Google away but ...

By Olga Steen on 2 November 2011

Revisiting the Media Battle last September. One of the ‘clients’ was a public library looking into attracting new groups of users (students, freelancers, etc) while keeping the existing ones. I was shocked during the intermediate pitches to see how students working on this case were almost ‘allergic’ to books and did not see the point of libraries nor librarians.

Soon after the Media Battle I came across a study by two anthropologists and library staff within project ERIAL (Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries Project). This study involves 156 students spread across five universities in Illinois and aims to understand the search habits of these students. The participating subjects completed questionnaires, were interviewed and observed during their information quest at the library.

One of the preliminary conclusion of this study is that students overuse Google and they   use it as a benchmark which results in misuse of other scholarly databases. When using a different search engine they expect it to work as Google. Curiously the students do not know much about the logic underlying Google’s search engine. Students are also pourly aware of other specific databases within the Google family such as Google Books search and Google Scholar.

This study also reveals the students rarely ask librarians for help even when they are unable to find what they are looking for. “The idea of a librarian as an academic expert who is available to talk about assignments and hold their hands through the research process is, in fact, foreign to most students.”(IHE) One reason for this is that students overrate their own information skills. They do not realize their pour search results are caused by “a lack of understanding of search logic”(IHE). Another reason is that librarians and professors often overestimate the information skills of the students, who are quickly intimidated and alienated by a less straightforward explanation.

I do not get it … we are daily swamped with information at a hallucinating pace. Information skills should be the key to survival. And a library with its databases, paid for! and carrefully selected based on relevance and quality a ‘safe paradise’. And the information experts (i.e. librarians) you find in a library ‘the saviours’ truly passioned about “finding it!” ‘it’ being just what you need! With them you can learn information skills, not only search logic and engines but also the sources that best suit your study or research topic.

As a mother of two primary school kids (5 and 10 years old) I see they already use Google a lot, but they are not yet allergic to books, libraries nor librarians. Far from it, they love ‘paper’ books and going to the local library is a treat. I’m pretty sure my kids aren’t an exception, so I wonder where does it go wrong? Secondary school?

It takes two to tango! Not only students have to realise their pour information skills and get serious help, also libraries and librarians have to realise great part of student’s attention goes to internet, technology and social media. This requires a change in the way libraries go about their bussiness if they want to have a future, not to mention a successful one.

There is hope as the two parties seem to be willing to engage in a healthy dialogue. Not only in Illinois but also closer to home. In the Media Battle, for example, one group of students managed to capture, in a very nice video-clip, their needs and expectations of a public library (see clip [Dutch]). The library now knows exactly what to do to attract this new group of users (currently only 11%).

At our local library (University of applied sciences Utrecht) I see the information specialists use their expertise and knowledge to provide an adequate mix of information sources and services next to supporting students going about it their Google-way. For example this checklist on how to assess information sources and even directly linking to Google’s article on advanced search features.

As for my kids .... I will try to add to their information skills and teach them librarians are very nice people, keen to help, who have the key to the fascinating, yet tricky, world of information.

More about the preliminary results of ERIAL can be read in IHE (Inside Higher Education). The full results will be published this autumn by the American Library Association (ALA), entitled: Libraries and Student Culture: What We Know Now.

tagged with: media battle, library, google, information skills

Comments

Marjan Grootveld (DANS) on 8 November 2011 at 09:23

Hi Olga,

Thanks for this posting. Librarians are indeed very nice people :-)

You may already be familiar the Dutch booklet by Ewoud Sanders, who gives many examples - for students! - on how to use Google search more effectively. Available via http://www.kb.nl/nieuws/2011/sanders.html

Is the checklist mentioned in your posting also available in another file format?
Thanks and many regards,

Marjan

Olga on 8 November 2011 at 13:27

Thanks for your comment Marjan. The checklist is also available in PDF and paper format. I will send you a paper copy, for PDF see:
http://www.mediatheek.hu.nl/Ondersteuning/Beoordelen%20Informatiebronnen.aspx

Best regards!

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