LRC Blog

Students ditch the books in favour of online information

Fri, 10 Dec 2004 14:40:58 GMT

An article in Technology section on CNN reports that students are staying away from text sources even when asked to do so for an assignment. One student's response was,"Excuse me, where would I get a book?"

In a study on research habits, Wellesley College researchers Panagiotis Metaxas and Leah Graham found that fewer than 2 percent of students in one Wellesley computer science class bothered to use non-Internet sources to answer all six test questions.

And many students failed to check out multiple sources. For instance, 63 percent of students asked to list Microsoft Corp.'s top innovations only visited the company's Web site in search of the answer.

It's a paradox to some that so many young Americans can be so accepting of online information whose origin is unclear.

"Skepticism ... is part of their lives, yet they tend to believe things fairly readily because it appears on the Internet," said Roger Casey, who studies youths and pop culture at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.

One concern is commercial influence online; some search engines run ads and accept payments to include sites in their indexes, with varying degree of disclosure.

"If I'm going to go to the library, chances are somebody hasn't paid a librarian 100 bucks to point me to a particular book," said Beau Brendler, director of the Consumer Reports WebWatch.

Will Google Scholar put Ebsco out of business?

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 15:25:06 GMT

Google scholar launches in Beta mode with impressive results. Provides links to citations, online articles and books with some areas covered better than others. IS this the end of library databases?

"Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web."

More on google and librarians

Wed, 13 Oct 2004 20:43:35 GMT

why you can't find it on Google, a few ideas.

Andrea looks at Cantfindongoogle.com a list of failed searches. When people ask me, as they often do "how do librarians stay relevant in the age of Google" I tell them that Google is a very powerful tool that very few people know how to use well. I've been reading Tara's Web Search Garage lately and even I'm learning more about how to massage information out of Google. Sometimes it's as simple as explaining to the patron that if you're looking for LTD Consortium, it's going to be pretty important to use both words. Or maybe telling the patron who is trying to find the Boston Museum of Fine Arts that the key word to include in her search is "Boston." This is second knowledge to me, and many of us, but it's not to my patrons. Google is so fast and so useful that I've taken to remembering some web pages just by the search terms that I can use to find them, since I can never remember their URLs. I'm also pretty good at ballparking whether some information that I need either can or can NOT be found in Google before I waste a lot of time looking. That's powerful stuff, and a useful skillset, so it's good to remember that some people don't have that mojo, either because they haven't learned, don't care, or give up too easily.

[librarian.net : a library weblog]

Gary Price on the value of modern librarians

Wed, 13 Oct 2004 20:43:02 GMT

Gary Price interviewed in Library Link. He's been asked so much about Google and librarians, he's got a good answer handy.

LL: How can librarians stay ahead of the perception that everything people need is two clicks away on Google?

GP: Google and other web engines are fine for certain types of searching. However, it's not the best choice in some situations. The challenge for us is not only telling people about what Google and other web engines can offer but also showing them what's not available. Likewise, we can demonstrate how to be a better web search engine searcher. This is valuable info for many people. Why? With the help and knowledge of a good information professional we can help to save the time of our users. This is a commodity everybody wants to have more of.

[librarian.net : a library weblog]

Blue Spruce titles for 2005

Wed, 29 Sep 2004 17:35:09 GMT

The Ontario Library Association's 2004-2005 Blue Spruce Selection
Committee is proud to announce the official titles of the 2005 Blue Spruce Award™

Silver Birch too.

UK Children's book festival

Mon, 23 Aug 2004 14:13:23 GMT

Held for two weeks each November in schools and libraries across the north east of England, The Northern Children's Book Festival is Europe's largest free children's book festival. 42 of the UK's finest children's writers, poets, illustrators and storytellers are taking part this year. This year's Festival takes place November 8-20. [Source: Peter Scott's Library Blog]

Sheesh-- the cost of cheating these days.

Mon, 23 Aug 2004 14:11:11 GMT

Students looking for a little help with their papers have an astonishing array of sites to choose from with a wide range of quality. According to this NY Times article by Suzy Hansen on Aug 22, you get what you pay for. Article mentions various sites as well as TurnitIn.com

(Don't have a login? NYT Link Generator)

Celebrate International Literacy Day

Fri, 20 Aug 2004 15:18:20 GMT

Ideas for celebrating the day in September that "focuses attention on worldwide literacy issues and needs." Includes activity and event suggestions, a fact sheet, media tips, a downloadable brochure, and information about the International Reading Association Literacy Award, which is presented on International Literacy Day. From the International Reading Association, a professional membership organization. Librarians' Index to the Internet]

Wikipedia

Thu, 12 Aug 2004 15:06:49 GMT

Wikipedia (a free online encyclopedia)is a tremendous example of collaborative content creation. This Slashdot interview with Wikipedia's founder gives insight into the project, its motivations, meaning, and reasons for success. It's a refreshing read in "successfully implemented idealism".

Comment: Like social network analysis and communities, collaborative content creation has been untapped by education providers. Our course-based focus of learning continues to be at odds with how many people learn today. This is not to say that courses aren't valuable...just that they need to be properly positioned in a wider array of learning methods - not centric, but complimentary to the entire learning/knowledge acquisition experience.

[elearnspace]

eSchool News

Thu, 12 Aug 2004 14:23:37 GMT

eSchool News has this piece on RSS and its potentials in schools. The article also briefly discusses blogs and wikis.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) might not mean much yet to the average internet user--but it soon could revolutionize the medium. Some forward-thinking educators are taking advantage of the burgeoning technology to keep abreast of school-related issues and push important information to stakeholders.

eSchool News now has RSS feeds of it's own, by the way, and stay tuned for some more blog related initiatives that may be coming down the pike. [Weblogg-ed News]