LAUSR

Librarians are branching out in health care, applying their unique skills to new, innovative roles in health literacy, patient education, and consumer health. These librarians use their diverse skillset to create, organize, and disseminate patient education. The population they serve may be clinicians, patients, or both. Depending on the organization’s needs, these librarians may also have other duties that change as the role evolves. Because this is an unconventional role for librarians, it may not be as welldefined as the roles seen in traditional library settings. A consumer health librarian may not work in a library at all, but instead work as an embedded member of the health care organization. A librarian in this role needs to be flexible and entrepreneurial so they can refine and expand the role as needed.