Aside from actually looking up health related information in books, there’s a lot of health care, disease, and treatment information available online. But just like any other website, it is important to use reliable, authoritative sites. This is especially true for health information.

Some good resources to use that your patrons can access at the library, from home, or anywhere for free include WebMD and MedlinePlus. WebMD has a good selection of health information that is easily digestable to the general population. MedlinePlus is a government site that has varying degrees of complexities in its health related information and articles.

Also somewhat health-related is finding a good nursing home for your aging parents. Finding a good one can be tough. A great place to start would be with AARP - they’ve got this great article on it here. Local resources are also good if you’re looking for, say Brooklyn nursing homes. Check with your local senior center, or library for region-specific listings of nursing homes.

Working at a library reference desk, you will occassionally have patrons who want you to help them find out information about certain people. And no, I’m not talking about finding biographies. I’ve had numerous people come in who want me to look up criminal records, court records, real estate estate transcations, marriages, deaths, divorces, and so on. Most people would consider that to be personal information, but in the eyes of the court, it is publicly available information that anyone with the know-how can find.

The first thing to keep in mind when conducting such searches is that different states and even counties within states conduct business differently. For example, I’ve found that my state of Ohio has pretty detailed court dockets for both civil and criminal cases, while other states aren’t so liberal with the information they make available online. Even if the information isn’t available online, it should be available if you go in person to the actual courthouse, but that’s often a hassle most people don’t want to deal with.

Civil and criminal case information can typically be found through the county court. Most counties have an online court docket which you can use to find out case information, although the level of detail may vary from county to county and state to state. Divorces would fall under civil cases, so if you’re looking for that, look in the civil case docket.

Real estate information I have found typically through county auditor websites. If you’re not sure of the county, or only know the city, you could do a search on Google such as “Chicago real estate county auditor”, and that may provide you with the correct source for your search. These records can provide you with information about home sales (including the sale price), local taxes, and even a blueprint of the property.
Most states have a list of sex offenders, and some include pictures. These can often be found through the county sheriff websites, or by conducting a simple search on Google such as “florida sex offenders”.

Marriage records are generally available through county probate courts. If you know the county the couple was married in, do a search on Google for something like “Lorain County Ohio probate”. Again, the level of detail provided will vary from state to state and county to county.

If you’re looking for things such as old obituaries and death notices, check with library. They’ll likely have it on file on microfilm. Some libraries even have copies of old death certificates.

Other questions that I have come across have had to deal with incarcerated individuals and finding out their release dates and/or the status of their parole hearings. A Google search for “[your state] offender” will generally pull up the site you need to find out that information.

You’d really be surprised by the amount of information that you can find out about people online. You’ll likely have some questions from your patrons about finding such information, so it’s best to familiarize yourself with at least your local county resources before the question comes up.