Health Literacy

COVID-19 Preparedness and Action Resources

For up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Montana, please visit https://covid19.mt.gov/

For up-to-date information on COVID-19 resources for Montana Libraries, please visit http://about.msl.mt.gov/publications/covid_response

Health Literacy at the Montana State Library

The Montana State Library is committed to working with public libraries to provide health-related programming and information to the public. By supporting health-related programming and education, MSL seeks to:

1. Teach Montanans where to find, and how to evaluate health information
2. Help raise awareness of and engagement with specific health topics
3. Empower Montanans to make health decisions appropriate for themselves, their friends, and their families.

 Listed below are the various projects that MSL is supporting regarding health literacy. If you have any questions, please contact the Lifelong Learning Librarian, Amelea Kim. 

Planning a Health Fair

MSL published a manual called "Planning a Health Fair: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know and More" in September 2007, using funds from the federal Library Services and Technology Act. This manual contains great information for topics, logistics, and activities needed to run a successful health fair. 

Access the Health Fair Manual PDF for more details.

Montana SMP Mobile Kiosk - August 2018

Montana SMP, a program of Missoula Aging Services and partnered across the state with Area Agencies on Aging, is partnering with the Montana State Library to distribute a mobile kiosk display on Medicare Fraud prevention starting in August 2018. Statewide partners will distribute the kiosk to libraries around Montana, and will coordinate the rotation of the kiosk to other libraries in their area every few weeks or so. For more information, please visit the Montana SMP Mobile Kiosk webpage. 

Health Literacy Month 2018

October is Health Literacy Month and is "a time for organizations and individuals to promote the importance of understandable health information." This event was started by Helen Osborne in 1999. Visit the Health Literacy Month website for more information.

In honor of Health Literacy Month, the Montana State Library created a toolkit with resources and information that libraries can customize and use to promote health literacy and health-programming in their own libraries during the month of October, as well as year-round.

Visit the Montana HLM Toolkit to view the PDF and links to all materials. 

Open Enrollment 2019

Open Enrollment for 2019 is from November 1st, 2018 - December 15th, 2018. PLA, Cover MT, and a few other organizations have put together resources for libraries to use in outreach efforts to get more people enrolled in health insurance plans for 2019. These resources, plus a few other ideas, have been compiled into an Open Enrollment 2019 Toolkit. For more information and to access the toolkit, open the Open Enrollment 2019 Toolkit PDF.

To visit the websites of the organizations working to support health care enrollment in MT, please click the links below:

• Cover MT
• PLA: Connecting You to Coverage
• Healthcare.gov

Additionally, here is an Affordable Care Act/Open Enrollment Guide from 2015 that has more resources regarding health care, health insurance, and library services.

• Community Engagement: Affordable Care Act Resources 2015

Opioid Resources

The CDC has released information and resources that libraries can use for opioid awareness, outreach, and education

• Opioid Resources from the CDC

Other Resources

• Promoting Individual and Community Health at the Library, by Mary Grace Flaherty - This eBook is now available through the Montana State Library collection, and discusses how "public libraries can play an important role in supporting library users in their health information seeking efforts."