"The library is so much more than books": considerations for the design and implementation of teen digital mental health services in public libraries.

Background: Adolescence is a vulnerable developmental period, characterized by high rates of mental health concerns, yet few adolescents receive treatment. Public libraries support adolescents by providing them with access to teen programming, technological resources, and have recently been providing mental health services. Digital mental health (DMH) services may help libraries provide scalable mental health solutions for their adolescent patrons and could be well positioned to address the mental health needs of historically underrepresented racial and ethnic (HURE) adolescents; however, little research has been conducted on the compatibility of DMH services with adolescent patron mental health needs or resource needs of library workers supporting them. Methods: The research team formed a partnership with a public library, which serves a large HURE adolescent population. We conducted needs assessment and implementation readiness interviews with 17 library workers, including leadership, librarians, and workers with specialized areas of practice. Interview questions focused on library infrastructure, as well as library needs and preferences around the design and implementation of DMH services for adolescents. We used the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research as guiding implementation determinant framework to code and analyze the interview transcripts. Results: Our findings revealed library workers play an important role in guiding patrons to desired resources and share a goal of implementing adolescent DMH resources into the library and elevating marginalized adolescents' voices. Existing library resources, such as the library's role as a safe space for adolescents in the community, close relationships with external and community organizations, and availability of no-cost technological resources, could help facilitate the implementation of DMH services. Barriers related to community buy-in, mental health stigma, and library worker confidence in supporting adolescent mental health could affect service implementation. Conclusions: Our findings suggest public libraries are highly promising settings to deploy DMH services for adolescents. We identified important determinants that may impact the implementation of DMH services in public library settings. Special considerations are needed to design services to meet the mental health needs of HURE adolescent populations and those adolescents' most experiencing health inequities.

Promoting rural residents' participation in clinical trials: clinical trials basics programming and training for rural public librarians.

Background: Having diverse representation in clinical trial participation is important. Historically, rural residents have been underrepresented in clinical trial research. Public librarians have an opportunity to promote clinical trial participation among rural residents by offering consumer health information services that help patrons to understand what clinical trials are and how they can find relevant clinical trials. Case Presentation: A consumer health library and a clinical trial center located at a large academic medical center collaborated to provide clinical trial information programming to rural public libraries. The group was awarded a Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) Community Outreach Grant and was able to plan, develop, promote, and implement programs including training workshops, a speaker event, and a book discussion to rural public librarians. Discussion: Marketing the programs to rural public libraries was difficult and many barriers were encountered. Though registration and subsequent participation were low, participants expressed interest and gratitude for the programs. For any future programs targeting this population, further strategies will need to be implemented to ensure increased registrations and attendees.

Innovative public library services during the COVID-19 pandemic: Application and revision of social innovation typology.

Public libraries needed to quickly address the new challenges brought by COVID-19 to continue their services. This study aimed to understand innovative public library services during the pandemic and provide a typology that represent their services. Twitter messages of 12 large public libraries were analyzed to identify library services. A total of 751 Tweets were coded with thematic tags by service types and innovative approaches. Using the social innovation typology by Winberry and Potnis (2021), their typology was revised to show public libraries' innovative services under the emergency circumstances. The findings suggested significant differences within social innovation categories and newly emerged themes. The revised social innovation typology developed from Twitter data during the pandemic includes nine major categories of public libraries' innovative service types and provides updated insights into how public libraries continue to serve as important community resources using innovative approaches. The revised typology will be useful for future research in describing future innovation and assessing the endurance of pandemic-era service innovations.

Public Librarian Perceptions of Assisting Immigrant Patrons: Results from a Multi-State Survey.

Public libraries in the United States (U.S.) are important sources of health information. Immigrants comprise a large portion of the U.S. population, and research suggests that public libraries help immigrants adjust to life in a new country. Public libraries help immigrants access information directly related to health and provide programs that have indirect impacts on health outcomes, including learning a new language and forging social ties. The purpose of this paper was to examine perspectives from librarians related to interactions with immigrant patrons and how their library supports them in this role. Public librarians (n = 205) from two selected U.S. states completed an online survey focusing on how comfortable they were in helping immigrants with inquiries related to health and the role of the public library in supporting librarians in this endeavor. Respondents generally reported high levels of comfort interacting with immigrants, although there was limited interaction on potentially sensitive topics (i.e., immigration, health). Library staff perceived that libraries overall were not effective in meeting the needs of immigrant populations and that librarians were infrequently offered professional training related to cultural competency and diversity. The findings echo previous studies that demonstrate the need for professional development to ensure that librarians are aware of library resources available to assist immigrant patrons. Findings from this study suggest opportunities for public health professionals and public librarians to collaborate to ensure the provision of reliable resources, health information, and referrals to community-based services.

A health education outreach partnership between an academic medical library and public library: lessons learned before and during a pandemic.

Background: Public libraries serve as community centers for accessing free, trustworthy health information. As such, they provide an ideal setting to teach the local community about health and health literacy, particularly during public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2018, an outreach partnership between an academic medical library and public library has developed, delivered, and continuously evaluated a health education program targeting public library users. Case Presentation: Health education activities were integrated into three existing public library programs: adult workshops, child and family programming, and circulating family activity kits. Prior to COVID-19, events were held at the public library, which then pivoted online during the pandemic. An interprofessional team approach combined the expertise of academic medical and public librarians, medical school faculty and staff, and medical students in developing the educational programs. Twelve in-person and five virtual programs were offered, and five circulating health education family kits were launched. Activities were assessed using program evaluation surveys of the adult and children's programs and circulation statistics of the kits. Conclusions: This case report showcases the lessons learned from implementing a longitudinal outreach partnership between an academic medical library and public library before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interprofessional team approach and flexibility in program design and delivery in both the in-person and virtual environments proved critical to the success of the partnership. This partnership could serve as a model for other libraries interested in pursuing interprofessional collaborations in educating local communities on healthy behavior and health information-seeking practices.

Citizen science at public libraries: Data on librarians and users perceptions of participating in a citizen science project in Catalunya, Spain.

As libraries struggle to keep pace with the changing societal landscape, emerging practices such as citizen science (CS) initiatives are being incorporated to reinforce the idea of public libraries as gathering, meeting, and collaboration spaces within the context of shared community and shared learning resources. However, there is little empirical evidence of whether the most open and participatory ways that CS puts forward can converge with and be nurtured by the essence of public libraries. Also, the roles of librarians and users in the 'next generation public library' have been under-developed. As the number of CS initiatives at public libraries grows, so does the need to collect evidence on the impact and the capacity of assimilation of CS practices. The data describes librarians and users' perceptions of participating in a citizen science project. Two hands-on activities for librarians of the Barcelona Network of Public Libraries were implemented. One was a training course for 30 librarians from 24 libraries which allowed them to envisage citizen science implementation in each library. The second activity consisted in the co-creation of a citizen social science project. 40 library users, 7 librarians from 3 different cities, and professional scientists, were involved. The data on librarians and users' perception was collected through participant observation, surveys, and a focus group to identify strengths and challenges of implementing citizen science at public libraries. The data covers librarians and users attitudes towards citizen science, their motivations to participate, their perceived ability to implement a citizen science project (as for librarians) or to contribute to science (as for library users), and the participants intention to keep engaged with citizen science, drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior. Responses to closed-ended survey questions are analyzed at a descriptive level. The qualitative feedback from the focus group and the open-ended survey question on motivations is subjected to a thematic analysis. The data offers interesting insights to identify opportunities and challenges of implementing citizen science at public libraries, contributing to the debate over the public library's mission as local community hub.

Philanthropy in Public Libraries: Its Impact on Community Well-Being Missions.

Public libraries support community well-being missions related to access to information, knowledge creation, public service programming and social cohesion. Interviews in this study were designed to discover whether philanthropy in the form of giving positively impact their ability to deliver these missions. Four public library directors in Mississippi were selected for this study because the state reports low community well-being measures and high charitable giving. Findings suggest that philanthropy is a fundamental partner in community well-being missions for these libraries even though, as a sector, public libraries measure low in philanthropic support.

Evaluating mental illness-substance abuse stigmatic perceptions through education: A library-nursing initiative.

In this library-nursing initiative, the goal was to identify any changes in stigmatic perceptions among public library staff regarding mental health and substance abuse, post 3-day educational sessions. A total of n = 37 library staff participated in this project and attended all three educational sessions and completed a pre- and postquestionnaire designed to address common mental health and substance abuse-related stigmatic perceptions among public library staff. Upon analysis of the pre- and postresponses, we identified that there were statistically significant changes in two perceptions, namely; "embarrassed to disclose mental illness" and "commonality of substance abuse" (p ≤ .05). Therefore, it is essential that behavioral health nurses engage and collaborate with local public libraries to educate and build a safe environment for vulnerable populations like those affected with mental illness and substance abuse in the community settings.

Necesidades y comportamiento informativo de mujeres que pertenecen a los grupos de familia Al-anon, Chiapas, México / Information needs and behavior of women belonging to the Alanon family groups, Chiapas, Mexico

Resumen Este artículo aborda las necesidades y el comportamiento informativo de una comunidad no estudiada, se trata de los Grupos de Familia Al-anon, en donde asiste la familia de las personas que presentan problemas con el consumo de alcohol. Este estudio es exploratorio con un enfoque mixto, la muestra es no probabilística y participaron seis mujeres. Se empleó el instrumento de la entrevista y la encuesta. Se encontró que las principales necesidades informativas son el duelo (66 %) y la felicidad (50 %); y los temas: entretenimiento, superación personal, aceptación, tolerancia y primer paso; todas las anteriores con un porcentaje de 33 %. Los comportamientos informativos de estas mujeres son: el libro (83 %), el internet (66 %) y la televisión (50 %).

Abstract This article deals with the needs and informational behavior of a community not studied, the Al-anon Family Group for the family of people addicted to alcohol. This study is exploratory with a mixed approach, the sample is not probabilistic and six women participated. The interview and survey instrument were used. It was found that the main informational needs are: grief (66 %), happiness (50 %); and the subject of: entertainment, personal improvement, acceptance, tolerance and first step, all of the above with a percentage of 33 %. The informative behaviors of these women are: the book (83 %), the internet (66 %) and tv (50 %).

Mitigating the Challenges and Capitalizing on Opportunities: A Qualitative Investigation of the Public Library's Response to an Aging Population.

Public libraries are community hubs that can both create opportunities and address challenges often associated with later life and population aging. Using a thematic analysis of 18 in-depth interviews with public librarians, this study investigates common practices and challenges experienced while developing programs for older adults. This analysis is augmented by an environmental scan of older-adult programming offered in member libraries of the Canadian Urban Library Council (CULC). Results indicate that public librarians leverage community partnerships and staff training to develop programs that foster digital, financial, language, and health literacy and create opportunities for both intergenerational and peer social connection. At the same time, they face challenges related to limited space, budgets, and staff capacity, difficulty meeting the extensive and often conflicting interests of various groups within the library, and marketing programming to older adults. Findings indicate that public libraries may be key players in mitigating challenges often associated with having an aging population, and indeed highlight the many benefits of valuing and providing services to this population.

More to offer than books: stakeholder perceptions of a public library-based meal programme.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the perspectives of librarians and staff about Lunch at the Library, a library-based summer meal programme for children. The study examines: (i) motivating factors behind implementing the meal programme; (ii) issues of feasibility; and (iii) perceived programme outcomes. DESIGN: One-on-one semi-structured interviews with library stakeholders (librarians and staff) from a purposeful sample of California libraries. SETTING: Twenty-two library jurisdictions across California that implemented the Lunch at the Library summer meal programme in 2015 in areas of high financial need. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-five library stakeholders representing twenty-two of the thirty-three Californian library jurisdictions that implemented Lunch at the Library at their sites. RESULTS: Library stakeholders recognised the need for a child meal programme during summer. Despite lack of sufficient resources and personnel, they were motivated to implement the programme not only to fill a community need but also to ensure children at their libraries were primed for learning over the summer. Library stakeholders also perceived the public library's changing role in society as shifting from reference provision to social service provision either directly or by referral. CONCLUSIONS: The public library is an ideal place to provide social services because of its accessibility to all. Librarians and library staff are motivated to address the social needs of their communities. This study demonstrates the feasibility of implementing new social programmes at public libraries. Funding to support these programmes would increase the library's capacity to address other community needs.

Mixed-methods library evaluation integrating the patron, library, and external perspectives: The case of Namibia regional libraries.

The article presents a mixed-methods evaluation of regional libraries in Namibia, which incorporates three perspectives: the patron perspective (library users), the library perspective (library staff, management, and related officials), and the external perspective (including evaluators and monitoring data). Seven data collection methods were used: patron surveys, patron panel studies, focus group discussions, key informant and staff interviews, secondary data analysis, media analysis, and observations. The goal of the evaluation was to assess library performance for both formative and summative purposes by addressing evaluation questions on areas such as library services, use, and operations. Building upon the literature review of how mixed-methods approaches can contribute to library evaluation, the aim of this article is to show how a mixed-methods evaluation can be designed to examine multi-faceted library performance and to illustrate how the evaluation design allows information complementarity and can be utilized to present diverse viewpoints of the above three perspectives. The evaluation design, analysis process, and lessons learned from this study may be useful to evaluators engaged in evaluation of public services or programs (including public libraries) that examine multiple aspects of service performance and involve a variety of stakeholders.

La Sección de temas locales de la Biblioteca Pública Municipal de Simat de la Valldigna: un testimonio de la historia pasada y presente / The Local Issues Section of the Municipal Public Library of Simat de la Valldigna: A testimony of past and present history

Resumen La biblioteca pública cumple una labor de formación permanente en el campo del saber y la cultura, uno de sus objetivos principales es satisfacer las necesidades de la comunidad en la cual se encuentra inmersa, por medio de la oferta de distintos servicios siendo uno de ellos la sección de temas locales, encargada de brindar a las personas toda aquella información relativa a la historia comunal en sus distintas manifestaciones. Por lo anterior, este trabajo expone la importancia del aporte y la proyección social que presta dicha sección contextualizado su trabajo en la población de Simat de la Valldigna en Valencia, España, se describen, además, por medio a través de ejemplos distintos materiales que conforman este acervo de información. Se concluye poniendo de manifiesto la responsabilidad que tiene la biblioteca pública en lo relativo a mantener viva la historia local de Simat como un aporte a la preservación de la memoria de sus antepasados.

Abstract The public library fulfills a permanent formative role in the field of knowledge and culture, one of its main objectives is to meet the needs of the community in which it is immersed. Through the provision of various services, one of them being the local issues section, which is responsible for providing citizens with all the information related to the history of the community in its different manifestations. This paper exposes the importance of the contribution and social projection provided by this section contextualizing its work in the population of Simat de la Valldigna in Valencia, Spain. There are also described, by means of examples, different materials that make up this information reservoir. It concludes by highlighting the responsibility of the public library in keeping alive the local history of Simat as a contribution to the preservation of the memory of their ancestors.

Optimization of PMA-qPCR for Staphylococcus aureus and determination of viable bacteria in indoor air.

Staphylococcus aureus may cause infections in humans from mild skin disorders to lethal pneumonia. Rapid and accurate monitoring of viable S. aureus is essential to characterize human exposure. This study evaluated quantitative PCR (qPCR) with propidium monoazide (PMA) to quantify S. aureus. The results showed comparable S. aureus counts between exclusively live cells and mixtures of live/dead cells by qPCR with 1.5 or 2.3 µg/mL PMA (P>.05), illustrating the ability of PMA-qPCR to detect DNA exclusively from viable cells. Moreover, qPCR with 1.5 or 2.3 µg/mL PMA performed optimally with linearity over 103 -108  CFU/mL (R2 ≥0.9), whereas qPCR with 10, 23 or 46 µg/mL PMA significantly underestimated viable counts. Staphylococcus aureus and total viable bacteria were further determined with PMA-qPCR (1.5 µg/mL) from 48 samples from a public library and two university dormitories and four from outside. Viable bacteria averaged 1.9×104 cells/m3 , and S. aureus were detected in 22 (42%) samples with a mean of 4.4×103 cells/m3 . The number of S. aureus and viable bacteria were positively correlated (r=.61, P<.005), and percentages of S. aureus relative to viable bacteria averaged 12-44%. The results of field samples suggest that PMA-qPCR can be used to quantify viable S. aureus cells.

The construction of smart library based on different functional positions / 中华医学图书情报杂志

Public library, academic library and special library are different kinds of library. The aim, objects, contents of service and the different characteristics, needs, problems of smart construction depend on their different functional positions. The problems and challenges faced by smart construction were pointed out based on the analy-sis of the origin, concept and characteristics of smart construction, domestic studies on smart construction, in com-bination with the different functional positions of public library, academic library and special library, and the needs of their smart construction. Suggestions were thus put forward for their solution.

Studies on reading popularization in China:A visualization analysis / 中华医学图书情报杂志

The distribution features of studies on reading popularization in CNKI-covered CSSCI papers were demonstrated from the aspects of their annual distribution, core authors and institution co-occurrence network by bibliometric, visualization and contents analysis.The study hot spots in the two development periods of reading popularization were displayed in the form of knowledge map with the study contents assessed in brief in order provide certain reference for the creative development of reading popularization theories and practice.

The public library as therapeutic landscape: a qualitative case study.

The idea of the therapeutic landscape has been widely used to describe the relationship between place and improvements in mental health. This paper uses data from a qualitative study conducted with people with mental health problems to outline the role of the public library as a therapeutic landscape. It situates the public library as a space that is simultaneously familiar and welcoming, comforting and calming, and empowering. Further, the paper reflects on the impact of proposed library closures in light of these previously hidden benefits, thinking about the library's role as an environment and not as a service provider.

Reading therapy in different kinds of library:A comparative analysis / 中华医学图书情报杂志

Reading therapy in hospital libraries, academic libraries and public libraries was described in terms of its theoretical study and practical study,and its significance in hospital library was elaborated by comparative analysis.