Ariadne's thread: biomedical gateways to not get lost in the Internet labyrinth

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Informatics
• Information Science

Background:

• The internet presents a significant challenge for researchers due to information overload and data deluge.
• Ensuring the reliability, currency, and authoritativeness of online information is crucial, especially in the biomedical field.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present tools developed by libraries and information specialists to address the challenge of finding trustworthy health information online.
• To enhance researchers' information retrieval skills in the context of the internet.

Main Methods:

• Review and presentation of library-developed projects.
• Description of tools such as gateways and virtual reference desks.
• Focus on strategies for improving web search skills for health information.

Main Results:

• Libraries and information specialists have created valuable resources like gateways and virtual reference desks.
• These tools aim to provide access to dependable health information on the web.
• The contribution highlights methods to refine search strategies for better information discovery.

Conclusions:

• Specialized tools developed by libraries are essential for navigating the vast amount of online health information.
• Improving search skills is key to effectively utilizing these resources.
• These initiatives support researchers in obtaining reliable biomedical data amidst information overload.