Public Library Responses to a Consumer Health Inquiry in a Public Health Crisis: The SARS Experience in Ontario

This article addresses the extent to which public libraries in Ontario were able to respond to inquiries for health information during a major public health crisis. The 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Toronto, Ontario, represented a challenge to those charged with providing accurate and timely information to the public. At the onset of the outbreak, the disease was not well understood and information about SARS was sketchy. As the outbreak progressed, information was in flux as more became known about the nature of the disease, methods of transmission, and treatment protocols. Against this background, sixty-nine randomly selected libraries in Ontario were queried by phone and by e-reference service (if it was offered by the library) for information about SARS, its symptoms, and prevention methods. The responses of the libraries were analyzed for the quality of the reference service and types of referrals, particularly Internet sources given the growing popularity of e-health initiatives. The results raise serious questions about the appropriate role of public libraries in the delivery of consumer health information and the preparedness of public library staff to respond to health-related inquiries, particularly in times of crisis. On March 26, 2003, the provincial government f Ontario, Canada, declared a health emergency due to the rapid spread of a new and dangerous infection, dubbed Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). In the second week of March, this highly contagious infection of unknown origin, but likely some form of corona virus, entered the Toronto area with Canadians returning to the country from Southeast Asia. The affected individuals are said to have infected a number of health-care workers at a major Toronto hospital as well as other patients and likely some visitors. Within a number of days, a major quarantine effort was underway, and by March 27, all hospitals in Toronto had banned visitors and restricted emergency services as well as the movement of patients within and between hospitals. Hundreds of health workers were sent home for ten-day quarantine periods (the presumed length of the incubation period for symptoms to emerge). On March 26, a school near the hospital where the initial outbreak occurred was closed and parents were advised to keep their children in quarantine. As this frightening situation unfolded, members of the public were concerned about their safety, and Toronto became the focus of a controversy that found the World Health Organization (WHO) and local political leaders embroiled in a heated debate, broadcast by the international media, as to whether the outbreak was contained and whether it was safe to visit the city. Even when the emergency passed and the outbreak was contained, the fallout of the intense media coverage of the event resulted in the city being shunned by many potential visitors for several months with the result that its economy and that of the entire province of Ontario suffered, with thousands of jobs lost in the service and tourism sectors (for example, many of the U.S. visitors who had been expected for the American Library Association's June 2003 Annual Conference chose not to attend because it was held in Toronto). WHO officially removed Toronto from its list of areas with recent local transmission of SARS on July 2, 2003. (1) The SARS crisis in Ontario posed a massive challenge to those charged with providing accurate, timely information about the situation to members of the public. Public health agencies were overwhelmed with inquiries as citizens wondered what to do to protect themselves and their family members from contracting the disease. The present study was undertaken to examine the extent to which public libraries in the province were able to respond with timely, accurate, usable, and relevant information in the early stages of the crisis and to explore how telephone and e-mail inquiries about SARS were handled by frontline and reference staff. …

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