Reading Response #3

The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google

Kathryn Smith
LIB 103
Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Discussed in the article, is the comparison of Google to Libraries when searching for information. Libraries are trying to figure out ways to compete with Google and appeal more to students through library resources, such as for example, here at UNCW, our Online Library Catalog, when searching the web. Today, many argue they prefer to use a technique that allows quick and multiple amounts of information to gather for whatever purpose; for example, a research paper. Traditionalist librarians or faculty members might argue stating research isn’t supposed to be convenient or easy. It’s a process of discovery in which one mines for new information, searches and thoroughly reads into it, and ultimately discovers the facts needed to produce a well-written paper.
What made this article interesting to me was how they compared Google and use of a library’s resources to good and bad food, “infoobesity” and “infodiet”. James Morris, the dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, describes the outcome of Google-ized research as “a junk-information diet, consisting of overwhelming amounts of low-quality material that is hard to digest and leads to research papers of equally low quality.” In contrast, Libraries resources, such as catalogs and databases are a way for students to “infodiet” allowing them to cut out the bad, “unhealthy” information. The only problem is this actually getting students to move from “infoobesity” to “infodieting”. Students need to understand by “infodieting” users can migrate from low-quality websites to the high-quality information libraries provide.
I am one of the many who fall under the “infoobesity” when it comes to finding information. Reading this article, I do agree there is better information out there provided by our libraries that I am still unaware of and still hard at understanding how to use. As my own suggestion in getting students in the habit of using these catalogs and databases provided at UNCW, I think it would be good to make it a requirement for incoming freshman; like in the class Freshman Seminar; to do a focus on Library Information and how to utilize it. It would also help if teachers made requirements in using the library catalogs for students when writing papers. For one of my freshman English classes, my professor made us get information to cite our paper from the library catalog; where we had to have at least 6 sources, and only two of them could be from the internet, such as Google. I believe this helped me gather an understanding and helped me become aware of other ways to collect information. If this was strongly enforced in more classes, Students will become more and more aware of the resources available, allowing them to get a better understanding, as well as familiarize themselves with how to use it. Eventually it may become more and more habitual for students to try using these catalogs and databases versus Google every time, when they need to write a research paper.