Connecting Library and Information School Graduate Students with Consumer Health Information Specializations (CHIS)

Background: This presentation will describe a unique method of connecting library and information graduate students with the Medical Library Association (MLA) Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS) program. This project supports several library organizations (NLM, NNLM, MLA, PLA, ALA, etc.) that have been promoting the critical importance that information professionals have in providing factual consumer health information (CHI) to their communities, including having the skills required to keep current with the rapid changes in CHI resources and technologies.

Description: The authors have developed a process designed and tested to connect project leads with professors teaching CHI related courses at ALA accredited library and information science (LIS) graduate programs to get their courses approved by MLA so they meet the core competencies required for the CHIS. This presentation will reflect on the lessons learned from professors as well as feedback from students participating in the project.

Conclusion: This project continues to provide students with an opportunity to be recognized by MLA as having a specialized skill set in providing accurate and fact-based consumer health information on top of the course credits they earn through their LIS program. Currently, there are two universities actively participating in the program with interest being expressed from two other LIS programs. The next major step in the project is to promote this opportunity to the broader LIS community.