Avoiding a Public Health Hunger Games: THE ROLE FOR LIBRARIES

摘要

We all read the headlines and heard the horror stories, such as "Pursuit of Vaccine Devolves Into 'Hunger Games' for Pa. Seniors" from PennLive. "How do I get an appointment?" might have been the first thought that came to mind, but many librarians also wondered, "Shouldn't libraries be involved in this effort?" In the U.S., the vaccine rollout and appointment systems were part of a complex bureaucratic maze-which, in many cases, served only the most patient, persistent, and tech-savvy individuals. Much to our chagrin, the next headlines we started to see were variations on "12-Year-Old Helps Hundreds of Seniors Sign Up to Get COVID-19 Vaccine" from ABC7 News. It made me wonder why a tween had to step in and become familiar with website content, advanced searching skills, and tech tools-which are part and parcel of the librarian skill set-in order to fill a role that would come so naturally to libraries and librarians.