Criteria for Evaluating Web Sites

Health sciences librarians are uniquely qualified, through training and experience, to evaluate the quality of health-related websites. Listed below are criteria used to evaluate sites. We hope you use this criteria to evaluate any web sites you might use.

Criteria

• Sponsorship.The sponsorship of the site should be easily identified and be a credible source such as a government agency (.gov), educational institution (.edu) or medical center or hospital.



• Currency. The site should be updated frequently with the date of the update clearly posted.



• Factual information. Information should be factual and verifiable. If the information represents an opinion, the source should be easily identified.



• Audience. There should be a clear statement of the intended audience (consumer, medical professional).