"60 Minutes" and Web Site Evaluations

[Kurt W. Wagner - Librarian]

Unfortunately, the public at-large has different (and usually naive)
perceptions of what the Web/Internet is and is not. The 60 Minutes piece,
as usual, pointed out only some of the sensationalist aspects, focusing
attention on the Internet in a wrongheaded way. We're still faced with
users who feel that:
	* Somehow "everything" is available online
	* The Internet is a "place" or a centralized database
	* The Internet somehow replaces the Library
It is (again) the Librarian's role to mediate the use of the Internet,
just as we've always mediated the access to the Library's information, by
critically evaluating the resources. We should be adamant in
showing/training proper and responsible use of the Internet and at every
opportunity demonstrate that many kinds of information are properly (and
expediently) obtained through traditional sources.
	We also need to remind our patrons that stunts like faking web
pages and sending e-mail with false return addresses is a certain path to
having any library/college access privileges revoked -- make sure that
this is stated clearly in your policies.

Kurt
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Kurt W. Wagner                     kurt at frontier.wilpaterson.edu
Reference Librarian/Electronic Resources           (201)595-2285 
William Paterson College of New Jersey             
   http://www.wilpaterson.edu/wpcpages/library/
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