Newly Diagnosed? Ask a Librarian to Help

Just about the first thing most Americans do when they find out they have cancer is jump on the Web.

And most of them end up freaking themselves out. I hear from people like this several times a week: They were told they have cancer, they googled their cancer type, and now they are scared to death. Typically, they e-mail me in the middle of the night, because they are so scared they can't sleep. 

My friend Teri, the Cheeky Librarian, is on a mission to get people who are newly diagnosed with cancer to ask a trained librarian to do the search for them. A librarian will only pull info from reliable sources. A librarian won't give you info that is out of date. 

And--most important of all--a librarian will shield you from info that you may not be ready to read. 

I know it's going to be difficult to turn this tide. I, for example, never thought of asking a librarian for help when I was first diagnosed, and as a journalist I was used to calling reference librarians for information.

Here's a link that will help you find a librarian in your area code: Find a Library

If you live in Seattle, as I do, probably your best bet is the library at the UW: 

Suzzallo Library 

206-543-1878 

Suzzallo Library

Here's the link to Cheeky Librarian's recent post on this topic: 

Fight Cyberchondria

@ Jeanne Sather 2009. 

Comments

[Anna Rachnel]

Good advice indeed Jeanne. The amount of information that is out there is completely overwhelming and can be extremely difficult to filter especially for the newly diagnosed. We've got too used to turning to the Web for all of our information needs, without giving much thought to the quality of that information nor the emotional repercussions of believing everything you read. This is especially true when dealing with a cancer diagnosis. In fact I have banned my husband from using the Internet to read about my cancer. We have made a promise to deal with my facts and my facts alone. The rest is just white noise.