Amy Merck

The role of public libraries in public health is large and expanding: from helping community members sign up for Affordable Healthcare Act insurance to hosting educational programming on physical, mental, and behavioral health issues to becoming a second home to public health nurses who can help more directly. In recent years, they have also served an additional public health role: as a cooling or warming center when their regions are struck with extreme and dangerous temperatures, something that’s happening more and more often as climate warming’s impacts accelerate.