Consumer health materials convey medical information to the lay public to help them make informed health decisions. These materials are typically aimed at specific populations and ages, including children, young adults, adults, and seniors. Consumer health materials should be written or presented at a lower literacy level, using plain language concepts, to ensure lay users can understand them and use them to make informed decisions about their health. Topics in consumer health materials include information on specific diseases (e.g., symptoms, diagnosis, treatments, prognosis, and living with), other medical information, drugs and supplements, cookbooks, wellness and prevention, caregiving, advice books, and memoirs. To ensure everyone can understand the information, consumer health materials are available in a variety of languages and are tailored to specific cultures. They are also available in a variety of formats, such as for deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind, or low-vision patrons. Additional formats include print, audiovisual, and anatomical models. Materials typically include monographs, comics, graphic novels, and pamphlets.

The volume and depth of a library’s consumer health collection will vary based on library type and need. Many academic libraries will have a small collection or not buy content from this genre at all. Hospital libraries often have a substantial consumer health collection aimed at their patient populations, with language and format determined by their patient demographics. Any decision to purchase in this genre should be detailed in your collection development policy, including special considerations for your specific patron population. A weeding schedule for consumer health materials should also be outlined in the library’s collection development policy. In general, consumer health material should be weeded after five years (for health information that changes) and even sooner — every three years for treatment information and most cancer consumer health information. Recently, however, less reliable content has been published on certain topics (e.g., cancer and diabetes), making decisions about weeding difficult. In some cases, it may be beneficial to have slightly older print titles on a topic supplemented with updated online content, rather than none at all.

Those selecting consumer health materials may find book reviews in publications such as Publishers Weekly and Library Journal helpful. Librarians are also publishing lists of consumer health resources in emerging areas of need, such as Emily Vardell’s collection of health insurance literacy resources (2024), which addresses patient engagement with increasingly complex healthcare systems and insurance providers. Additionally, healthcare providers and patient advocates may have useful suggestions, and groups such as the Medical Library Association’s Consumer and Patient Health Information Services Caucus (CAPHIS) may be able to recommend titles for certain topics.

There is also an increasing movement towards programming and service models to engage patrons of all types (e.g., patients, caregivers, providers, learners) with consumer health information sources from their health libraries. Examples of programs include the Network of the National Library of Medicine’s (NNLM) Reading Club and book clubs sponsored and facilitated by local consumer health libraries (Ladd et al, 2024). Innovative service models to connect patrons with library materials include utilizing Little Free Libraries to move collections closer to patrons-in-need (Grabbel and Wilson, 2024) and partnering with local community health organisations in isolated and rural locations to bring consumer health resources at the point of need (McKay & Bjartmarsdottir, 2025). When setting up a new service model, creating distinct collection development and management policies may be needed, along with a long-term budget line and careful discussion of the implications for staff time and workflows.

Communities

• Medical Library Association’s (MLA) Consumer and Patient Health Information Services Caucus. You must be a member of MLA to join this caucus.
• Goodreads Consumer and Patient Health Information Group

Online Courses for Professional Development

• Network of the National Library of Medicine’s Consumer Health Collection Management course.
• Medical Library Association’s (MLA) Consumer Health Information Specialization. Additional fees may apply.

Data Sets

Reviewed by Nina Exner, PhD, MLS, Research Data Librarian, Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries

Collecting data sets is a complicated endeavor. Often they have very narrow use terms, are restricted to one research team, and cannot be shared broadly. It is important to read license terms carefully and pay attention to the use, access, sharing, and exporting allowances.

They can also be extremely expensive – upwards of tens of thousands of dollars for one data set. Additionally, dataset vendors may either provide data only through their own platform with a maintenance charge, or else provide the data as files only without hosting or search. Therefore, you need to consider who will store the data, and how it will be stored, discovered, and served out. File formats also matter. If it is not a spreadsheet/CSV file, is special software needed to read and analyze it, and does your institution have access to that? This is especially an issue with “big data” dataset licenses.

Your library may be asked to host data sets generated by institutional researchers. The NIH data sharing policy may also impact what is requested of libraries. Oftentimes, subject data repositories like Dryad or generalist ones like Open Science Framework are a more appropriate location but they may have fees for membership or deposition.

Graphic Medicine

Reviewed by Matthew N. Noe, MSLS, Lead Collection and Knowledge Management Librarian, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine – Harvard Medical School

Graphic medicine refers to the “intersection between the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare,” and is an emergent, transdisciplinary field of study, genre of comics, and community of practice (Czerwiec et al, 2015; Noe, 2024). Graphic medicine collections include comics, graphic novels, and zines that have a health care theme. They are often used to support education and clinical practice in health humanities, health communication, and health sciences programs across all educational levels.

The Graphic Medicine International Collective (GMIC)-run Graphic Medicine website is the best English-language source for information on the topic. The website features regular comics reviews, spotlights on new and up-and-coming projects, information about the annual Graphic Medicine conference, and additional resources. Since 2022, GMIC has issued annual awards honoring outstanding health-related comics projects. The published short-lists and winners are a valuable collection development resource. An annotated bibliography by Alice Jaggers and Matthew Noe lists core essential resources that can help a library get started with collecting in this area. Additionally, from 2016-2023, JAMA issued an annual “Best of Graphic Medicine” list. Selectors in graphic medicine may consider exploring collection resources oriented to public libraries — such as Booklist or Publishers Weekly — as comics are not commonly found in traditional health sciences selection tools.

Region 7 of the Network of the National Library of Medicine has a guide to Graphic Medicine that showcases a range of programming and collection development resources. Those interested in developing collections that include non-English languages might consider connecting with Medicina Gráfica for Spanish, Japan Graphic Medicine Association for Japanese, and Graphic Medicine Italia Cultural Association for Italian. Additional associations are underway across the globe, and those curious for more information about them are encouraged to contact GMIC for connections.

Communities

Graphic medicine is one topic of interest among others for the following communities.

• American Library Association’s (ALA) Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table (GNCRT). You must be a member of ALA to join this Round Table butr many of their resources are freely accessible.
• Medical Library Association’s (MLA) Health Humanities Caucus. You must be a member of MLA to join this caucus.
• Comic Studies Society’s (CSS) Research Librarians Cohort (RLC). You must be a member of CSS to join this Cohort, but many of their resources are freely accessible.
• Health Humanities Consortium (HHC). You must be a member of HCC to join committees, but many of their resources, including a listserv, are freely accessible.

References and Selected Further Reading

Chan, J., Berg, M. H., Bullers, K., & Lue, T. Y. (2025). Graphic medicine in academic health science library collections. Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 113(3), 233.

Czerwiec, M.K., Williams, I., Squier, S., Green, M., Myers, K., & Smith, S. (2015). Graphic medicine manifesto. Penn State University Press.

Noe, M. N. (2023). “Keeping Up to Date with Emerging Topics in Collections.” In Inman, M. & Rose, M. (Eds). Building health sciences library collections: A handbook. Rowman & Littlefield.

King, J. D., & Bobal, A. M. (2024). A Building Block of Empathy: Establishing a Graphic Medicine Collection in an Academic Health Sciences Library. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 43(2), 95–105.

Maatman, T., Green, M., & Noe, M. N. (2022). Graphic medicine in graduate medical education. J Grad Med Educ, 14 (1): 113–114.

Noe, M. N. (2024). “Collection Development for Health Humanities.” In Cantwell-Jurkovic, L. (Ed). Intersections in healing: Academic libraries and the health humanities. Rowman & Littlefield.

Health Humanities

Reviewed by Matthew N. Noe, MSLS, Lead Collection and Knowledge Management Librarian, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine – Harvard Medical School

Health humanities, also referred to as medical humanities, is a:

“broad, transdisciplinary field that … explores the human condition and its intersection with health, illness, and healing through the lens of the humanities and its methodologies as a means of interrogating the history and culture of medicine; exploring embodiment, selfhood, and sociality; and preparing aspiring professionals in health-related fields to be discerning participants in the healthcare arena and astute, caring advocates for those they serve.” (Health Humanities Consortium, 2026)

To get started collecting in the health humanities, it is recommended that you set a realistic scope for your collection, be judicious about the number of new-to-your-library subjects you collect, and tie the collection’s scope to existing programs (Noe, 2024). Health humanities titles, in particular, can be integrated into diverse library or classroom programming, such as author talks, book clubs, exhibits, zine-making classes, short-film creation, print-making, music performances, and other reflective art practices.

The transdisciplinary nature of health humanities means collecting materials beyond the traditional call number ranges and genres of many health sciences libraries. Genres that comprise a health humanities collection vary, but common ones include popular fiction, memoir, history, and biographies. (See also the consumer health, history of medicine, and graphic medicine sections of this chapter.) Formats can also be more diverse, including not only print books and ebooks, but also comics, graphic novels, audiobooks, films, podcasts, and streaming media. Each of these formats should be considered alongside the space, staffing, and budgetary affordances within your library. Additionally, you may need to purchase through businesses and even individual artists that you have not worked with previously. This can mean introducing new acquisition, book preparation, cataloging, and shelving workflows.

Finding health humanities materials can be time-consuming. MedHum.org’s art, film, book, and poetry reviews in the medical humanities are a good place to start. Doody’s Review Service, which requires a subscription (though its core title lists can also be accessed through other subscription services, such as GOBI), includes a list of titles under its Health Humanities specialty. You may also be able to find reviews of health humanities titles in Library Journal, Booklist Online, and Kirkus Reviews. It can also be beneficial to keep up-to-date on some of the field’s key journals, including, Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, Medical Humanities, Journal of Medical Humanities, and Literature and Medicine.

Communities

Health Humanities is a topic of interest for the following communities:

• Medical Library Association’s (MLA) Health Humanities Caucus. You must be a member of MLA to join this caucus.
• American Society of Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) Health Humanities-Related Affinity Groups. You must be a member of ASBH to join an affinity group.
• The Health Humanities Consortium (HHC). You must be a member of HCC to join committees, but many of their resources, including a listserv, are freely accessible.

References and Selected Further Reading

Cantwell-Jurkovic, L. P. (Ed.). (2024). Intersections in Healing: Academic Libraries and the Health Humanities. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.

Noe, Matthew N. (2024).  “Collection Development for Health Humanities.”In Cantwell-Jurkovic, L. P. (Ed). Intersections in Healing: Academic Libraries and the Health Humanities.

Mi, M., Wu, L., Zhang, Y., & Wu, W. (2022). Integration of arts and humanities in medicine to develop well-rounded physicians: the roles of health sciences librarians. Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 110(2), 247.

History Of Medicine

A history of medicine collection broadly encompasses written works, ephemera, audiovisual materials, photographs, and objects on the topic of medicine that also have historical value. Libraries will often have a separate collections policy for these materials – e.g., gift policies, access procedures, preservation, and finding aids – because of their unique needs. Often these collections are stewarded by archivists/curators or non-health sciences special collections librarians.

Sample collections include:

• Harvard’s Center for the History of Medicine
• Osler Library of the History of Medicine

Communities

• Medical Library Association’s (MLA) History of the Health Sciences Caucus. You must be a member of MLA to join this caucus.
• Rare Books and Manuscripts section of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). You must be a member of ACRL to join this section.
• Society of American Archivists (SAA). You must be an SAA member to network with their sections, which includes a Collection Management section.

Leisure/Popular Browsing

Increasingly, health sciences libraries are providing popular materials that many consider the purview of public libraries such as fiction and biographies. This may be especially important if your community does not have a readily available public library or if you want a collection onsite for patients who cannot leave the hospital. When creating a leisure/popular browsing collection, you will want to consider the size of the collection, annual expenditure, room for growth, genres collected, and an area for display.

Makerspace Technology

Makerspaces in health sciences libraries can utilize either the collections budget or the operations budget. Oftentimes, they fall under the operations budget but collections budgets can be used for equipment and materials purchases. Some makerspace technologies include: 3D printers and scanners, laser and electronic cutting machines, sewing machines, soldering kits, and programming kits such as Raspberry Pis. Virtual Reality equipment and other digital tools may also be part of or adjacent to Makerspaces. Print magazines and trade publications on projects or topics related to makerspaces may be collected in addition to the tools themselves. Makerspaces associated with health sciences libraries or programs may also include scientific or medical equipment such as microscopes, stethoscopes, or neurological reflex hammers.

Non-Traditional Online Resources

Resources beyond materials like monographs, serials, and indexing and abstracting databases may have unique licensing, access, and patron authentication requirements that differ substantially from traditional library resources. In particular, many do not offer a single sign-on (SSO) option but instead utilize token-based authentication where a single administrator adds patrons based on email address. It is essential that you ensure that the license explicitly discusses Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) compliance and that it is clear how user data is stored and kept private.

Some of the broad categories that non-traditional online resources may fall under include:

• Case-based modules (e.g., Aquifer)
• Citation management tools (e.g., Endnote, Mendeley, Zotero)
• Curricular mapping software/learning management systems (e.g., Firecracker)
• Direct-to-consumer textbook platforms (e.g., VitalSource)
• Electronic platforms with ebooks, quizzes, slides, cases, and exercises. (e.g., Evolve), Osmosis
• Evidence synthesis resources (e.g., Covidence, DistillerSR)
• Workflow products (e.g., OVID Synthesis)
• Question banks (e.g., BoardVitals, Boards&Beyond, USMLEasy, UWorld)

Veterinary Medicine

Reviewed by Andrea C. Kepsel, MLIS, AHIP Veterinary Medicine Librarian, Michigan State University Libraries

Veterinary medicine libraries often rely on a mix of human and animal-focused texts for their students. Programs can have any combination of veterinary nursing, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), PhD, and Master of Science (MS) degrees, and each requires specialized resources. The collections librarian may opt to purchase a title in both print and electronic formats since print copies can be loaned out through interlibrary loan (ILL) to practicing veterinarians, and the electronic format is often requested by educational programs. Many times a veterinary medicine library may be the only library that has specialized books that can be loaned to unaffiliated practitioners in the state or region, so having print copies can help support the profession in their area. Libraries affiliated with a veterinary medicine teaching hospital may also wish to collect select pet health care titles for clients who are visiting during treatment of their animals.

Online subscription databases (e.g., the British Small Animal Veterinary Association Library) and streaming media platforms (e.g., Veterinary Education in Video) are increasingly popular. There are also several subscription point-of-care and diagnostic tools available to libraries, such as Plumb’s Veterinary Drugs and Vetstream.

Communities

• Medical Library Association’s (MLA) Animal and Veterinary Information Specialist Caucus. You must be a member of MLA to join this caucus.