Service Response Discussion: Consumer Information
This post is part of a series designed to further discussion of the PLA Results service responses, designed in 1998 to describe “what a library does for, or offers to, the public in an effort to meet a set of well-defined community needs.”
The bulleted comments below were gathered in conference sessions by the PLA Results team, in an effort to update the current service responses, which were originally written almost ten years ago. The PLA Results group is looking to the community for feedback on how to update these service responses to better reflect current public library methods and standards.
“A library that provides Consumer Information service helps to satisfy the need for information that impacts the ability of community residents to make informed consumer decisions and to help them become more self-sufficient.” (definition care of the PLA Results site). The current version of the Consumer Information service response, is available for review on the PLA Results web site (the file is an Adobe .pdf file, and requires Adobe Reader to view).
Share your feedback on the current Consumer Information service response, as well as the starter comments listed below, by leaving a comment on this post page. You can help PLA Results bring public library service responses into the 21st century!
Consumer Information Discussion Group Comments
Should this be dropped from the list?
- This was selected by almost no library and should be deleted.
- This is just a part of General Information.
- We should let this one go.
Go back to the Service Response Discussion Index.
There are 4 Comments to "Service Response Discussion: Consumer Information"
I think that services that focus on consumer health are important and will be even more important in the future as the population of mid-life adults increases significantly. We are considering developing a statewide initiative regarding consumer health and possibly tying it to focused services for baby boomers. I am wondering if other folks are thinking about consumer health as a key service response.
Ditto the importance of the public library in provision of consumer health information. Could be very successful in collaboration with local health care provider institutions or offices.
I think there needs to be a consistently applied rationale for identifying subsets of General Information, Lifelong Learning, or wherever else they might fit. Just as I don’t think Government Information Stands alone, I don’t see how Consumer Information or Consumer Health could unless PLA methodically thinks through and evaluates all other potential subsets.
Consumer information is one of the greatest reasons we see patrons visit our library. They are researching health issues or the major purchases such as cars and houses.