Information Literacy in a Rapidly Evolving Educational and Research Environment

The Hybrid Research EnvironmentProf. Monica Berger

June 8, 2005

Source: http://www.geocities.com/sethmcdoogle/google.gif

Partnership and Interconnection

Today’s research environment mirrors today’s teaching environment:

• Information vendors, publishers, libraries, and search engines are partnering to make their content interconnect

• Technology breaks down the wall between the classroom and the library

• Library and teaching faculty can collaborate by creating content, e.g. research guides, for specific courses

Partnership and Interconnection

It’s easier than ever for faculty to make use of library resources in both their traditional and online teaching but …

The library research environment is rapidly evolving

Overview of Library Electronic Resources

Enter library electronic resources via our homepage:http://library.citytech.cuny.eduSelect “Research Tools”

1. E-Journals & Reference Databases  a. On campus = all are available

b. Off campus = some are available

2. Online catalog CUNY+, available from any computer anywhere without login

E-Journals & Reference Databases 

Off campus = some are available

Two ways to access:1. Via our database page: needs your library

ID to be “active” in system = you have borrowed book since 2003. Click on the green house

2. Via CUNY Portal: need to set up an account via the portal

E-Journals & Reference Databases

Two basic types:

1. Reference tools, e.g. Oxford Reference Online: encyclopedias and dictionaries online

2. Periodical databases and indexes, e.g. Ebsco Academic Search Premiere

E-Journals & Reference Databases 

• 53 full-text databases: General and specialized

• 13 abstracts-only databases

• 11 citations-only databases

• World Cat: Union Catalog of library holdings throughout U.S.

• Search/browse for a periodical by title or subject (Serials Solutions)

http://library.citytech.cuny.edu/resourcestitle.html

Smarter Linking• New: SFX interconnects

databases at different levels of linking: if full-text isn’t available in current database, SFX links to other sources with full-text

• Persistent links make it easy to link to specific articles for e-reserve

Coming Down the Pike

• Proxy server to provide easy off-campus access to ALL electronic resources

• New resources purchased with Tech Fee monies including:– ArtSTOR image collection– Nursing ejournal package– Wiley & Kluwer ejournal packages

CUNY+ Online Catalog

• CUNY+ Online Catalog: chiefly to find books

• Can find journals by title

• More and more catalog records link to full text but often just the table of contents of a book

• Many full-text, online government publications are cataloged in CUNY+

August 19, 2004

August 19, 2004

• Google IPO concluded and public trading of Google stock started this day resulting in

• Huge cash infusion for Google to expand its brand and its services

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What a Difference a Year Makes Google Print http://print.google.com/

Pilot phase • Five major research libraries are participating • Google scans books: public domain (no longer

under copyright) and copyrighted• Copyrighted books: user gets limited content,

links to purchase • Similar to Amazon.com’s “Look Inside” except

whole book is searchable• Very fragmented user experience

What a Difference a Year Makes

What a Difference a Year MakesGoogle Scholar

http://scholar.google.comMix of

1. licensed, copyrighted content

2. “free” accessible content (“open access”)

What a Difference a Year Makes Google Scholar

http://scholar.google.comLicensed, copyrighted content

• Increasingly commercial vendors load same material found in library databases into Google Scholar

• Google Scholar doesn’t recognize you as a faculty member or student whose library subscribes to content

What a Difference a Year Makes Google Scholar

http://scholar.google.comOpen Access content:

• Available through “regular” Google as well as Google Scholar

• Free, web-only ejournals

• Partly free ejournals in partnership with commercial vendors

• Preprints of individual articles

Adding to the Mix

OCLC (WorldCat Union Catalog) is loading all its records into Google prompting users for their zip code and linking them to their local public library

It’s a Google Universe

Students and faculty turn to Google first for research

• Ease of access, clean interface

• Because Google indexes the most web pages, perception that “everything” is available via Google

• Teach students research skills by referencing their Google experience

Net Generation

Today’s students are part of the Net Generation:• Non-readers, prefer learning visually• Obtain information on a “need-to-know” basis:

not interested in research in of itself• Information seeking has to be fast• Non-linear, intuitive info seeking

Weiler, A. Information-Seeking Behavior in Generation Y Students: Motivation, Critical Thinking, and Learning Theory. The Journal of

Academic Librarianship v. 31 no. 1 (January 2005) p. 46-53 [available via Education Full-Text]

Conclusion: Hybrid Research Environment

Recent past

1. Free and openly content available on the “open” Internet

2. Proprietary, copyrighted content available only through (library) subscription via library databases

Today1. Free and openly available content on the

“open” Internet: increasing scholarly open access content

2. Proprietary, copyrighted content available only through (library) subscription via library databases

3. Citations, abstracts and catalog records available on the “open” Internet linking to proprietary, copyrighted content available only through (library) subscription via library databases

Conclusion: Hybrid Research Environment

Conclusion: Hybrid Research Environment

• More reason for teaching faculty and library faculty to work together to design information literacy-rich assignments

• Flexibility, life-long learning more critical for information literacy

Conclusion: Hybrid Research Environment

• Increase in decontextualized, fragmented information: the information “wrapper” is irrelevant to users but shouldn’t be

• Teaching online introduces new opportunities for collaboration

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