ABSTRACT NUMBER 3

CITATION:

Gosling, William A. (December 2000). To go or not to go? Library as place. American Libraries, volume (31) no 11, 44-45.

SUMMARY:

The hype that swirls around wondrous technological advances, that we will soon not need books or libraries. Predict the end of some of our established institutions – museums, universities, and libraries – as “place,” no longer needed because of online delivery systems. Other commercial and societal interactions, you will no longer need to leave your home of office to access information and educational courses, view art, or hear concerts. Do we think that there is a lot of information is available online? No, only a fraction of past and new knowledge is available online, and much of that is not peer – reviewed or substantiated in any other manner. “I found what I needed on the Web,” but one might miss significant information if the Web was the sole source. More than 7,000 electronic journals are now published, but tens of thousands more continue to be published around the world only in paper format. It will only take time that all titles will convert to the online version, but print copies will continue to be sold as well. University of Michigan Library undertook a major initiative to help customers learn how to use its relatively new electronic resources. This school’s goal was to make the users self – sufficient so they would not need a librarian’s help to obtain the information they needed. The unforeseen rapid escalation of electronic resources in a multiplicity of formats and the emergence of a variety of software products, each with its own idiosyncrasies, the early phase of user self – sufficiency appears to have ended. Flood of online resources and systems has created a series of barriers, the removal of which is being addressed through instructional classes or one–on–one customized sessions offered by librarians. With the millions of Web sites that generate responses to a search, users are turning to the library information desk staff for help in finding and evaluating responses form these sources, as well as guidance in finding print materials.

PERSONAL REACTION:

I thought that this article was rather interesting in reading how on libraries are becoming a major focus for students. This was not what I was expecting to read with today’s abilities of the Web to find the information that one needs. I seem to find my information by the Internet verses actually going to the library. One thing that will always keep the library up is that it is hard to find articles that really date into the past. Libraries are starting to have bigger and faster computer labs that way students can use the access to find those articles or information that one is looking for. One thing for sure that students will probably have troubles finding on the Internet will be actual copy of books. Books will never go 100% publish on the Internet. The Internet does bring people together when looking for information. I was doing a study on LIM’s (Linear Inductor Motors). I found my information at a British site and was able to e-mail to someone whom working on this new technology. That was something I was not able to find in a library due to the recent break through.