Digital Health Literacy Resource Development Plan

The Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) is partnering with the All of Us Research Program (All of Us) to provide resources for NNLM members to support their communities as they access and use health information online and participate in medical research studies, particularly All of Us. A key component of this partnership is the goal of reaching people who are on the other side of the digital divide. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the widening digital divide. According to the Pew Research Center, “roughly half of U.S. adults (53%) say the internet has been essential for them personally during the pandemic.”

To support the objectives of the partnership and address the digital divide, NNLM will work with Wisconsin Health Literacy (WHL) to develop several materials and activities on digital health literacy that NNLM members can use to engage with their communities both in person and online. Specifically, this project will support the development of five program gudies for libraries, a digital health literacy video series, and subject matter experts for a virtual programming series.

The All of Us NIH national partner Community & Provider Gateway Initiative (CPGI) management will partner with NNLM to co-create the project deliverables, ensuring that they are developed utilizing best practices for engagement with key populations, including imagery, wording, and other design elements. CPGI partner organizations who work directly with populations underrepresented in biomedical research (UBR) will be recruited by CPGI to participate in several creation planning meetings facilitated by WHL and to provide feedback on the deliverables. The final deliverables will be available for use by the NNLM Community Engagement Network (CEN), All of Us Community Engagement Partners, and the entire NNLM.