Should Reference Librarians Offer Medical Advice?

My ex-husband is a physician. Even though I helped fund a wealth of medical knowledge, Merck Manual became the do-all/be-all source of medical info in our home--even when a doctor was in the house.

I haven't looked at a Merck Manual for years; but back in the day, you could look up any type of ailment [even flatulence, actually called by its layman's name] and find an incredible amount of information about that ailment--what might have caused it; how to treat it; etc. Not many years ago, I saw a specialist about a medical problem that I was having. Even this specialist was not sure about the problem; and I honestly saw him pull a Merck Manual from his shelf, to seek answers. Little did he know that I had my own Merck Manual at home. I could have saved myself a trip and a co-pay for this info. In short, Merck Manual is essentially a Cliff's Notes Medical Degree.

On page 94 of the book: Reference and Information Services in the 21st Century (Cassell and Hiremath, 2004), the following is said about Ready References: "Quick. . . Relative facts need to be located in the same source. The information is wide-ranging and not deep." That perfectly describes Merck Manual. The entire medical profession is lightly whisked into one book, which is slightly larger than the Bible. What a tool!

Although librarians need to be careful about offering professional opinions about medical issues [trust me, even doctors need to be careful about that], they might continuously be asked for that kind of help. I would be very cautious about offering my humble opinion about any ailment; but I would feel very comfortable showing a patron where they can go to find more information and to formulate their own plans of action.

The current, online powerhouse WebMD has become much the same type of resource for finding information about what ails one--but it offers even more.

Some might argue that WebMD is a commercial site; but that actually works for the visitor, who gets the info free. Drug companies pay enormous amounts of money for advertising on WebMD; and those funds pay for quality information on a quality web space. If the site was not well endowed, it would offer far less to the visitor--it couldn't. Someone has to pay the Piper. In this instance, I am just glad that someone is someone else and not me.

Incidentally, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree: my daughter is an executive for WebMD in Manhatten.