The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google

Steven Bell has penned a Nice One (Temp. Link).
He says working together, librarians, professors, and developers can show students that research, like reading and classroom discussions, requires careful reflection. Supersized search engines that imitate Google, producing piles of full-text articles, may initially be as satisfying as a candy bar. But empty calories — or citations — are not what the educated consumer wants.

Subscribe Link from the The Chronicle of Higher Education

February 19, 2004 by Uncategorized 3

You may also like...

3 Responses

  1. Amke says:
    February 19, 2004 at 7:05 am

    Infobesity. Infobeast.
    I really like the term “infobesity” used in the article. But I have to agree that especially with the undergrads that we assisted with search techniques during grad school, it is a matter of “user-friendliness.” Too many of the subscription database interfaces are too complex, too difficult and very intimidating to them.
    I would have to stress that what is needed is more education/training from the academic librarians (and, dare I say it, high school and elementary level librarians before college) of how to use these interfaces as long as this is the way they are.

    Unbelievably, at Rutgers, there was no mandatory “library use class” for undergrads! I strongly feel there either be one, or a class should be “teamed up” with a librarian or library student and be taught, using real assignment context work, how to use the library.

    Reply
  2. AshtabulaGuy says:
    February 19, 2004 at 11:06 am

    Re:Infobesity. Infobeast.
    It is like what my supervising faculty member was saying in class tonight that Librarians should also properly be considered Teachers in many cases. With some orientation I do think EBSCOHost is not too bad to pick up and WilsonWeb is an interface that is powerful yet perhaps overly customizable. I agree wholeheartedly that a “library use class” would make using those tools as well as others much more useful to students.

    Reply
  3. liz says:
    February 19, 2004 at 8:43 pm

    Re:Infobesity. Infobeast.
    I wonder, are there many universities where information literacy/library use classes are mandatory? Such a class would have helped me out tremendously as a first year college student. I cringe when I think about how I did information gathering for research papers back in college. I sure as heck didn’t get any library instruction in high school, nor were we students even encouraged to go there to browse books for pleasure reading.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

LISNews Archives