The goal of this fellowship is to complete cross-training of the applicant by complementing public health education and experience with library and information science training, in preparation for a career as a health informationist. The proposed fellowship consists of formal graduate training culminating with a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS), practical library and health informatics experience and a health informatics research project. The coursework for the MLIS degree will be taken at the sponsoring institution, the College of Saint Catherine. A concentration in health sciences librarianship will complement the applicant's graduate education and experience in public health. The practical experience will consist of rotations throughout an academic health science library with concentration on consumer health outreach and the integration of library and informatics training into the curricula of public health practitioners. The research project will involve the design, implementation and evaluation of outreach and train-the-trainer curriculum to public health and community-based organization staff in the use of My Health Minnesota->Go Local!, a web resource based on the National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus. The outreach and training evaluation research will use a stage of change framework to guide the process. The fellow will use a participatory approach in working in the communities to design, implement, and evaluate the outreach. This research will use the National Network of Libraries of Medicine and National Library of Medicines guides for conducting the outreach and its evaluation. Collaborations with the School of Public Health, the Minnesota Department of Health, local public health agencies, and community-based organizations throughout Minnesota will be prominent parts of this fellowship. Ultimately, the public health problem that this training addresses is health literacy. Recipients of the trainings developed during the fellowship will enhance the capacity of local public health and community-based organizations to provide high quality health information resources to their community members and provide them with information about local resources in their community that can enhace their abilities to make appropriate decisions about health care and health behaviors.
