For library and information workers around the world, the main challenge faced is how to continue providing usual services in extraordinary times. In order to minimise disruption to education, research and access to culture, great efforts are being made to address legal, financial, technical and practical challenges.<\/p>\n
Yet for some in the library field, these extraordinary times have also brought extraordinary demands and pressures. Health librarians \u2013 working in hospitals, research centres and governments \u2013 are having to deliver more than ever, even as they face the same restrictions and rules as everyone else.<\/p>\n
With today \u2013 7 April \u2013 being World Health Day, it is therefore a good opportunity to look at and celebrate their work.<\/p>\n
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Supporting the Decisions that Matter<\/strong><\/p>\n It was the coming into force of the Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) on this day in 1948 that provides the justification for 7 April being World Health Day.<\/p>\n The WHO itself has a strong focus on the importance of information in effective health policies, as well as a very active library<\/a> which not only acts as a hub for knowledge, but also for its dissemination and application through partnerships and networks globally. This work has been essential as eyes turn to the WHO\u2019s own website, and the advice given there, all based on scientific literature gathered by the team there.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, librarians at the National Library of Medicine<\/a> in the United States \u2013 in particular through the PubMed Central platform, have been supporting vital access to evidence for decision-makers. They have also worked closely with publishers in order to make articles and collections open that would otherwise have been paywalled.<\/p>\n Crucially, they have also worked to underline that collections need to be available in machine-readable format through the COVID-19 Open Research Database<\/a>. This is essential if researchers are to be able to carry out text and data mining in order to identify potential treatments or cures.<\/p>\n Furthermore, the Library has also acknowledged the importance of discoverability, highlighting<\/a> tools available for identifying relevant sources on its website.<\/p>\n Clearly, a key contribution to the discovery and application of information comes from it being presented in ways that work for those who need to use it. Here too, health librarians are playing a key role.<\/p>\n From daily briefings to both government and medical decision-makers to more in-depth reviews of the literature on emerging issues, librarians are helping to inform choices made. For example, Public Health England\u2019s Knowledge and Library Services team is producing regular reviews of emerging evidence<\/a>, while the Irish National Health Library and Knowledge Service<\/a> is sharing rapid evidence reviews, and the Health Libraries Group of the Australian Library and Information Association has compiled live responses<\/a> to key literature searches. In Iran, librarians are also supporting efforts<\/a> to make sense of the existing literature around coronaviruses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n An Informed Public<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the key lessons already from the response to the COVID-19 Pandemic has been the importance of the actions of individuals. With health systems struggling with the rapid spread of the virus, it has been clear that people need to change their habits and behaviours, distancing themselves from others.<\/p>\n Public health ministries and agencies \u2013 again with the help of librarians \u2013 have been working hard to produce clear and meaningful information for the public, explaining the situation and the responses needed. This has, for example, been helpful for the library field in understanding the risk of contagion via surfaces such as books or computer mice.<\/p>\n There is also a role \u2013 not just for health librarians, but for the library field as a whole \u2013 in promoting wider health literacy<\/a>. When people can understand the global situation, and how and why they should act themselves, the job of those in charge of ending the pandemic is clearly easier.<\/p>\n Of course \u2013 just as in the case of decision-makers \u2013 the spread of this information and these skills depends often on how well adapted they are to the target audience. Simply placing things on a website may not be enough, especially for users who may have limited digital skills or even no access to a computer.<\/p>\n