Health Literacy and Libraries

Selected as a 2025 Doody’s Core Title

This book brings together a diverse range of scholars and practitioners working at the nexus of health literacy work in libraries. This engaging resource presents a practical and accessible guide to meet the needs of librarians, health literacy researchers, and information and service professionals seeking to address health literacy needs in their communities. Through chapters offering multiple perspectives on the topic, the book covers specific types of literacy, such as mental health literacy and health insurance literacy, as well as timely applications, such as health misinformation. Chapters in this compilation also feature health literacy and the following communities: LGBTQ+, Latinx, Black, and Immigrants, Refugees, and Migrants. The book is full of numerous examples, thoughtful advice, and discussions addressing the challenges of working with adolescents and young adults, older adults, and parent caregivers of children with rare diseases. Each chapter starts with “Key Messages'' synthesizing the main points and concludes with a proposed set of “Discussion Questions'' to inspire further reflection and to facilitate health literacy conversations. Overall, the up-to-date coverage of health literacy in various contexts explored throughout the book will be beneficial to a range of stakeholders interested in health literacy work.

Deborah H. Charbonneau is professor and chair of the MLIS Program in the School of Information Sciences at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, USA. Deborah completed her PhD in Sociology at Wayne State University. Prior to joining the faculty, she worked as a health sciences librarian and she holds a Master of Library Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include health literacy, accessibility, and scholarly communication issues. She currently teaches courses in library management, health informatics, research methods, and information policy.
Emily Vardell is associate professor in the School of Library and Information Management at Emporia State University. Her research interests focus broadly on information behavior, including health insurance literacy. She earned her PhD from the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Master of Library Science degree from Texas Woman’s University. Prior to pursuing her PhD, she worked as a health sciences librarian, and she continues to be an active member of the Medical Library Association.