Immediacy of access vs. quality of content

Taught LIS (Library & Information Skills) sessions have changed beyond all recognition, certainly since I entered the profession almost 20 years ago. It is interesting however, as we seem almost to have come full circle in some respects, and spend a good deal of our time discussing the importance of using 'trusted' sources of Web-based information as we are finding that students prefer quick wins within their research, immediacy of access for example, and often this can be at the expense of 'quality' in terms of the resources used. Investing time in research is another area where we are discussing at length with our learners, the need to use full-text databases and subject gateways as a starting point for research, not a general purpose search engine.

With Web 2.0 has come the belief, albeit a misguided one, that all information can be found using a general purpose search engine. Whilst they have their place, they have given rise to this belief that all information can be found therein, and this makes it much more difficult to impress upon our learners the need to invest time in their research.

With this in mind, we have implemented a LIS session which looks at 'deep web' searching and outlines the limitations of general purpose search engines. It also introduces students to alerts/contents page services and resources such as COPAC. New resources such as the JISC FE e-Book collection has certainly helped to coax students away from Google et al., and the implementation of a federated search tool has also received positive feedback from students as they can search all of the LRCs e-resource simultaneously from a relatively user-friendly interface. That said, we are constantly seeking new and innovative ways of delivering information and our services to learners and teaching staff. This is definately a work in progress and we can't become complacent, given the new and emerging technologies that are on the horizon and the speed with which they are adopted by current and next generation learners.

As noted by Williams et al. (2008):

many librarians have started to experiment with social software in an attempt to get closer to their users. They have a problem. Although research libraries spend millions of pounds providing seamless desktop access to expensive copyrighted electronic content - journals, books and monographs - much of this is news to their users. Either they do not know that the library provides this material, or they get it, possibly via Google, and assume it is 'free' (p. 177).

It is clear that there is work to be done if we are to ensure that the current and next generation of learners leave our educational establishments with the necessary digital information literacy skills required to naviagate sources of good quality electronic information.

References

Williams, P., Rowlands, I. and Fieldhouse, M. (2008) The 'Google Generation' - myths and realities about young people's digital information behaviour. In: Nicholas, D. and Rowlands, I. (eds.) Digital consumers: reshaping the information professional. London: Facet.

Do Web 2.0 technologies widen or hinder participation?

Web 2.0 technologies have raised expectations. Today’s learners are no longer passive consumers of content, they also actively create content, be it in the form of a blog; wiki; entry on a social networking site or the uploading of a video to YouTube. This co-creation and re-use of knowledge has significant implications for further and higher education and how these technologies could/should be deployed to support formal learning and encourage greater participation within it. Students are finding new ways to create and share knowledge, and this activity is no longer confined to a physical place or space. How does the technological dimension of the widening participation debate impact upon individuals and what opportunities are there to close the gap and ensure that there is technological parity, both in terms of access and use?