Positioning Libraries in Meeting Public Health Challenges in India: Key Strategies

Worldwide there has been tremendous development in the field of public health. That includes dissemination of relevant information to the public at large, by different means. In developed countries, the governments have been proactive in health care provisions and health care services delivery to its people. Librarians’ roles and responsibilities are also embedded in such a system. Consequently, library professionals are actively engaged in providing information resources to the community they serve. But in the developing countries, such initiative to meet health care demands of large populations is often less responsive and resources successfully reaching the communities is uneven. Librarians occupy a relatively small space in health care delivery systems, especially in providing health information to diverse communities. In India too, the picture is grim as far as librarians’ involvement as facilitator of health information to communities is concerned. In this context, considering counties demography and socio-economic status, relevant literature on role of libraries in provision of consumer health information was reviewed. Based on published research, this paper articulates key strategies that will assist librarians in providing health information services to various communities in India.Given the prevailing Covid-19 health crisis, this paper also identifies major challenges and possible solutions for strengthening libraries, that would help in mitigating public health challenges in India.

Keywords: Consumer health information, Health literacy, Information dissemination, Information services, Libraries, Medical libraries.