Bottom Line on Electronic Libraries -Reply

[Boyd R. Collins]

I am certainly not among those who think that clicking happily is finding
what you are looking for.  In fact, most of my writing is on subjects such
as finding what you want using search engines.  The question is a practical
one - is it better to have Web access without help or not to have Web
access at all.  Apparently my words gave rise to an unfortunate
misunderstanding of my meaning which I hope this post will correct.

At 11:43 AM 09/20/96 -0700, you wrote:
>Margaret's post (and others in that vein) was right on, and another
>point is that happily clicking away at a computer does not equal
>locating what you are looking for--although people often think so.
> It's a "press here for Internet" mindset (to quote Daniel Dern)...
>when we know using search engines, evaluating tools etc is really
>important.
>
>We taught a class yesterday that was really a product eval, and in
>turn was really a course in evaluating electronic products (but if
>we called it that they wouldn't show up).  Folks found it helpful,
>new information.  And we were only looking at one product! Our
>"how to search the Internet and find what you're looking for"
>classes are a huge hit, and sometimes people repeat the class!  
>
>ye olde pedagogy is an increasingly critical competency for
>today's librarians--in part because we know that there's more to it
>than punching URLS in the open box on Netscape!
>
>K. Schneider/opinions mine alone
>
>


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Boyd R. Collins
Information Technology Librarian, Alexander Library
Rutgers University  
New Brunswick, NJ 08903     
(908) 656-1493 (home)
(908) 932-8573 (office)
Infofilter page: http://www.usc.edu/users/help/flick/Infofilter/