Continuing in the theme of the post from a couple of days ago, Will R. posted a great story illustrating one of the persistent problems we have a work. This issue of "how do we get students and teachers to use the 'good stuff' on the web" is a reoccurring theme in many of our discussions. Just yesterday I met with a couple of reps from one of the large library database providers. We compared notes, and found that just giving folks access to stuff isn't good enough. We're offering schools a very nice combination of resources, but that doesn't always translate into success. Users--educators or students--need to have some level of information literacy in order to know how to get to the good stuff.
We tend to refer to this as the "Google problem" -- it is so easy for someone to just sit down and use a broad based search engine. But the issue isn't Google. The issue is that users aren't thinking critically about the information they're finding.
So, what about the solution offered by the person in Will's story?
"I think it's better for everyone if we just give them a list of sites they can use when they do their papers," the principal said, "and tell them they have to have a certain number of those resources in the final product."
I think this sort of integration into the curriculum is a decent idea. It is a start, at least. But students really do need to learn how to evaluate materials, and how to tell which sources are best for specific needs. We've found that the schools that are able to make good use of our library resources are the ones that have active, passionate librarians who can help educate others on information literacy.
Posted by Karl
February 17, 2005 01:09 PM