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Student information resource preference
July 17, 2009, 6:53 pm
Filed under: Resources

All librarians with reference duties have experienced the issue of push-back regarding the use of certain tools that the library purchases or recommends, and the preference for simpler, more popular (by definition) tools. This is not as much of an issue in public libraries or special libraries where often the goal is to simply provide the patron or customer with the information required without much time spent on informing them of the appropriate tool for the job. In school libraries and academic libraries however, there is more emphasis placed on the education of the user in selecting and evaluating sources which begins with the selection and evaluation of the tool used to search for those sources.

Undergraduate students in particular are a difficult group to convince regarding the importance of selecting the best tools to find the best information, rather than simply searching in Google, Google Scholar, Wikipedia, and similar tools every time. The majority have come straight from high school level work and expectations, most barely even knowing that sources beyond websites and books even exist, much less what they are and how to use them. Increasingly, the war is not so much about preventing them from using the “wrong” resources but rather to help them understand that they should complement their arsenal with an academic article index/database or evidence based tool or statistics database. Just making them aware of the problems of using tools that are not quite up to date, comprehensive, or transparent in the big first step – perhaps a step that we don’t always manage to finish with everyone in our sessions.

And the tool designers don’t help us out very much, do they? Even the best databases and electronic resources can have major flaws in design and functionality. There are issues of simplicity of navigation, lack of important functions, barriers to use, security of private user information, the consistency or even the existence of subject descriptor application, etc.

But perhaps it’s not the vendors’ fault. Perhaps it’s not an issue of their lack of understanding, profit margin, or business model. Perhaps there is simply an inherent contradiction in the idea of a simple to use but also effective information tool. There is no free lunch. When you search for information as we humans create it, the better the search is, the more work must be done. We can make incredibly simple searches slightly more effective, but perhaps it will always be the case that effective searches of a sufficient degree (however we want to define that) requires more thought and preparation on the part of the searcher. Google’s a very simple interface but to do a good search even there requires some planning, understanding of the tool and the information to be found, and some work to put it all together. If this is true, then the work of librarians (and perhaps teachers and professors) to convince the masses that, sometimes, easier is not better or even good enough, will continue.

Here are some articles on the issue of teaching about the use of different types of resources:

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