5/8/13 Reflection on "What Students Don't Know"

Post date: May 8, 2013 6:32:15 PM

Kolowich, Steve. "What Students Don't Know." Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Career Advice, Events and Jobs. Inside Higher Education, 22 Aug. 2011. Web. 8 May 2013. <http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/08/22/erial_study_of_student_research_habits_at_illinois_university_libraries_reveals_alarmingly_poor_information_literacy_and_skills>.

A research study was done in the Chicago area of five different academic libraries and how their students’ research skills have developed or not. The results were surprising. Not only do students use Google more than any other searching database to find “scholarly sources”, but they also don’t know how to limit their search terms to provide more useful results on Google. JSTOR was the second most used database, which is also a problem because the articles on this site are all at least 3-5 years old. Rather than coming to librarians for help with finding good resources, students were more likely to switch their topics to something easier to search. Librarians were looked at by students as people who would tell you where the bathroom was located rather than someone to ask for help researching a project. One way to bridge the gap between librarians and students is to have the professors refer students to the librarians each time they assign a new research project so that there is a relationship established where the student will be more trusting and willing to ask for help. Part of the reason that this divide may have occurred is that professors and librarians were assuming students knew more about searching than they did, as students have grown up in the digital age of technology. The problem is that students “know the language” of the internet, but not “the grammar”. These results point out that students have been graduating without having reasonable search skills and points out that courses and methods of providing library help may need to be re-evaluated and soon.

By introducing librarians who have particular knowledge in a certain subject and re-introducing them in those classrooms throughout the year, students may be able to develop a better relationship with the librarians available and may go to them more for help. Also, the library could offer specific times each week were students could come in for a class on new databases or search engines that would help them in their research process. By not phrasing it in a negative way, as most students should be able to do a fairly decent Internet search by the time they graduate high school, students would be more open to learning new things about their library’s resources.