INFORMATION LITERACY :
REFERENCE: SERVICES:
Information Isn't Reserved for Books
Information Isn't Reserved for Books
Feb. 22, 2008, 11:46PM
It's online, and today's librarians are experts at finding it
By CAROLYN FEIBEL
Houston Chronicle
<http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5563926.html>
If Google and a librarian had an informational smackdown, who would win?
Many people champion Google, with its impressive number of results.
But research librarians say their powers have been unfairly dismissed in
the online age. Not only can they outsmart Google's dead ends and
weaknesses, librarians say, but they can help people surf faster and
smarter by showing them hidden databases and tricks.
"It's one of the most misrepresented professions," said Saima Kadir, a
reference librarian with the Houston Public Library.
In an age of clickable gratification, when books, articles and data are
moving online, some people wonder whether librarians are relevant, said
Leslie Burger, the immediate past-president of the American Library
Association. But Burger said they are more necessary than ever.
She said librarians are subject to outdated stereotypes: "fusty, bookish,
sensible shoes, eyeglasses and not particularly friendly. We're really the
polar opposite of that right now."
"There's this information overload," Kadir said. "People will dead-end on
Google."
Too many hits, too few hits, or doubts about whether online information is
trustworthy Houston librarians deal with those questions every day.
Librarians have become teachers of digital literacy, Kadir said. They show
beginners how to hold a mouse and sign up for e-mail, and they show more
advanced users how to blog or navigate databases. Houston Public Library
members gain free access to dozens of electronic resources that normally
cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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The complete article may be read at the URL above.
Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@temple.edu
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