Disasters, natural or manmade, disrupt society and can expose people to public health emergencies. In preparation for impending natural disasters, national agencies, such as the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will situate supplies (emergency food and rations) close enough to locations facing potential impacts but farenough away not to be compromised in a disaster area. However, these are emergency supplies and are not designed to meet long-term needs or the needs of specific individuals. Private businesses within the disaster zone can also experience supply chain disruptions and thus also need to prepare in advance. This book chapter reviews the topic of disasters and their impact on supply chains, then presents a lesson using GIS to anticipate and address a supply chain disruption, using a Florida hurricane as a case study.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITYThrough a scenario of pre-natural disaster (hurricane) and using the information given related to distribution centers and retail stores, students will use GIS software to identify the distribution centers best fit to deliver the items needed in anticipation of a hurricane.LEARNING OUTCOMESBy the end of this lesson, students will be able to• recognize the importance of supply chain within retail contexts;• articulate the connection between supply chains and natural disaster preparedness;• utilize GIS tools to solve potential problems in real scenarios; and• propose optimal routes for distributing critical items using GIS tools within imminent natural disaster scenarios.This activity is part of Spatial Literacy in Public Health: Faculty-Librarian Teaching Collaborations (ACRL, 2024).

Informed decision-making about spatial data selection and reliability is a fundamental part of spatial literacy. The proliferation of spatial data on the internet and the large quantity of user-generated data increases thechances of integrating unreliable data into research. This chapter focuses on evaluating spatial data using the Currency, Reliability, Authority, and Purpose (CRAAP) test with additional focus on the importance of Margins of Error (MOE) in American Community Survey (ACS) data. Reviews have shown that the ACS MOE is often overlooked during research or unreported in academic papers, resulting in misleading or invalid results that significantly impact policy and planning.The goals of the decision-making process in selecting existing data include: finding information that is most relevant to the research question; gaining a comprehensive understanding of available data and what it represents; comparing similar datasets; planning strategies for processing, integrating, and using data that are not a perfect match for project needs; and, ultimately, determining if a meaningful conclusion can be adequately derived from it.The CRAAP Test is a flexible and general framework for evaluating information resources in many disciplines and venues. To focus on specific concepts relevant to data capture in GIS using the CRAAP Test, we expand the basic concepts of the test and examine how they can be used to evaluate data sources in GIS.This activity is associated with a chapter in Spatial Literacy in Public Health: Faculty-Librarian Teaching Collaborations (ACRL, 2024).

Environmental health (EH) is the study of physical, chemical, and biological factors in the environment that affect human health. EH data include environmental exposures, health outcomes, and socioeconomic status (SES), which are often place-based or have geographic correlations. This chapter aims to develop students’ spatial literacy skills to address two EH themes—environmental disparities and exposure-health associations—with open online mapping tools. Environmental disparity studies address the disproportionate exposures among populations of low SES and of color. Students will learn to use EJScreen to display maps of emission clusters, pollution levels, and SES, and interpret their relationships. Environmental exposures are associated with multiple adverse health outcomes—e.g., respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Students will explore the associations by comparing spatial patterns of exposure and disease generated with EJScreen and PLACES, respectively. Students will gain an impression of EH topics and online geospatial tools with class activities and examples.This activity is associated with a chapter in Spatial Literacy in Public Health: Faculty-Librarian Teaching Collaborations (ACRL, 2024).

To visualize entities that could potentially address the unmet needs of at-risk and disadvantaged community members, a series of activities and exercises geared to participants with little programming or GIS experience were developed using geographic and population information. The learning activities and exercises progress from navigating an existing map to creating a map and uploading to harnessing freely available resources like US Census Bureau data to produce visualizations that link geographic and demographic information. Participants will apply these tools and resources to a specific public health question in a specific region and produce a data-driven report on the answers.By the end of this lesson, students will have combined geographic and demographic data related to public health resources. By processing and uploading data to the map, you have created a custom display where geographic information can be related to other data elements (e.g., population, etc.). This basic workflow is analogous to that used by GIS professionals using sophisticated tools. However, in this activity, we were able to approximate this capability using freely available and relatively user-friendly resources.

Tips and Advice on using ChatGPT effectively and ethically (English & Spanish)

Thinking Outside the Box is an in-class research exercise designed to facilitate students' evaluation of information found in subscription databases and obtained through generative artificial intelligence tools by providing a series of questions for them to answer. For this exercise, the applicable frames from the Framework for Information Literacy include: "authority is constructed and contextual," "information creation as process," and "searching as strategic exploration."

This resource consists of three prompts for students to reflect on their research process at the beginning, the midpoint, and the end of a research assignment. The reflection responses can be used by librarians and instructors to identify where students are struggling in the research process and use that information to improve their teaching. 

This lesson plan introduces students to lateral reading techniques using the SIFT method. Designed and implemented for a political science introduction to international relations course, this can easily be adapted to other media literacy contexts. Students will practice lateral reading with sample news articles. Worksheets, slides, and sample articles are linked in the lesson plan. Alternative news articles can be substituted.

ChatGPT is an generative artificial intelligence chatbot released in November 2022 by OpenAI. What are the opportunities in using this tool to teach library instruction? This document highlights various ways to engage with learners in critically analyzing ChatGPT (version GPT-3) and its responses through the ACRL Frame: Information Creation as a Process.