>On 6/29/06, Dan Lester <dan_at_riverofdata.com> wrote:
>> And the
>> argument of give them quality vs. give them what they want is older
>> than any library school in the world.
>And Alex Johannesen wrote:
> This one struck a chord in me; isn't this question relevant to the
> discussions of the OPAC itself or anything else that librarians do? In
> fact, the very reason we *can* give quality as opposed to Google who
> only *can* give them what they want, this raises some interesting
> persepectives on how we perhaps should design our systems? Thoughts?
I do think that this question is very relevant - and may even be a big part
of the reason that libraries struggle to compete in a world where people
turn to Google first to get information. Libraries have always been more
concerned with providing the best answer possible - or the best possible
material to answer a question than simply giving the patron what they want.
Google doesn't evaluate sources for authority, accuracy, etc., but it does
provide hundreds and hundreds of links. Even more important is that our
patrons (undergraduate students for my library), don't often care about
whether the sources they use are the best suited for their purposes. If they
can complete their assignment using Google they will. One trend that is
dramatically on the increase is for students to do research via the web,
write their paper and then come to the library to find books and articles
that they use to cite their work.
I honestly don't think that we just need to reevaluate our systems in order
to compete in today's world of information on demand, but also need to
reevaluate our policies on what we provide and how we provide it. An easier
to use catalog won't solve our problems if the desired content isn't
available in it.
-Jennifer Macaulay
Head of Library Systems
MacPhaidin Library
Stonehill College
Easton, MA 02357
Received on Thu Jun 29 2006 - 09:34:16 EDT