Dykes Library has been awarded a 1-year license for software called Health Literacy Advisor from Health Literacy Innovations, Inc. The MidContinental Region of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine awarded licenses to regional libraries. Described on the HLA website "[a]s a health literacy checker, the HLA streamlines the review and simplification process by allowing users to assess the health of their documents and then fix it using plain language principles."
Documents can be reviewed for readability level and the results stamped in the footer. The software will scan the document and highlight words that compromise the readability. It will then make recommendations for improvement.
The Health Literacy Advisor program will run for 1 year from the end of April 2012 through the end of April 2013. This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, under Contract No. HHS-N-276-2011-00006-C with the University of Utah Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library.
For more information about how to access the software, contact Amy Ritterskamp at Dykes Library at 588-7168 or aritterskamp@kumc.edu
