐19

University presses occupy a distinctive field of publishing, heavily tied to the fortunes of the universities and colleges in which they are usually situated. COVID‐19 has catalysed their adoption of digital technologies; focused their commitments to social justice; and given new impetus to business models and formats that fully leverage the Internet, especially open access. Economic pressures on higher education that seem set only to increase are also driving university presses to more interdependent approaches and an emphasis on the contributions of the university press network to knowledge infrastructure for the humanities and social sciences. This article explores how university presses have reacted to the COVID‐19 pandemic, with particular reference to the experiences of the University of Michigan Press. It concludes that the diversity of types of university presses is one of the greatest strengths of this field of publishing and makes it resilient in a time of unprecedented change.     

Identifying knowledge practices in an infodemic era: Rediscovering the professional identities of LIS professionals in an infodiverse environment

The professional identity of librarians is established with regard to the current understanding of their knowledge practices. The global phenomenon of false and untrustworthy information circulating on social media platforms paints a new issue that librarians must conquer. Messages, content, news, and information on the web make it challenging for librarians to educate users as to where the sources come from and the need to evaluate for credibility and trustworthiness. During the pandemic, and with a surge of information disorders on social media, the World Health Organization recommended building resilience to misinform-ation and engaging and empowering communities to take positive action. This research seeks to explore the relationship between professional identities and the participation of librarians in an infodiverse environment, specifically by exploring how Filipino librarians applied aspects of their knowledge practices to the evaluation of social media health information during the pandemic.     

International Trends in Health Science Librarianship Part 20: The Balkan States (Serbia and Slovenia)

This is the 20th in a series of articles exploring international trends in health science librarianship in the 21st century. The focus of the present issue is the Balkan region (Serbia and Slovenia). The next regular feature will look at Russia and the Ukraine. JM     

Virtual and non‐virtual realities: the changing roles of libraries and librarians

What is the future for libraries and their librarians? In trying to give an answer to this pressing question we do not deal with utopian libraries of the next century, but with the library and the librarian of the next decade. The emphasis is on libraries within educational and research institutions, especially university libraries. We examine the changes confronting the library of the future and identify four key aspects of the library of the future. It will be (i) a gateway to information, whatever format this information comes in and wherever it is located; (ii) an expertise centre; (iii) a physical entity, not only in the sense of being a social meeting place and place of scholarly interaction, but also as a place where students and other users are provided with modern study facilities and adequate user support; and (iv) a collection centre of printed material. Such libraries can only take on an appropriate shape and will only survive if the institutions that librarians serve in meet the four criteria outlined above. We look at the demands that will be made on professional library knowledge and skills and the new job responsibilities and job attitudes required.     

Global publication trends in the Health Information and Libraries Journal, 2014–2015

In an age when health science librarians are encouraged to engage in research, it is worth considering how international the published literature is. This article analyses the authorship of articles in Health Information & Libraries Journal over a 1‐year period, to determine the country of the authors who were published. JM     

Medical and health informatics services during and after the COVID‐19 pandemic should be virtual,tailored, responsive and interactive: a case study in Belgium

This is part of a new series in this regular feature regarding trends in the provision of information by health science libraries. By sharing expertise and drawing together relevant trends the series intends to serve as a road map for both health science librarians and health informatics professionals. This article shows how a medical and biomedical research library changed practices, and reassessed user needs for the COVID‐19 emergency. Discusses changes to online education (and collaborative working) to provide user‐friendly services, researcher support tailored to need and re‐visioning library space. J.M.