The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google
Academic Libraries
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google
A new article by Steven Bell. He writes, "For some time now, the largest producers of databases have focused more on competing with each other for library business than on designing interfaces that students can navigate on their own. And because the producers seem to think that a librarian cares most about the number of full-text journals a database contains, their databases are now so loaded down with journals of questionable value that searches often yield results that are not much better than Google's -- but almost equally addictive to students, who get lots of full-text articles fast without having to do much thinking. In their current state, the aggregators are part of the infobesity problem, not part of its solution." Kudos to S.B. for an excellent article. One potential solution (at least for the time being) might be the federated database/common user interface concept. This could help solve several research issues common in academic and other types of libraries. This technology can also allow the individual library or research organization to build an interface for the particular wants and needs of their users. Finally, when a faculty member is nice enough to invite a librarian into their class, the librarian can talk about a single interface instead of many disparate sources and tools.
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