The Medical Library Association Guide to Cancer Information: Authoritative, Patient-Friendly Print, and Electronic Resources

Abstract

Are you having trouble finding authoritative information about cancer or evaluating what resources you do find for patients and the public? Cancer questions abound in library reference work because the prevalence and impact of cancer affects huge numbers of people each year with new diagnoses, treatments, and survivor issues. Most people have been touched by cancer through their personal experiences or the illness of family, friends, or community members. The Medical Library Association Guide to Cancer Information provides an excellent starting point for answering cancer questions in all types of libraries and for a wide diversity of people. Having served as librarian for the Patient Education Resource Center at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center since 1999, Volk brings a wealth of experience to her book. She also knows the importance of knowledge about cancer for patients and families from the personal experience of her young daughter's brain cancer. As she states in her preface, she hopes that knowledge about the disease will empower patients and families to make informed decisions. Volk's book is indeed valuable to patients, families, and librarians who deal with providing cancer information to the public. Volk wrote this book “to enable patients and caregivers to identify and evaluate the most authoritative, unbiased quality information sources in lay language to match a specific information request” and to help librarians with collection development (p. xiv). To this end, Volk created short information guides that have a few carefully selected sources to be used as starting points for information gathering. Because cancer is an overall term for more than a hundred specific types of the disease, the challenge of answering questions can be overwhelming. In addition, the diversity of patients and their situations makes finding answers from the right information resource and providing that information at the right time for patrons a constant process for librarians. Volk presents this information in three parts. Part I provides a concise groundwork of knowledge to provide cancer information to the public, explains key concepts and terms, and describes the most important general cancer information resources. Part II focuses on twenty-five adult and ten childhood cancer types, which were chosen based on incidence data in the United States. Part III covers topics that are common to all cancer types, including prevention, treatment, and quality of life. The author recommends that all readers master the introductory information in part I before proceeding to the specialized information in parts II and III. Volk lists her selection guidelines in the preface of the book and aims to provide authoritative resources in patient appropriate language. This is a key factor because so much medical information is written in medical terminology and language that is difficult for many patients to understand. Volk covers a wide variety of sources and topics in different levels and depths and provides starting points for information gathering. Using Volk's book as a starting point, an additional resource may be useful in some libraries. Everyone's Guide to Cancer Therapy by Dollinger [1] provides cancer information on a patient or caregiver level with contributions by physicians in each portion of the book. The guide covers much more detail and scientific information in an effort to be comprehensive. However, Volk's book can provide the starting point for finding more current consumer cancer information. The Medical Library Association Guide to Cancer Information will be useful for all librarians who deal with patient and caregiver cancer information. Academic libraries and library schools would be wise to include this title in their collection for librarian training and general information. Public libraries will find it invaluable as a starting resource for all cancer questions from patients and consumers and as a collection development tool. Its clarity of presentation, summaries of cancer information sources, and lists of cancer resources in various formats are quick and simple to use. This book fulfills its goal to be the starting point for consumer cancer information.