10/27 Reading Report "Information Navigation 101"

Information literacy is becoming an ever-increasing issue as Universities across the nation are encountering more and more dilemmas. In today’s college world, students are finding it much simpler to refer to sources such as Google or Wikipedia for research papers. Not only are they accessible by one click of a button, but they give immediate results. This, however, has been plaguing professors and college teachers everywhere. More Universities are implementing plans that involve “Computer Literacy” classes; classes that review and show students how to use resources provided by the campus such as online databases. Cal State was one of the first campuses to institute a program such as this, and claim that the results are worthwhile. Now, as time has moved on, more universities are setting requirements for “literacy competency”; settings prerequisites such as maintaining at least a C in a library class. Stanley Wilder, with the University of Rochester has a differing view; he believes that with technology improving as rapidly as it is, soon databases and library resources will be just as easy to use as Google. As a result, he finds these programs a waste. There are many different viewpoints on this controversial subject, but one thing is known: students don’t have the proper knowledge on these databases to perform the tasks asked of them.

I believe that it’s great that these programs are becoming more prevalent in Universities these days. For my Eng 201 class, our teacher actually setup a class for such instruction. We went to the library and a Librarian showed us how to work the catalog and databases and I believe it helped me find information much easier in the future. I agree somewhat with Stanley Wilder in the fact that technology should be creating revenues that allow students to find information in a much easier and quicker manner; however, these technologies are not in place at Universities at this time. Taking this into consideration, I support the movement for information literacy and also hope that in the near future it will be much easier for students to locate and use resources available to them.

Reading Report : "The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google"

In this day and age, students are finding it more complicated and difficult to use resources that are provided by universities. Databases are somewhat like a locked door, they’re hard to get into and once you finally do get in you don’t know what to expect or what to do. Students are finding that using Google compared to a more complex database such as EBSCOhost that, while may be more accurate and useful, is much more difficult to use without having a certain level of knowledge. Databases such as EBSCOhost can make students feel lost, finding proper articles feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Many academic Librarians across the US have contemplated the idea of making these databases with a friendlier user interface such as Google, and the argument is becoming a more prevalent one. With these possibilities and the combined efforts of Librarians and teachers to inform these students of better ways to research, an easier means of finding information should be available in the near future.
I believe that these issues discussed in the article are very important. I’m in agreement with the fact that these databases are much too complex and could easily be simplified. They create a situation where it presses the idea, “Wow this would be much easier to just type in Google”, because of the frustration that students get from trying to use these databases. It wouldn’t be that much of a problem to simplify the means of searching these databases; making more useful, accurate, and reliable information easier to find. I hope that this debate continues and that in consequence these databases are simplified so that one doesn’t need to do much research on researching just to find the information they need.

Reading Report "The Future of Libraries"

This article encompasses a vision of what libraries may become in the future. The author believes that libraries as a whole will change and evolve into a much more complex entity that will be a center-piece to societies and cultures. He lays out a list of “trends” that describe why he believes these changes will come, much sooner than most realize. Of the many trends one he discusses focuses on verbalization. The author refers to a Dr William Crossman who believes that by 2050 literacy as a whole will be dead. In this the reference to keyboards is made as well, saying that keyboards will no longer be of use because of verbal interaction. Libraries will be of much importance, according to the author, because in the future a global society will exists, where all of Earth uses one standard system for things such as money, measurement, and ethics. Also, these “future” libraries will become more appealing because they will be more in depth and broader, including things such as studios and possibly parks.

I believe that this is a very interesting article because of the insights of the author and the people he discusses. While most of what is discussed is very intriguing, it’s hard to believe that some of the things discussed will come to being in such a swift manner. One that really caught my attention was the argument that literacy will cease to exist. I believe that people need the visual aspects of words on paper to aid and help them learn and excel in daily life. Also the argument that keyboards will no longer exists is a very controversial subject in deeper thought. While the idea does seem plausible, it is hard to imagine life today without the use of keyboards.

News Report # 3

It seems as though Newspapers are finally coming to a stand-still with on-line based information services. With access to news online becoming more and more prevalent physically printed newspaper companies are finding themselves in a dilemma. They’re not the huge corporations that this country used to thrive on to get their information from every day when they woke up with a hot cup of coffee. Obama and Congress are both considering making movements towards helping these struggling companies out in this time of crisis. Services such as Gawker and The Daily Beast are some of the up and coming interactive news sources that can be found online.

I believe that holding on to physical newspapers is of much importance. It’s important that we not rely on everything being electronic. There are many scenarios where relying strictly on web-based sources could be devastating. For one, records are vital to our future and allow us to look back at the past and analyze and fix our mistakes. These physical sources of News allow us to directly look at what has happened throughout the years and allow no fallout; however, if all information is being drawn from the web there is always the possibility that it may be lost via a server crash or many other complications that can arise when it comes to the internet. It’s also important to respect the large News companies because they’ve provided a great service for such a long duration of time. I believe the author of this article has an extremely biased point of view and is wishing to push his ideals onto whoever may read his work. While online based services are simple and helpful, I believe it is important that we also retain our roots.