I don't think technology literacy is addressed enough here at J&W outside of the library (I think we all do a bang up job on this!). I always mention wikipedia in all of my BIs and I have only received a few students who actually know that wikipedia is editable by all.
Also, it appears that students don't have any use for podcasts or RSS. What they want is access, access, access. Full-text, full-text, full-text. Now, now, now.
With libguides, its great that we can incorporate RSS feeds but that isn't/wasn't the selling point for me.We can give the Point of Access information on exactly what they need right away! Put a widget to the library catalog right in libguide on global warming. Not a link, but an actual search box. Not just links to databases, but actual database search boxes (proquest has a widget feature, not certain about Ebsco). Enable meebo widgets to students can contact us, in real-time, when they run into difficulty. Students don't want bells & whistles (and if we get them without added extra work or cost, then yay!) they want 2.0 customization. They want relevant information, in full-text, right away and they don't want to click 20 times to get to it.
One university showcased here @ IUG has allowed a LIMITING feature in the OPAC to only search for items that are available. How often have you seen a student get frustrated when they do a catalog book search and everything is Lib Use Only or checked out?
The best technology gets the user to the information without them even noticing it. This is why Google is so successful...
Students are web savvy about the web apps that they use every day. But, they have no patience for evaluating what they see or recognizing new tech trends.
My 12 year old niece has an igoogle page, but she doesn't know what google docs are. She likes the pretty wallpaper choices and the youtube widget, but isn't aware of how these open-source web apps can help her in school.
We'll be teaching students about google docs and wikipedia in our eng comp classes. It's hard to stick rigidly with the ACRL IL standards when technology is changing what our students need to be made aware of.
2 comments:
I don't think technology literacy is addressed enough here at J&W outside of the library (I think we all do a bang up job on this!). I always mention wikipedia in all of my BIs and I have only received a few students who actually know that wikipedia is editable by all.
Also, it appears that students don't have any use for podcasts or RSS. What they want is access, access, access. Full-text, full-text, full-text. Now, now, now.
With libguides, its great that we can incorporate RSS feeds but that isn't/wasn't the selling point for me.We can give the Point of Access information on exactly what they need right away! Put a widget to the library catalog right in libguide on global warming. Not a link, but an actual search box. Not just links to databases, but actual database search boxes (proquest has a widget feature, not certain about Ebsco). Enable meebo widgets to students can contact us, in real-time, when they run into difficulty. Students don't want bells & whistles (and if we get them without added extra work or cost, then yay!) they want 2.0 customization. They want relevant information, in full-text, right away and they don't want to click 20 times to get to it.
One university showcased here @ IUG has allowed a LIMITING feature in the OPAC to only search for items that are available. How often have you seen a student get frustrated when they do a catalog book search and everything is Lib Use Only or checked out?
The best technology gets the user to the information without them even noticing it. This is why Google is so successful...
Students are web savvy about the web apps that they use every day. But, they have no patience for evaluating what they see or recognizing new tech trends.
My 12 year old niece has an igoogle page, but she doesn't know what google docs are. She likes the pretty wallpaper choices and the youtube widget, but isn't aware of how these open-source web apps can help her in school.
We'll be teaching students about google docs and wikipedia in our eng comp classes. It's hard to stick rigidly with the ACRL IL standards when technology is changing what our students need to be made aware of.
Time for an ACRL IL upgrade!
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