Understanding the Information Creation Practices of LGBTQIA+ Community Health Workers

Abstract

This paper reports on preliminary findings from an action research project partnering health sciences librarians with community health workers (CHWs) who are LGBTQIA+ to create information resources for the CHW’s community. Findings report on twelve virtual semistructured interviews with CHWs from South Carolina and eleven virtual brainstorming meetings between CHWs and health sciences librarians. The authors analyzed verbatim interview and meeting transcripts using a combination of deductive and inductive qualitative coding. Findings demonstrate 1) external barriers constrain and motivate information creation; 2) the presence of preexisting information, knowledge, and resources within the CHWs’ communities; 3) that CHW‐librarian pairs brainstormed how to codify and iterate what already exists; 4) that librarians adopted a reference role when brainstorming and suggested resource ideas within and outside of the CHWs’ communities. Implications include strategies that researchers and practitioners can adopt to leverage existing experiential and embodied knowledge within LGBTQIA+ communities.

“What is a wave but 1000 drops working together?”: The role of public libraries in addressing LGBTQIA+ health information disparities

“…Findings raise significant considerations for establishing partnerships between public libraries and LGBTQIA+ communities for health promotion. Regarding barriers faced, findings reinforce prior research establishing ties between libraries and broader anti-LGBTQIA+ social ideologies, even within libraries that support LGBTQIA+ communities (Wexelbaum, 2016; Kitzie et al , 2022). As participants highlighted, institutional forces, such as government and legislature, politicize LGBTQIA+ identities, and such politicization manifests in backlash to LGBTQIA+ library initiatives (Jaeger et al , 2022; Ellis, 2022).…”