As we celebrate National Medical Librarians Month and Health Literacy Month this October, we want to highlight how the Ruth Lilly Medical Library supports the IU School of Medicine's 2030 Strategic Plan to "improve health and wellness for the people of Indiana and beyond."

Health literacy is the ability to understand and act on health information, and it directly impacts healthcare access and outcomes. Through undergraduate medical education, we teach future physicians' essential evidence-based medicine (EBM) skills: framing clinical questions, seeking the best research, and critically appraising evidence. These competencies enable physicians to guide patients through complex information and empower informed decision-making, strengthening health literacy at both individual and organizational levels.

Medical librarians extend this impact beyond the classroom. The RLML staff act as critical connectors between innovative care and the communities we serve, ensuring the latest evidence-based resources are accessible to patients, clinicians, and educators alike. We support the school's community partnerships by providing culturally sensitive resources, curating plain language materials, and facilitating outreach events like the Addict’s Wake Screening we hosted with the Indianapolis Public Library.

In today's complex digital environment, where misinformation spreads rapidly, the role of medical librarians and physicians in supporting health literacy is more critical than ever. The RLML is proud to help address misinformation along with other IU initiatives, departments and centers, such as the Observatory on Social Media, which creates tools to detect and visualize the spread of misinformation.

Check out the RLML's guide to freely available health information for access to high-quality resources for patients and caregivers and if you’re looking for more information about how to fact-check news stories see the infographic below.