Is it true?
Posted by: Barbara Bibel
We often have patrons come in to learn more about the latest medical or scientific breakthrough to hit the news. They hope that it means a cure for cancer, even though it only worked in two rats, or that there really is intelligent life somewhere out in space. How else would those UFOs get here? How can we help these people understand the scientific process on some level? How can we try to verify what was in those news stories? There are some Web sites that are very helpful for this. One is a site from the U.K. www.senseaboutscience.org. It explains how scientists work and the peer- review process that leads to publication. Another good site is The Scientist, which publishes daily news and has a blog at www.thescientist.com/blog. The staff there was quick to break the news about Elsevier publishing fake journals which presented favorable information about Merck products with no disclosure of company sponsorship and no indcation that they were not peer-reviewed. I am sure that many librarians and researchers were surprised to get this news! For health and medical information, Health News Review rates the stories appearing in the media at www.healthnewsreview.org. Although they announced today that they would no longer rate television news stories since they are consistently bad, they do cover the other media with ratings from one to five stars and an explanation of why the ratings are deserved. Informed Health Online www.informedhealthonline.org, a German site, provides evidenced-based information about diseases and treatment options, including alternative therapies. It is very helpful for patrons who need to make decisions about their health care. The Cochrane Library is a well-respected resource for evidence-based health information, too. It is also very expensive and beyond the budget of public and small libraries. There is, however, free access to abstracts and plain language summaries at www.thecochranelibrary.com. If a patron wants full text, pay per view is available. Last but not least, the National Library of Medicine’s MedlinePlus, http://medlineplus.gov, presents health news every day. These tools help us provide the best information for our patrons.
September 5th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
I just wanted to say thank you for this post! This is an example of why librarians are so essential – never in my searching for health information have I encountered any of these sites. For my own personal use, I am thrilled. For the potential to share with others, I feel confident. Excellent post.