National Health Observances: Content to Promote Health Information Resources and the All of Us Research Program

Background: In 2017, the National Library of Medicine was selected as a community partner for the NIH All of Us Research Program. As a part of this collaboration, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) established the NNLM All of Us National Program which has a goal of increasing consumer access to quality health information. One objective to achieve the goal of the NNLM All of Us National Program was the creation of health information content for public libraries tied to health observances selected by the All of Us Research Program.

Description: The observances for the project were selected to align with priority health topics of the Program. The project was challenging in that the timeline required the release of content immediately, with little opportunity to first evaluate what type of material would be valuable and easiest to implement by public libraries. Given this challenge, the project team developed content in a variety of formats to pilot, such as program kits, social media tools, webinars, and handouts, which were released during the first six months of the project. After this content was released, an assessment was administered to all NNLM public library members. The assessment resulted in over 150 responses which provided data used to revise existing content and guide the development of remaining content for the project.

Conclusion: During the first six months of the project, content created for the project was accessed over 40,000 times. Public library staff who responded to the assessment found most of the content easy to use and agreed that it helped to raise public awareness of National Library of Medicine resources. Public library staff indicated that some health observances resonated better than others, and offered suggestions for topics for future consideration. While the content is promoted monthly through national public library partners, awareness among public library staff is low and the project will require consistent marketing to be successful.