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Dragonfly, Summer 2001 Nine Ways You Can Really Help the Public

Nancy Press
Consumer Health Coordinator

Public libraries and health libraries are inundated these days with health questions from the public. Librarians quite rightly worry about providing good information, especially when they don't know much about medicine. How can librarians SAFELY help the public find the information needed?

We posed that question to our Regional Medical Library's Consumer Health Information Advisory Group, which consists of clinicians, health librarians, health educators, a medical ethicist, a health journalist, a medical student, and others concerned with providing good health information. The Advisory Group collaboratively came up with the following, which is also up on the web at http://nnlm.gov/pnr/hip/waystohelp.html

1. Upgrade YOUR skills by using the free, online tutorial, HealthInfoQuest, at (http://nnlm.gov/healthinfoquest/). Excellent help in providing consumer health services is available at the Medical Library Association's Consumer and Patient Health Information Section. (http://caphis.mlanet.org/consumer/)
   
   
2. Add good health sites to the bookmarks or favorites files of the Web browsers on public computers in your library. Encourage managers of public Internet computers in your community to do the same. Two of the best starting places are:
   • The National Library of Medicine's Medlineplus. (http://www.medlineplus.gov/)
   • For Spanish speaking consumers, New York Online Access to Health. (http://www.noah-health.org/spanish/spqksearch.html)
     
     
3. Find out about state health department and/or county health department referral or educational services in your community.
   
   
4. Provide classes for members of the community; offer a brief tutorial on how to search the web for credible health information.
   
   
5. Collect good books in your library in the first place! If you need help in selecting, see Choosing Health Books as a Consumer by Lea K. Starr (http://caphis.mlanet.org/resources/bookselect.html)
   
6. • For selective core lists see:
     • Consumer Health Bibliography for the Small Public Library by Gail Hendler. (http://caphis.mlanet.org/resources/ConsHealthBib.html)
     • Recommended Books for a Consumer Health Reference Collection from Connecticut Consumer Health Information Network, University of Connecticut Health Center. (http://library.uchc.edu/departm/hnet/corelist.html)
       
       
7. When you deliver information, you can:
   • Give guidelines for checking the authority of the source.
   • Give guidelines for checking the methodology of the work.
   • Give guidelines for checking the credentials of the author/s.
   • Read the information aloud or rephrase the information, if the information is too difficult for the consumer to read.
   • Represent various approaches to the same health issue.
   • Not analyze the contents. Not interpret the contents.
   • Not advocate for one course of action or another.
   
   
8. Find an organization that will provide free information on the topic of interest, such as the African American Breast Cancer Alliance or the Lowe Syndrome Association. To do this, check DIRLINE (http://dirline.nlm.nih.gov/), the National Library of Medicine's database of 10,000 organizations, research resources, projects, and databases concerned with health and biomedicine. Each record may contain information on the publications, holdings, and services provided. Check the web to see if there is a local chapter of these great organizations.
   
   
9. Always encourage consumers to consult with their health care providers, even if they find lots of good information! Many people do not have a primary health provider. To help them, link to lists of currently licensed, certified, or registered health care professionals. Ask your health department about low-cost health care services, often staffed by volunteers. People with pain, illness, or no insurance can be desperate for help.
   
   
10. If your patron is in a critical situation, you can step outside your role and speak as an informed citizen. For example, "Speaking now, not as a librarian, nor as a health care provider, but as a concerned citizen, I think you should go to an emergency room.

" Note: This list was developed in consultation with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Northwest Region's Consumer Health Information Advisory Group. For a list of Advisory Group members (http://nnlm.gov/pnr/hip/advisors.html). Major contributors were Judith Bendersky, Cezanne Garcia, Warren King, Jane Saxton, Michele Spatz, Patty Owen, Tom McCormick, Juli Gregory, and Margo Harris.

Dragonfly, Summer, 2001 -- Vol.32, Number 3
(posted on PNRNews 27, 2001)

URL: http://nnlm.gov/pnr/news/200107/nineways.html