College+Librarians'+Wish+List

[I am building this list by contacting appropriate librarians from schools recommended by our College Office, and interviewing them] So far here’s an assemblage of what I’ve gotten… “First and foremost, everything is NOT on the Internet. Google is powerful, but is not the same as the databases available through library subscription, etc.” Google and Wikipedia don’t constitute research. “They are the side streets, not the main highway to research.” “Quality comes before format”—“students just want to find information quickly online; in college, it needs to be the RIGHT information.” “They don’t know about resources that are non-print, but non-Google. “Be on the lookout for database information—check out the range, ask librarians. “Don’t just settle for what is free.” (“Example of problems with online research: a 2005 New York Times letter from a professor, describing a student’s use of Trotsky as a source of expertise on Russian history—without knowing who he was!”) 5. Library resources such as catalogs and databases are built in specific ways. You can’t search them like Google. Add: “Increasing numbers of students are coming to college without an understanding of how a library is organized. That training seems to be collapsing at the high school level. “What is a call number?” etc. Tom Casserly’s department at BU practices ‘hands-free reference’—(my new mantra) “Every year we have really good students who get suspended because they don’t understand plagiarism—it isn’t really clear to them.” (Jean Simmons, Middlebury) The difference between scholarly and not. “They don’t have experience with salespeople, for example, that previous generations have had. Our message to them is: You’re not in a self-serve shoe store in the library. Ask, even if it’s probably a stupid question.” “If students don’t know something, they tend to ask their parents, who proofread their papers, give them hints about finding information, etc.—an approach that doesn’t foster the break between family and adulthood, generating independence.”
 * Wish List from College Reference & Instructional Librarians—“What I Most Wish Students Knew About Research Before They Come Through Our Doors” **
 * Evaluating information: **
 * “How to critically evaluate information.” -- “Always evaluate all of her/his sources, especially internet sites.”
 * “Boston University has just gone through its accreditation process. The emphasis on evaluation in the outcomes is striking—have your students learned to understand and evaluate information sources? What is the authority of the source? In what context can I or can I not use it, and how do I incorporate it?”
 * “The landscape has changed so much. They are really good at searching and finding information. What they don’t know, typically, is the make-up of what they find. It’s much easier in a non-internet environment to determine what institution is producing the information, determining its intellectual level, etc.”
 * “Know that research takes time.” **
 * “Some of the qualitative parts of our training seem to get lost, and “This is not going to be quick” is one lesson. We have to take the long view as we work with kids on these messages. Students may not ‘get it’ for years.”
 * Citation/documentation/ethical use of resources: **
 * “Knowing why citation is important, and understanding the elements of citation… and thus being prepared to be asked, perhaps, to cite sources in a number of different format styles.”
 * “The real point of documentation practice is integrity—which is more than just avoiding plagiarism”
 * “Give them a solid sense of citation—not just textual, but visuals, sound, etc.
 * Learn to use the librarian for help on your paper or project: **
 * “What is reference? That is a big question now. We are considering becoming a ‘research center’—training students to ask them for help—not their parents & friends. I talk to BU parents every summer before their freshmen enter, with the message‘send them to us for research help.’”
 * “Know the operations of a library, and build a sense of excitement about the kinds of resources a college library will have (databases, interlibrary loan, reference help.) THERE’S a WORLD OF INFORMATION THAT WAS PROBABLY NOT AVAILABLE TO YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL. ASK ABOUT THEM—ask reference librarians for help.”
 * “Nancy Foster at Rochester has written about this generation as the’self-serve generation’ and the ‘mommy generation.’”