Goldsmith, Francisca. Libraries and the Affordable Care Act: Helping the Community Understand Health-Care Options.

ALA Editions. 2015. c112p. ISBN 978-08389-1288-1. $24.00. E-book B00ORWJ076 (Kindle)

Since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in the United States, many public libraries have attempted to provide access to information about the law while educating communities about it. In this guide, the first of its kind written for library staff, Goldsmith (Consultant and Instructor at Infopeople; author of Graphic Novels Now and Crash Course in Weeding) provides best practices, advice, examples of libraries’ responses to the implementation of the new law, and more. Seeking to help libraries define the expectations and limitations for support roles as the new law is implemented, she offers an overview and context for the Affordable Care Act, basic information about health insurance and the health insurance exchanges, ways to know and assess community needs, functional library strategies and tools for building health awareness, discussions pertaining to ethical and legal matters, as well as considerations relating to health- and healthcare- related reference interviewing, programming, ongoing training, and advocacy. Including appendices of resources as well as end-of-chapter “to do lists,” this ambitious, short, general but not comprehensive, informative guide, while not a detailed how-to-manual setting forth how to implement health insurance, healthcare, and health awareness support programs and services in libraries, nevertheless may be of considerable interest to librarians and other staff members. As a basic, first “go-to,” reference resource, it is highly recommended for many public and other library book collections. Availability: Amazon.com, American Library Association, Barnes & Noble.com