Bossaller, JennyPryor, ChrisWard, Deborah H.Adkins, Denice2025-09-242025-09-242017Adkins, D. C., Haggerty, K. C., & Haggerty, T. M. (2014). The influence of community demographics on new public library facilities. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 51(1), 1-8. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2016). Access and disparities to access in health care. https://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/nhqrdr/nhqdr16/access.html Birru, M. S., & Steinman, R. A. (2004). Online health information and low-literacy African Americans. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 6(3). Caufield-Noll, C., & Gorman, L. (2017). Heart-Healthy Conversations: A Librarian-Physician Partnership to Promote Disease Management and Wellness Information to Cardiology Patients. Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet, 21(2), 148-158. Flaherty, M. G. (2015). Health information resource provision in the public library setting. In Meeting Health Information Needs Outside of Healthcare (pp. 97-116). Gilmour, J. A. (2007). Reducing disparities in the access and use of Internet health information. A discussion paper. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 44(7), 1270-1278. Levy, H., Janke, A. T., & Langa, K. M. (2015). Health literacy and the digital divide among older Americans. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 30(3), 284-289. Loignon, C., Dupéré, S., Fortin, M., Ramsden, V. R., & Truchon, K. (2018). Health literacy–engaging the community in the co-creation of meaningful health navigation services: a study protocol. BMC Health Services Research, 18(1), 505. Lyon, J. A., Kuntz, G. M., Edwards, M. E., Butson, L. C., & Auten, B. (2015). The Lived Experience and Training Needs of Librarians Serving at the Clinical Point-of-Care. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 34(3), 311-333. Ma, X. (in press). Developing specialized graduate curricula for health information professionals: Integrated findings of a scoping review and an employer survey. Journal of Education for Library & Information Science. Medical Library Association (2018, May 22). Symposium: health Information for Public Librarians. Medical Library Association Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA, May 18 – 23, 2018. Michaelson Monaghan, E. (2016). The Library is In. Library Journal 141(16), 28 – 31. Pendleton, V. E., & Chatman, E. A. (1998). Small world lives: Implications for the public library. Library Trends 46(4), 732 – 752. Pribesh, S., & Gavigan, K. (2009). Linworth/ALISE 2009 Youth Services Paper: Equal Opportunity? Poverty and Characteristics of School Library Media Centers. Library Media Connection, 27(5), 20-22. Raszewki, R., Dwyer, J., & Griffin, T. (2019). Health informatics educational offerings in ALA-accredited LIS programs. Journal of Education for Library & Information Science, 60(1), 62-82.https://repository.ifla.org/handle/20.500.14598/6727Purpose: Small towns that dot the landscape of the Midwest USA are often hundreds of miles apart, have limited internet connectivity, and populations with lower socioeconomic status and poorer health than in urban areas. Open access for these areas requires action by libraries. Methods Through a partnership between the University of Missouri’s (MU’s) iSchool, MU’s J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library, and the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM), MidContinental Region, we are creating a network of practice across the Midwest that will develop a cohort of LIS students who will serve as Catalysts for Community Health. Results/Outcomes The network of practice should increase accessibility and health literacy for clinical practitioners, community-based organizations, and individuals in underserved and rural areas across the Midwestern United States. Conclusions/recommendations Progress and acceptance of a bottom-up approach to designing support has been successful so far.engAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Articlehttps://2019.ifla.org/conference-programme/satellite-meetings/open accessAcademic librariesHealth informationRural areas