Staff members in hospital resource rooms and libraries help families find information about diseases, conditions, parenting, and hospital services, and can point out helpful websites, books, and videos. Parents can also learn about support groups, classes, and community resources.

I think I first learned from a medical librarian about www.nih.gov and Medline, where you can find current research on chemotherapy and other treatments. If your local hospital is a teaching facility, they often have all the major medical journals. We were able to get full-text versions of papers that we needed.

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Patient resource rooms are wonderful places. They usually have basic information on your child’s illness, listings of agencies and cancer organizations, online access, and a person available to answer questions and help get you started if you’re unfamiliar with doing internet searches. It should be one of the first places families are directed to.