Foster, Andrea (2007, March 9). New programs teach undergraduates how to use the Internet and the online card catalog in search of the best sources. Chronicle of Higher Education, Retrieved June 21, 2007, from
http://chronicle.com/free/v53/i27/27a03801.htm
As a librarian who at one time taught numerous information literacy courses, particularly to individuals who were in the 18-22 age range, I could relate to many of the points raised in this article. In the mid- to late 1990s, I worked in an academic library where the computer terminals were moving from being word processors to information resources. The internet was new to everyone, and the librarians were desperately trying to keep one step ahead of the students. Many professors (and some of the librarians) were not so enamored with these new resources, and concerns about plagiarism, quality of information, etc. was a major concern. How quickly they forgot about their students who photocopied articles and literally cut-and-pasted materials into their papers.
The article mentions that one librarian asks professors to attend the information sessions. I couldn't agree more with this statement. Even when the professors do attend the session, though, there are misunderstandings and confusion. For example, I worked with a marketing professor to teach her class how to access full-text articles via the library's databases (e.g., EBSCO). Even though she had participated in several of my sessions, she would often tell her students that the articles were available through Yahoo! (Her students were frustrated that they could never find the materials they needed for class through this search engine.) There were also those instructors who would bring their class to a session about online resources, only to tell the students they could not use online journals - they had to use the print. Not only were the students drowning in information, but they were drowning in misinformation, as well.
It's been a few years since I've taught an information literacy course; while I'm certain that things have changed, there are probably still those who maintain a skeptical view of online information resources.
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Librarians and instructors should work together to create research assignments that will help students learn how to conduct research and use the library instead of frustrating them. I think it is important for students to learn to evaluate information instead of accepting whatever they read, online or in print. Wikipedia can provide students with useful background information. The students need to know that they should not cite Wikipedia and that they should review the references of the article to see if they are reliable sources.
Telling students the articles are available through Yahoo! defeats the purpose of the library session. Students will naturally look for the articles in Yahoo!. What the professor may not have realized is that the articles may not be permanently available through Yahoo!
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