When it comes to your health and taking care of your body, it’s important to have accurate information at hand to helpyou make decisions. While calling a doctor or nurse to get the information needed is one option, turning to the mil‐

lions of web‐based health resources available to consumers online might be more convenient. However, finding solidhealth information might not be as easy as it sounds: Sorting the good information from the bad information online can betricky, frustrating or even dangerous.How do you know what makes a source of information valid? A little thing librarians call “information literacy.”

According to information from the Medical Library Association (MLA), thereare a few important factors to consider with health information literacy: Sponsorship: If a website is backed by a well‐known medical group like theAmerican Cancer Society or American Dental Association, chances are the infothere is up to the rigid standards set by these organizations. The web address: Websites ending in .gov are owned by a governmentagency; those ending in .edu are owned by an educational institution; thoseending in .org belong to an organization; and web addresses with .com areowned by a commercial company. For the most part, .gov and .edu websitescan be relied on for relevant information, while those belonging to organiza‐tions or commercial groups might need a little more analyzing – it’s importantto look at sponsorship in these cases. Currency: It’s important to be aware of recent findings when it comes toyour health: The way some symptoms or ailments are monitored and treatedare always changing as new options become available. Good sources of infor‐mation are up to date, and the date of the most recent revision should beposted. Factual information: Make sure the information you’re looking at is basedon fact and not the opinion of just a few professionals.

Cancer.gov (http://www.cancer.gov/)is the official website for The NationalCancer Institute (NCI), a component ofthe National Institutes of Health (NIH). Centers for Disease Control and Pre‐vention (http://www.cdc.gov/), anagency of the Department of Healthand Human Services, is dedicated topromoting “health and quality of life bypreventing and controlling disease, in‐jury, and disability.” familydoctor.org (http://familydoctor.org/) is operated by the Ameri‐can Academy of Family Physicians(AAFP), a national medical organizationrepresenting more than 93,700 familyphysicians, family practice residentsand medical students. Healthfinder (http://www.healthfinder.gov/) is a gateway consumerhealth information website whose goalis “to improve consumer access to se‐lected health information from govern‐ment agencies, their many partnerorganizations, and other reliablesources that serve the public interest.” Kidshealth (http://www.kids

health.org/) provides doctor‐approvedhealth information about childrenthrough adolescence. MayoClinic (http://www.mayoclinic.com/) is an extension of the MayoClinic’s commitment to provide healtheducation to patients and the generalpublic. Editors of the site include morethan 2,000 physicians, scientists, writ‐ers,and educators at the Mayo Clinic. MedlinePlus (http://medlineplus.gov/) is the National Library of Medi‐cine’s website for consumer health in‐formation. The site offers authoritative,up‐to‐date health information. NOAH: New York Online Access toHealth (http://www.noah‐health.org/)is a unique collection of state, local,and federal health resources for con‐sumers. NOAH’s mission is “to providehigh‐quality, full‐text information forconsumers that is accurate, timely, rele‐vant and unbiased. HIV InSite (http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/)is a project of the University of Califor‐nia San Francisco (UCSF) AIDS ResearchInstitute.

MLA’s best comsumer health websitesHealth info literacy 101: The basics

Sources:Medical Library Associa-on: h.p://www.mlanet.org/resources/userguide.htmlCompiled by Laura Isaacs, Poplar Bluff Public Library.Visit www.poplarbluff.org for more informa-on.