A Tribal Librarians Health Information Conference

1
A Tribal Librarians Health Information
Conference Jeanette L. Ryan, Patricia A.
Auflick, Gary A. Freiburger, The Arizona Health
Sciences Library, University of Arizona, Tucson
and Phoenix
BACKGROUND Arizona is home to 21 nationally
recognized tribes Tribal boundaries cross state
lines (CO, NM, UT) and international borders
(Mexico) Tribal lands constitute 27 of
Arizonas entire area Arizonas population is 5
Native American and resides either on tribal
lands or in urban centers Arizona Health
Sciences Library is the only Resource Library
in the state. We wanted to establish
relationships with tribes who were interested in
working with us on improving access to health
information The State Library had a list of
tribal librarians and those serving tribal
communities
THE CONFERENCE Held March 31-April 1, 2005 (1½
days) Goal Empower tribal librarians to provide
reliable health information to tribal members 16
participants representing tribally-owned
libraries, tribal college libraries, U.S. Indian
Health Service Phoenix Medical Center, and public
libraries serving tribal communities attended All
expenses were paid, except travel to
Tucson Topics covered
MEASURING THE IMPACT OF THE CONFERENCE
Knowing what source was likely to have the answer
IMPROVED
Self-perceived confidence in answering health
questions IMPROVED
Hands-on experience was a key component
Topics covered were still USEFUL 18 months after
the conference
Tribal librarians do answer health questions
regularly
Sessions included a blessing and social events
The conference portrait! Some participants had
left beforehand.
The questions they answer are typical Research
on diabetes in the Navajo Nation Breast
cancer-diet-overweight. several questions on
asthma, breast cancer, anxiety attacks. Traditiona
l ways that people lived that kept them from
getting diabetes Questions regarding sleep apnea
for sleep research group. Percentage of growth of
diabetes in our community Homeopathic or organic
(more natural medicines) for diabetes Whats a
cyst? What is treatment?
OTHER OBSERVATIONS The pre-test indicated that
most participants used Google to answer health
questions At the conference, participants were
enthusiastic about meeting and networking with
each other! 18 months after the conference, 44
of original attendees no longer worked in
libraries One library had closed (18 months after
the conference)

Many thanks to our partners, the Pacific
Southwest Region,NN/LM (UCLA Louise Darling
Biomedical Library) AND the Arizona State
Library, Archives and Public Records
Preconference version, April 15, 2007