Evidence Summary
A Review of:
Yesmin, S., Abdul Karim, M., & Atikuzzaman,
M. (2023). Community engagement of public libraries for ensuring tribal women’s
health literacy in Bangladesh. IFLA
Journal, 49(4), 678–693. https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352231198260
Reviewed by:
Lili Luo
Professor
School of Information
San Jose State University
San Jose, California, United
States of America
Email: lili.luo@sjsu.edu
Received: 18 Mar. 2024 Accepted: 19 June 2024
DOI: 10.18438/eblip30532
Objective – To investigate public libraries’ existing community
engagement practices, explore their willingness to provide health information
services to tribal communities in Bangladesh, and examine tribal women’s health
information-seeking behavior and interest in obtaining health information from
public libraries.
Design – A cross-sectional study using online interviews and
structured questionnaires.
Setting – Public libraries and tribal communities in tribal
regions of Bangladesh.
Subjects – Public librarians (n=11) and tribal women (n=276)
from three tribal districts in Bangladesh (Bandarban,
Khagrachari, and Mymensingh).
Methods – Interviews were conducted with librarians via Zoom
in January 2023. Survey questionnaires were distributed to a convenience sample
of 300 tribal women from February to March 2023. Data was analyzed in the
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), using univariate and
bi-variate measures.
Main Results – All of the
libraries provided print materials (books, newspapers, and periodicals) for
reading and lending and offered photocopying and Internet browsing services.
Other forms of resources such as microfiches and digital materials,
inter-library loan services, and facilities for people with disabilities were
not widely available. Most libraries (72.8%) did not provide any specific
program (e.g., health-related outreach program) for tribal community
engagement, although they all recognized the urgency and value of such
programs. Lack of funding and bureaucratic complexities were identified as the
top two barriers. Out of the 276 tribal women responding to the survey, close
to two-thirds of the respondents indicated they were either moderately or very
interested in receiving health information. The top three health topics the
respondents sought information on were vaccinations, symptoms of disease, and
nutrition. The primary health information sources for the respondents were
doctors at nearby community clinics or government hospitals, and none of the
respondents sought health information from public libraries. Most respondents
acknowledged the importance of being informed about health issues and found it
difficult to locate health information on the Internet. High costs and lack of
awareness regarding health issues represented the main challenges the
respondents encountered when seeking health information. Among the demographic
variables, respondents’ religion and age were negatively correlated with their
interest in health information, while their education status was positively
correlated with it.
Conclusion – Public libraries in tribal areas in Bangladesh
lacked health information services but recognized the importance of providing
them. Tribal women expressed interest in receiving health information,
encouraging public libraries to develop and implement related services and
programs. Public libraries may consider adding new job titles such as consumer
health librarians and partner with other stakeholders for better community
engagement. The government of Bangladesh should substantially invest in public
libraries as community hubs and minimize bureaucratic hurdles that prevent
public libraries from initiating new services. Professional library
organizations in Bangladesh may also draw ideas from the study in establishing
professional guidelines for health information services and community outreach
programs.
This study makes original contributions to the
much-needed growth of knowledge about providing health information services for
diverse populations. Examined under the CriSTaL
Checklist for Appraising a User Study (n.d.), this study is strong in the
following areas: 1) the authors clearly stated their research objectives; 2)
data collection instruments had face validity and data collection procedures
were thoughtful, as tribal students were employed to assist tribal women in
understanding and completing the survey; and 3) suggestions for public
libraries’ health information services and tribal community engagement efforts
were made objectively based on the data.
Although the authors explained the content of the
interview and the survey, they did not supply a copy of the instruments as an
appendix. Merely based on the reporting of the findings, there seemed to be
some misalignment between a stated objective and the data collection
instrument. The third objective indicated the study’s intent to examine “tribal
women’s interest in obtaining health information from public libraries,” and
yet the article did not include any discussion about surveying tribal women regarding
their current awareness and use of public libraries, and desired ways of
obtaining health information from public libraries. Thus, this objective was
not fully accomplished.
Readers of this article would have benefited more if
the authors had provided more details regarding their methodological
procedures. For example, how were the tribal women recruited? The unit of
analysis in the interview study should be libraries, not librarians, as the
study aimed to examine “existing community engagement practices of public
libraries” and libraries’ “readiness and willingness to provide health
information to disadvantaged communities”; thus it
would have been necessary to clearly explain whether the 11 librarians
represented 11 different public libraries and provide demographic details of
each library. In the correlational analyses between demographic variables and
tribal women’s interest in receiving health information services, there was no
mentioning of which specific statistic was employed for these analyses. The
findings indicated “the respondents’ religion” was “negatively correlated with
their interest in health-related information.” Yet, religion seemed to be a
nominal variable. Thus, it is difficult to comprehend how the correlational
analysis resulted in a negative value.
This study sheds light on how public libraries can
better provide health information services to meet the needs of tribal women in
Bangladesh. Library practitioners, policy makers, and other stakeholders ought
to work together to break down the bureaucratic and cost barriers that prevent
public libraries from initiating new services and programs. More outreach is
needed to raise awareness among tribal women and other disadvantaged
communities that public libraries can be a reliable and trustworthy source of
health information.
CriSTaL
checklist for appraising a user study. (n.d.).
Netting the Evidence. http://nettingtheevidence.pbwiki.com/f/use.doc
Yesmin, S., Abdul Karim, M., & Atikuzzaman,
M. (2023). Community engagement of public libraries for ensuring tribal women’s
health literacy in Bangladesh. IFLA
Journal, 49(4), 678–693. https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352231198260