Abstract
The paper reviews the core competencies for public health professionals presented in the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) report, Who Will Keep the Public Healthy: Educating Public Health Professionals for the 21st Century; describes improving information literacy (IL) as a mechanism for integrating the core competencies in public health education; and showcases IL as an opportunity for solidifying partnerships between academic librarians and public health educators. The IOM competencies, along with explicit examples of library support from a literature review of current IL trends in the health sciences, are analyzed. Librarians can play a fundamental role in implementing the IOM's core competencies in shaping public health education for the twenty-first century. A partnership between public health educators and librarians through a transdisciplinary approach is recommended. IL skills and competencies integrated into public health curricula through a collaborative partnership between public health educators and librarians can help integrate the IOM's core competencies and improve public health education.
Highlights
Information literacy (IL), heralded as the critical literacy for the twenty-first century [1], has been defined as the ability to recognize when information is needed and to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information [2]
Arising from the recent convergence of information and technology and a focus on best practices [4, 5], the emphasis on IL has necessitated that students in the health sciences develop IL-specific competencies
The definition of IL was first mentioned in the literature in 1974 by Zurkowski, who asserted that those who were trained to use information and computerized tools were information literate [6, 7]
Summary
The paper reviews the core competencies for public health professionals presented in the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM’s) report, Who Will Keep the Public Healthy: Educating Public Health Professionals for the 21st Century; describes improving information literacy (IL) as a mechanism for integrating the core competencies in public health education; and showcases IL as an opportunity for solidifying partnerships between academic librarians and public health educators
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
