Capstone Project

In 2016, the Biomedical Library forged a partnership with the Sayre Health Center to encourage health information seeking behavior amongst patients and residents in West Philadelphia. In 2017, the Free Library of Philadelphia Blanche Nixon Cobbs Creek Branch became a key collaborator in this initiative. I also learned that the Haverford Avenue Branch is need of additional health programming.

In April 2017, I presented information about health literacy and community health outreach at a Group On Library Diversity's Diversi-tea.

In Fall 2017, in collaboration with Sayre Health Center and the Free Library of Philadelphia, I created a model for a health literacy program. The model involves offering MedlinePlus workshops and a walk-in health information reference service at the Free Library of Philadelphia Blanche Nixon Cobbs Creek Branch. Social workers will write information prescriptions for patients, caregivers, and community members who can set up an appointment with a health sciences librarian to learn how to use MedlinePlus and other credible online health resources to retrieve the prescribed information.

While I was unable to implement this model during my residency, I created materials to train fellow Science Libraries staff members with health sciences expertise in consumer health information resources such as MedlinePlus, HealthReach, eCompanion, etc as well as a mechanism to track data collected during this type of outreach activity. Having additional support could give Penn Libraries a strategic chance turn my capstone project into a standardized service provided to additional public libraries and health centers.

In my new role as the Community Health & Engineering Librarian, I co-presented and presented "Evaluating Health Websites & Apps" workshops, in partnership with the Free Library of Philadelphia and Sayre Health Center. I will continue to expand Community Health Outreach initiatives.