Re: Health Information Needs

[heatherm@eln.bc.ca]

To further support Kent Mulliner's point that mediation of health
information should not be required:

The idea that the public needs mediation is not new.  This idea, rather,
was one of the obstacles to be overcome in order for literacy for the
general population to be considered as a possibility.  There was a time,
in the history of even the most free of nations today, when the written
word was considered fit only for the clergy, who would interpet for the
masses. Even in much, more more recent times, there have been those who
have adhered to just such a view.  Witness, for example, the impact of the
Taliban on the education of women in Afghanistan.

When people were illiterate, mediation was indeed necessary for the
masses.  Most people had no access to the literature, or to education;
their only access to information was through mediation.  As we have seen,
once information and education become accessible, the vast majority are
able to read.

As research literature becomes more accessible, the number of people who
are able to make use of it will increase.  Not that everyone will want to
read at a research level, of course - it's just that, as Kent says, it is
their right to do so, if they so choose.  For that matter, open access
will mean access to the educational system,, which could make it possible
to advance the average scientific and information literacy skills of the
population as a whole.

To me, this is a very fundamental intellectual freedom issue.  
Intellectual freedom means that the individual chooses for themselves what
they will read.  This includes not only topics, but reading level as well.

This is not to say that mediation cannot sometimes be helpful, and
desired.  At a recent conference in B.C., one of the librarians at
Vancouver Public Library talked about their new role as "information
counsellors".  I can easily see a librarian taking on this role in the
area of health information.  It's not hard to imagine explaining to a
person with an illness (or a family member) what their options are:  
consumer health, ranging from the simplest of brochures with the absolute
basics to more in-depth consumer health info, all the way to exploring the
research literature.  People should feel completely comfortable with
whatever decision they make about the material they read:  this is where
the counselling aspect comes in.

cheers,

Heather Morrison