The AAAS proposes a five- year project to bring to the public the latest information about biomedical research, especially as it pertains to the goals of Health People 2010. We propose to work with libraries to create materials and disseminate information through a process that we established as part of our Science + Literacy for Health projects. This process involves combining carefully developed materials that make both the science content and the reading level accessible with a targeted outreach campaign that brings the information to people in a comfortable environment. Public libraries, like museums, are highly trusted and respected institutions within their respective communities and throughout this nation. Over 15,000 public libraries, of varying sizes, provide an increasingly wide range of services to their communities. For many of this nation's citizens, especially minority groups, the public library is a primary source of reliable information. Individuals seeking reliable, current, health information often turn to their public library. This information must be packaged in plain English to be accessible to these individuals. The materials that will be produced by the Healthy People 2010 Library Initiative will meet this need. Formative evaluation data will be solicited from this target group to ensure that the materials meet the needs of the intended audience. The Healthy People 2010 Library Initiative will produce seven plain-language booklets and develop a Healthy People 2010 Tool Kit for public libraries. The booklets and other materials will be tested in library outreach programs in low-income communities with large populations of African Americans and Hispanic Americans and in five urban areas in the first three years of the project. The materials will then be disseminated nationally to other public libraries and community-based organizations, and the impact of the program will be evaluated.
