At Random

I’ve been working with students this quarter providing instruction on topics such as plagiarism, basic library services, database searching, developing an information strategy, and a host of others. Since I started delivering library presentations to classes I have found that preparing for these sessions is one thing, while laboring over them is quite another.

In the fall quarter of 2008 I really spent a lot of time preparing for these 50-minute presentations and have tried to emulate the pioneering effort of my colleague, Cheyenne Roduin. I went so far as to draft a form with checkboxes to make sure I cover everything, which will lead to creating an al a carte menu approach to library presentations developed in conjunction with faculty-student relationship needs. Time management has been yet another consideration for delivering these presentations and it is a good time to develop a menu of items with corresponding time portions so I can effectively communicate to students the services and resources available to them through the Learning Commons.

Recently, I read a fantastic blog posting “In Praise of the Internet: Shifting Focus and Engaging Critical Thinking Skills” by Ellie Collier (In the Library with the Lead Pipe), which talks seriously and critically about online information widely (and often freely) available via the Internet. Covered in Collier’s discussion were essential ruminations on equipping students to effectively evaluate websites and online information, and she went on to talk about library presentations that often present fake websites to students in order to (a) amuse them and (b) encourage them to think about how online information can sometimes appear trustworthy.

Collier takes this concept of “shifting” to appeal to those teaching Librarians who are extolling the pitfalls and evils of online information, Google searching as an initial information strategy, and use of Wikipedia in the research process. She calls for a shift in thinking about how we connect with students in the classroom when we educate them about the variety of information available out there, which includes that freely available and those subscription databases with the “quality” information. Her supporting resources point to Librarians who approach information instruction from a student-centered approach, which is refreshing since we are trying to do the same thing at LWTC.

This past Monday I was providing a library presentation for an Abnormal Psychology class and when it came to the topic of how to use Google to search effectively for information students voiced a bevy of trained resistance to the online search engine. “We have been instructed not to use Google for research in conjunction with our class assignments,” one student stated. I pressed on with the Google topic and received the same outcry when moving on to Wikipedia.

I am in agreement with Collier that by putting up road blocks to the variety of online information available we miss out on an opportunity to expose students to various kinds of information, as well as move them in a direction toward thinking critically about all of these resources. I agree we should strive to place student evaluation of online information in situ with the naturally evolving research process. By isolating fake websites from other kinds of online information we neglect to get to the heart of critical thinking and evaluation of information. Admittedly, some students are only interested in consulting and citing the minimum resources required for a particular assignment, but by cutting them off to resources such as Wikipedia and not educating them about the type of resource this is we run the risk of glossing over the variety of resources and online information available. Instilling fear in students about even typing a search term in Google or looking for information in Wikipedia increases the likelihood they wouldn’t consider using blogs, podcasts, open source journals, and other types of freely available information.

I really hope I can address this tension during my library presentations. When everything today seems to be all bells and whistles as a showcase of quality information it seems necessary to get students to consider information in whatever form it is available, whether a crudely compiled subject page on Alzheimer’s Disease or an encyclopedia entry in Facts on File.