Guidance for Implementing Opioid Overdose Prevention Measures in Public Libraries and sample policies and procedures templates are available on the State Library website.
To help combat the continuing rise in opioid related deaths in New York State, State laws were amended in 2016 to allow New York State’s public libraries to administer opioid antagonists (naloxone) in library facilities by partnering with a New York State Department of Health Registered Opioid Overdose Prevention Program.
As part of a coordinated statewide effort, the New York State Library, the State Education Department, the State Department of Health, the New York Library Association, the Public Library System Directors Organization (PULISDO), and the Harm Reduction Coalition collaborated to create the guide to help all New York State libraries implement their own opioid overdose prevention programs.
If you have any questions about this project, contact your public library system director or Frank Rees, Library Development Specialist, Division of Library Development, New York State Library at francis.rees@nysed.gov or 518.474.1565.