title: Integrating information literacy into the education of public health professionals: roles for librarians and the library.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The paper reviews the core competencies for public health professionals presented in the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) report, Who Will Keep the Public Healthy: Educating Public Health Professionals for the 21st Century; describes improving information literacy (IL) as a mechanism for integrating the core competencies in public health education; and showcases IL as an opportunity for solidifying partnerships between academic librarians and public health educators.
  
  
  METHODS
  The IOM competencies, along with explicit examples of library support from a literature review of current IL trends in the health sciences, are analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Librarians can play a fundamental role in implementing the IOM's core competencies in shaping public health education for the twenty-first century. A partnership between public health educators and librarians through a transdisciplinary approach is recommended.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  IL skills and competencies integrated into public health curricula through a collaborative partnership between public health educators and librarians can help integrate the IOM's core competencies and improve public health education.
authors.affiliation: Hunter College, Hunter College Health Professions Library, 425 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, USA. lcobus@hunter.cuny.edu
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cobus
mesh_terms: D003162:Competency-Based Education / Q000458:organization & administration; D040381:Education, Public Health Professional / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D016245:Librarians; D007993:Libraries, Medical; D015969:National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, U.S., Health and Medicine Division; D024382:Professional Role; D040442:Public Health Informatics / Q000193:education*; D014481:United States