Medical Librarians and Environmental Justice: Creating an Environmental Health Literacy Program on Air Quality in the Historic Environmental Justice Community of Camden, New Jersey.

Background: This poster presentation will cover a recent NNLM-funded grant project entitled "Clearing the Air: Educating the Camden Community about Air Quality and Respiratory Health". Camden, NJ has long fit the stereotype of the struggling post-industrial American city. Residents live with many environmental injustices not experienced by wealthier areas and the city is home to numerous industrial polluters. The purpose of this project is to provide the residents of Camden with environmental health information that will empower them with information on the links between the air quality in their community and their respiratory health.

Description: The Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU) Library planned a community outreach program that informed members of the public about the impact that air quality has on health in general, and its specific role in triggering asthma and other respiratory diseases. This health information will be presented in easy-to-understand, user-friendly ways that will make it accessible to all. The centerpiece of the project will be a free, public website that showcases National Library of Medicine information resources such as MedlinePlus's respiratory health topics. Additionally, there will be a series of expert-led environmental-health community events that can, in order to best meet the needs of attendees, will be delivered as recorded teleconferences. A select number of attendees will also be provided handheld particulate matter monitors with citizen-science take-home worksheets.

Conclusion: Intended outcome of this project include:
- Provide background on the unique environmental health problems affecting Camden residents, specifically those involving air pollution.
- Promote the use of high-quality health resources, such as MedlinePlus and other high quality, vetted sources of environmental health information.
- Learn a new baseline for what a healthy local environment looks like.
- Know where to go to report environmental hazards of all types in the city.
- Learn of opportunities to become more civically engaged in the environmental health of their neighborhoods.
-Learn what particulate matter is and what harms it can cause.
- Learn to interpret particulate matter readings.
- Learn about the effects of industrial odor pollution and olfactometry.