Reading #4

"The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google" by Steven Bell. Chronicle of Higher Education (2/20/2004).

In Steven Bell's article, "The Infodiet," he talks about the competition between Google and academic libraries - "the original search engines." He explains that critics and students alike are lured by Google's elementary accessibility and the heaps of information it produces, but just because there is a lot of it, does not necesarily mean that it is all useful or the best information you can get. He describes Google's search results as a "junk-information diet," comparing it to greasy fast food, while libraries are the eschewed hearty and healthy meals. However, he feels that libraries should "Googleize" their databases in athestic and accessbility standards, but while still yielding high-quality information, because students find libraries' electronic resources difficult to use. He quotes several libraries from universities who feels their students shouldn't have to deal with eResources' complexities and that libraries should "emulate popular Web search engines." He then talks about the "RedLightGreen" project, "a nonprofit group of more t han 160 universities, national libraries," etc. whose database interface has only a single search box (like Google), but the result screen yields categorized, relevant material more in sync with academic searches. Bell ends with the argument that it is up to librarians to remind professors, administrators, etc. that no Internet search engine will ever equal the services a campus library can provide.

I thought Bell's article was really interesting and very, very relevant. I hear the word "Google" come out of professors' mouths at least five times a day, in relation to obtaining information for whatever. This, combined with their corporate power and economic worth, I think, leads my generation to believe that Google is number one source for information when it comes to doing some sort of academic research. Yeah, I use Google for things that I need to brush up on, but when it comes to gathering information to write any kind of paper (argumentative, anaylsis, opinion, etc.) I use more obscure sites to seek out richer thoughts. I have used the libraries' electronic resources in the past, and have always been impressed by the non-cliches and unrepetitive info I could use from it (as opposed to any online search engine). However, like Bell says, for a student who does not use the eResouces on a daily basis, to actually obtain information is like a complex task. I was intimidated and frustrated just trying to access this article, and had to consistently refer to the directions you gave. It's relieving to hear that groups are trying to make the libraries' databases more accessible, because I am aware that its content is way more hearty.