ACTIONS
- Protect and safeguard cultural and natural heritage
- Learning and educational opportunities
- Cultural participation/social inclusion
- Sustainable tourism
- Support research
- Employment (recruiting, training, safety)
- Energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions
- Waste management and reduction
- Transport (forms of, energy use)
- Commercial activities including copyright and IP
- Governance and management
- Security, disaster preparedness, risk reduction
- External partnerships and collaborations
- Publication/report
- Toolkit/framework/roadmap
- Case studies
Public libraries: A community-level resource to advance population health
Intended Audience
Libraries, healthcare professionals
- M.M. Philbin, C.M. Parker, J.S. Hirsch and M.G. Flaherty, Journal of Community Health
“Public libraries in the United States are civic institutions that perform critical functions extending far ‘beyond books’. However, policy makers and public health practitioners rarely consider libraries to be community-level resources that can advance population health or address health disparities, despite several characteristics that could render them highly effective at doing so. With an estimated 17,000 public libraries nationwide and four million visits each day, libraries have extensive population reach. Furthermore, unlike other service-providing institutions (e.g., medical institutions and certain social welfare institutions), libraries are widely trusted by the public. These factors make them an opportune space for the coordination and delivery of health-promoting services.
This scoping study examined public libraries’ potential as a community-level resource for reducing place-based health disparities. The U.S. has some of the largest health disparities in the world: life expectancy varies by up to 20 years between some counties. Within York City, for example, life expectancy in Brownsville, Brooklyn is 74 compared to 85 in the Upper East Side, a difference equivalent to living in the U.S. versus Brazil. Public libraries are well positioned to address these stark disparities. Libraries are paradigmatic of a community-level resource. Over 95% of Americans live within a public library service area 2 and diverse sectors of the population already use public libraries: in the last year, half of Americans with annual incomes under $30,000 visited a library, as did half of African Americans and nearly two-thirds of Americans with college degrees.
Yet unlike parks, transportation, or environmental health, libraries are rarely included in explicit plans to reduce neighborhood level health disparities."
Avaiable in
- English
SDGs LINKAGES
The resource is most closely related to SDGs around health and social inclusion, including 1.4 (access to basic services), many targets in SDG 3, particular targets relating to education including 4.2 (early childhood development), 4.4 (skills for work), 4.5 (inclusive education) and 4.6 (literacy and numeracy), 9.1 (sustainable infrastructure), 10.2 (universal inclusion), 10.3 (reduce social inequalities) and 10.4 (social protection policies), 11.5 (reduce the impact of disasters), 11.7 (access to safe and welcoming green and public spaces), 11.B (integrated policies for inclusion and Disaster Risk Reduction), 16.10 (protect the right to information) and 17.17 (cross-sector partnerships).
Click on the SDG Target to discover Our Collections Matter indicators
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Numbers and proportions of people from particular groups using collections in comparison with demographics in broader society.
- Numbers of people accessing collections.
- Number of targeted programmes that aim to enhance access to collections by disadvantaged groups.
- Sustainable tourism that enhances local communities’ access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property (including cultural and natural heritage), as well as to technology and markets.
- Involvement of people from disadvantaged groups in decision-making activities and processes relating to collections and collections-based institutions.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Collection development that can contribute to programmes addressing AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and/or neglected tropical diseases, combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases.
- Number of educational programmes addressing these subjects.
- Number of targeted educational and participatory programmes for marginalized and at-risk groups relating to communicable diseases.
- Number of research activities that help understand the causes and manage impacts of tuberculosis, malaria and other communicable diseases.
- Partnerships in place to help ensure effective governance of communicable diseases, public health information and education relating to communicable diseases.
- Steady flow of reliable information relating to communicable diseases.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Plans, policies and procedures in place for the safe use of collections, notably in relation to chemical, physical, biological and other forms of hazard.
- Proportion of users of collections facilities reporting positive well-being during and as a result of activities relating to collections.
- Number and proportion of programmes relating to collections that incorporate wellbeing considerations and perspectives.
- Number of targeted programmes drawing on collections that address issues relating to non-communicable diseases, supporting prevention and treatment.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and proportion of educational programmes relating to collections that address narcotic drug use and harmful alcohol use.
- Number of targeted programmes drawing on collections that address issues relating to narcotic drug use and harmful alcohol use, supporting prevention and treatment.
- Effective relationships and partnerships in place with agencies involved in supporting prevention and treatment of substance abuse.
- Steady flow of reliable information relating to prevention and treatment of substance abuse.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and proportion of educational programmes relating to collections that address sexual and reproductive health, and family planning.
- Number of targeted programmes drawing on collections that address issues relating to sexual and reproductive health, and family planning.
- Effective relationships and partnerships in place with related agencies to ensure steady flow of information on relevant strategies and programmes.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number of programmes drawing on collections (educational, awareness-raising, research, partnerships) that promote access to healthcare.
- Number of educational programmes that are targeted towards people without access to healthcare.
- Proactive steps taken to ensure that all people, including those in vulnerable situations, can access healthcare services, overcoming cultural and language barriers.
- Collections development to support such programmes.
- Promotion of health coverage programmes, locally and worldwide.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Plans, policies and procedures in place to prevent harmful exposure to hazardous chemicals associated with collections, or collections-related activities.
- Plans, policies and procedures in place to ensure hazardous chemicals and other forms of pollutant are properly managed and disposed of, to prevent release into the natural environment.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Collections development related to tobacco use and its harmful impacts on the body, as appropriate.
- Number of educational and awareness programmes relating to the health impacts of tobacco and smoking, drawing on collections.
- Number of educational and awareness programmes relating to the health impacts of tobacco and smoking, that target marginalized and vulnerable groups most exposed to health risks.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number of collecting initiatives that aim to build capacity for risk reduction to national and global health risks, for example by storing and preserving collections that may be of use in post-disaster scenarios, or that can be used in early warning and risk communication activities.
- Number of educational programmes incorporating perspectives on early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks.
- Number of awareness raising programmes that target marginalized and vulnerable groups most exposed to health risks.
- Plans in place for early warning, risk reduction and management to national and global health risks.
- Relationships and partnerships in place for risk reduction and management in light of national and global health risks.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number of programmes drawing on collections that support early childhood development.
- Number of programmes drawing on collections that aim to prepare children for primary education.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number of young people and adults in skills-development activities and programmes drawing on collections, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.
- Increase in number of young people and adults in such programmes.
- Number and proportion of staff who have received training in the last year, to better support their contribution to the SDGs.
- Programs and processes in place to ensure the availability of a skilled workforce.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number of educational and/or training programmes drawing on collections directed to eliminate gender disparities in education.
- Number of educational and/or training programmes drawing on collections directed to meet the particular needs of persons with disabilities.
- Number of educational and/or training programmes drawing on collections directed to meet the particular needs of Indigenous peoples’ groups.
- Number of educational and/or training programmes drawing on collections directed to meet the particular needs of children in vulnerable situations.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number of programmes drawing on collections to support literacy and numeracy among youth.
- Number of programmes drawing on collections to support literacy and numeracy among adults.
- Number of programmes drawing on collections to support literacy and numeracy among marginalized groups.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Development of research-useful collections to support reliable, sustainable and resilient use by researchers and others.
- Number and proportion of collections facilities and stores that support economic development and human well-being.
- Number and proportion of collections facilities and stores that provide affordable and equitable access for all.
- Investment in collections facilities.
- Inclusion of collections information in regional and transborder initiatives, notably via digital access for discoverability.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Collections development to ensure that collections effectively meet the needs of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.
- Number and proportion of educational and participatory programmes that promote participation irrespective of social or other status.
- Numbers and proportions of people making use of collections in relation to the demographic of the local population.
- Numbers and proportions of people involved in focused programmes aimed at promoting social, economic and political inclusion.
- Numbers and proportions of people from different demographic groups involved in decision-making processes relating to collections and collections-based institutions.
- Number and types of partnerships that build relationships with marginalized groups, individuals and communities.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Identification of discriminatory policies and practices, with clear plans to address these, to ensure equal opportunity for all and reduce inequalities of outcome.
- Collections development to uphold and promote legislation and anti-discriminatory perspectives, with the aim of reducing inequality within and between countries.
- Education and participatory programmes that promote anti-discriminatory legislation, policies and action, with the aim of reducing inequality within and between countries.
- Research that supports anti-discriminatory legislation, policies and action, with the aim of reducing inequality within and between countries.
- Participation in partnerships that promote anti-discriminatory legislation, policies and action, with the aim of reducing inequality within and between countries.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and proportion of policies that proactively address equality issues relating to fiscal, wage and social protection considerations.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Collections-based research that supports the understanding and management of disasters of all kinds.
- Plans in place for public education and awareness drawing on collections and collections-based institutions to reduce exposure and vulnerability to disasters of all kinds.
- Plans in place to ensure collections-based institutions steadily work to reduce their contributions to disaster risk, for example by reducing pollution and waste of all kinds.
- Plans in place to ensure collections-based institutions, and people related to them (including workers) are protected from economic losses as a result of disasters.
- Plans in place to provide special support/protection to poor and vulnerable people and groups in and following disasters.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Numbers of people accessing collecting institutions from different demographic groups, notably women, children, older people and persons with disabilities.
- Increases in numbers of people accessing collecting institutions from different demographic groups.
- Measures taken to remove barriers to access green and public spaces.
- Extent of green space provided by collections institutions.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030a.
- Disaster Risk Reduction strategies and plans in place, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, to ensure collecting institutions and collections are factored into planning, and contribute effectively to Disaster Risk Reduction.
- Collections-based institutions included in local plans for social inclusion, resource use, and Disaster Risk Reduction.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Adopt and implement constitutional, statutory and/or policy guarantees for public access to information.
- Plans in place, and plans implemented to enhance public access to information relating to collections.
- Plans in place, and plans implemented to support fundamental freedoms, in line with human rights, national and international agreements and legislation.
- Plans and procedures in place for public access to information relating to the operation and management of collections-based institutions.
- Complaint mechanism in place for public to use where public access to information and fundamental freedoms not supported or fulfilled.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Amount of United States dollars committed to public-private and civil society partnerships.
- Number and/or increase in number, and diversity of local, national and regional multi-stakeholder (public, public-private and civil society) partnerships that address the SDGs drawing on collections, or that otherwise involve collections-based organisations and institutions.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Collections development that can support education, awareness and participatory programmes that aim to reduce maternal illness and mortality.
- Education, awareness-raising and participatory programmes drawing on collections that raise awareness of causes of maternal illness and mortality, and that foster knowledge, motivation and skills to act to support maternal health, locally and globally.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Collections development that can support education, awareness and participatory programmes that aim to reduce preventable deaths of newborns and young children, in all countries.
- Education, awareness-raising and participatory programmes drawing on collections that raise awareness of causes of death of newborns and young children, and that foster knowledge, motivation and skills to act to support child health, locally and globally.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and proportion of educational programmes relating to collections that address road safety.
- Number of targeted programmes drawing on collections that address issues relating to road safety.
- Effective relationships and partnerships in place with related agencies to promote road safety.
- Effective policies and procedures in place to mimimize risk of death or injury from transport relating to collections-based institutions, including for all workers, visitors and others involved in the supply chain.