South Carolina Public Libraries Health: Needs and Opportunities

In August 2021, the South Carolina Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare partnered with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to produce South Carolina Public Libraries Health: Needs and Opportunities, as part of its broader Rural Libraries and Health Cooperative Agreement program, funded by the the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental via the Centers for Disease Control Prevention National Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities Among Populations at High-Risk and Underserved, Including Racial and Ethnic Minority Population and Rural Communities, a non-research grant funded through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021. The study documented a range of ways that South Carolina public libraries support health. It also assessed what needs public libraries have as they seek to support health in their communities. Based on that analysis, a model for continuing education to support the alignment of public libraries and health was developed. As an exploratory study, South Carolina Public Libraries Health: Needs and Opportunities highlights implications for a variety of stakeholder groups including those working in the health sector at both local and state levels, as well as library workers and administrators, funders and policy makers, and researchers. Using snowball sampling techniques, 123 library workers from across the state completed a survey in September 2021 about their health partnerships and health-related continuing education needs; an additional 19 completed a portion of the survey. (2022-05-02)