• Journal of Information Management
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.1-29
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• 2012

Health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Librarians should improve their health literacy as well as that of their users' in order to help library users make well-informed decisions. In this study, we developed educational programs related to CHI (Consumer Health Information) suitable for Korean public librarians' professional development. We measured the effectiveness of the training after its administration and found areas in which improvement was necessary. As a result, this study found the following effects on public librarians after they completed the training: improved the public librarians' familiarity with CHI-related terms; increased education for users and diversification of resources; diversification and specialization of information sources which librarians used to perform CHI-related services; reduced time for reference services; increased professional knowledge in this area. However, this research represented the first time CHI-related education for public librarians was performed in Korea, and therefore many limitations were present in the education instructor, the diversity of subjects, and the methodology. Development of more advanced CHI-related education programs is required.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.345-376
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• 2013

Because of increased concern regarding health and well-being, interest in consumer health information (CHI) has also increased, leading to a growing number of health-related websites. As a result, research has shown that public libraries are experiencing an increased demand for CHI-related reference services. The task of providing these services then falls on the public reference librarian, who is often untrained and inexperienced in this area. Therefore, improvements to how public libraries provide CHI reference services effectively are needed. This study analyzed the previous research at home and abroad, and developed CHI reference guidelines for public librarians. Guidelines developed in this study went through a verification process utilizing expert advice and a survey of public librarians.

• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.47-77
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• 2011

Due to the growth of people's use of the Internet as well as interests in health, people's needs of health information have rapidly increased in public libraries. Nevertheless, there are few studies in Korea about users' needs for health information and services that public libraries can offer to support these user groups. In the current study, a comprehensive literature review was conducted in order to understand the role of public libraries and librarians in serving users with health information and to identify the types of consumer health information(CHI) services available to users in public libraries. As for the CHI services that public libraries can offer for users, the current study emphasizes and discusses the directions and guidelines for improving the following six approaches: 1) CHI collection and information resource building, 2) CHI reference services, 3) CHI user education and training program development, 4) CHI services for minority/disability/cultural diversity groups of users, 5) CHI outreach program development, and 6) CHI network development with medical libraries, academic libraries, hospital, and medical institutions and associations. Although most of the discussion in the current study centers on cases and services provided in the United States or other countries, findings would be used to inform the importance of CHI services in public libraries, and to design and develop CHI services in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.25-55
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• 2011

These results of surveying public librarians can contribute to clearly identifying the status of CHI(consumer health information) services in Korea and to exploring future developments in CHI services. In this study, we investigated whether or not currently Korean public libraries are offering CHI services, whether or not they provide CHI reference services and the frequency of their use, and analyzed librarians' recognition of the need for Korean public libraries to provide the CHI services. The findings are as follows: 1) 70% of Korean public libraries are equipped with health-related books and medical journals, but the rate of libraries that are building CHI-related websites was very low at 5%. 2) The rate of providing the CHI reference services was only 30% of the surveyed public libraries. 3) 82.1% of public libraries did not provide educational programs related to CHI. 4) 82.1% of public libraries did not provide CHI-related services for vulnerable groups. 5) The rate of providing the CHI-related outreach programs and collaborating with CHI-related institutions was no more than about 20% each. These research findings can induce public librarians to provide CHI services in public libraries, and will contribute to activate the CHI-related research in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.415-437
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• 2011

The increased interest in consumer health information(CHI) has brought about a rapid increase in CHI resources. There are diverse means for obtaining such information, and one CHI acquisition route is the public library. In the U.S. public libraries, the demand for CHI reference services is increasing, and a variety of projects to promote these services are in progress. On the other hand, Korean public library services for CHI is at a very basic level, and thus a very small amount of such research could be found. This study drew suggestions from a literature review of research studies in the U.S. and Canada, and analyzed public library CHI services in Korea. The findings are as follows. 1) Only 17.25% of public libraries in Korea provided CHI service, and it evidences very low needs and awareness for CHI services in Korea. 2) Only three kinds of services including CHI-related websites, users training, and promotional and marketing were provided, and only 13(1.74%) of libraries surveyed offered more than two kinds of services. 3) There were no CHI librarians, nor did any librarians receive CHI-related education. 4) ILL services, outreach services, and cooperation with CHI- and medical-related institutions for CHI services were not found. Therefore, this study suggests that more research on delivery strategies for CHI services should be conducted in the future.

• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.69-89
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• 2018

This study aims to examine the current status of health-related courses at the graduate level from American Library Association-accredited LIS programs and to identify the core topics and contents that have been covered in those courses by analyzing the course syllabi. Findings reveal that 44 out of 61 Library and Information Science (LIS) programs were offering at least one health-related course and the three most offered courses were 'health information resources', 'health informatics', and 'consumer health information (CHI)'. We collected a total of 21 course syllabi available online in the three areas and further analyzed their course descriptions, weekly topics, readings, and assignments. The findings of the study could be valuable for instructors who want to design or upgrade health-related courses in LIS programs.

• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.59-92
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to suggest ways to improve medical librarians' educational programs to improve domestic medical library user services. To this end, the role of medical librarians was investigated, and the education areas were itemized, and then the MLA in the US and the KMLA in Korea were compared and analyzed. As a result, the improvement points for medical librarian education programs in Korea are: First, expansion of certification programs that select various types of education programs, education areas, education contents, and specialized fields, collaboration programs with related institutions, and education programs that advocate the value of KMLA are required. Second, there is a need for various educational programs in the current educational areas, such as 'research support service' and 'education/education design/consultation'. In particular, it is necessary to provide 'consumer health information service' and 'disaster information service' for which there is no education at all. In addition, it is necessary to precede the establishment of regulations on the domestic medical librarian education curriculum for the education of various 'information services in the field related to medicine'. Third, it is necessary to provide online education contents for librarians who have difficulty participating in face-to-face education.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.45-77
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• 2011

In this study, by performing a survey targeting public libraries' users, we analyzed the most common path to acquire health information, the users' perception about if public libraries are needed to provide CHI services, and the factors that affect users' perceptions. The results are as follows: 1) About 90% of Korean public libraries' users do not take into account public libraries as the acquisition path for CHI resources. 2) About 60% of users thought that public libraries are needed to provide CHI services. 3) The factors that affect users' perception for the necessity of public libraries providing CHI services, were their interest in health and hours of using the internet per day. 4) In addition, we analyzed differences in perception between librarians and patrons about the necessity of public libraries providing the CHI services. The result showed that there was no significant difference in their perceptions, and both groups strongly felt that public libraries must provide the CHI services.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.265-291
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• 2013

Because of the increased interest in health, medical care, and wellness, the utilization of health-related information resources, especially those found on the Internet, has been rapidly increasing. In addition, despite encountering an increasing number of health and medical-related reference questions in public libraries, public librarians feel limitations in their ability to perform these types of reference services. Therefore, this study proposed the cooperative network system model for vitalizing CHI Services, meaning that all the related agencies, including public libraries, medical libraries, medical institutions, and the health and medical community collaboratively provide consumer health information service. This study presented in detail the key elements of the cooperation model, the subject of cooperation, target sources for cooperation, the content of cooperation, operations of CHI-providing sites, operations and roles of Cooperation Centers, and directions for cooperating with commercial institutions.