Journal 1

In Jill Jenson's article "It's the Information Age, So Where's the Information? Why Our Students Can't Find It and What We Can Do To Help." she highlights a very important view that even I have, that students are becoming less and less familiar with a library and more so with the Internet. Thought the Internet was a great invention, and it's uses are nearly limitless, it is very easy to get lost in the digital data jungle. Going to a librarian for consultation on finding an article or text is a thing of the past, that nice lady has now been replaced by browsers like Google and Bing. But even as helpful at finding information as these browsers can be, the indiscriminate property it has may very well be your bane. In looking for information on movies and theaters for your project you casually type in "theaters" into Google, the first link you click on is the time listings for the movies in the theater downtown. The second is how to install your very own home theater system, finally on the third link you fine a website with some of the information you are looking for, but it is just a brief article and it does not say where the original document came from.

I'll admit it, going to the library seems like a bit of a choir to me, because not only do I have to find a book or such on what I need, but I then must scan through it to find the parts I want to use. But even the library has changed with the coming of new technologies, there is still the nice lady behind the counter, but there are also some computers with software that you can use to type in the keywords to find a book relating to your search without the need of knowing an author. And just like the nice lady, this program will tell you if the book is checked in and where in the library you can find it. But again in agreeing with Jenson, I feel the youth is losing touch with the old ways of pouring through books at the library. Who knows maybe one day technology will fail and we will have to reteach ourselves how to use the library.

I am lost and don't know where I am going

I feel another question I always find myself asking is " What can I put in the search engine to get it so it understands what I am looking for?" I don't find myself having trouble getting to articles cause as soon as I saw that ERIC didn't have the full text I got on the library's website and was able to get it on the first try. I think the only reason I was able to do that was because I knew what I was looking for. Leave me to pick a topic or give me a wide rang to pick from and ask me to pick what is the best information to use and then I get lost. I know how to find resources but how do I know which one is the best resource for what I am doing. The internet has to much to choose from. The one thing its good for it to get a feel for what you want to find in books or journals.

Dr. Jenson has brought up a good point students coming right out of high school aren't taught a lot on research using a library and all it has to offer. I know when I was in high school we did a lot on lap tops and web searches. Even though we used it a lot in high school the teacher would give us most of the websites we would use to find answers to a project. So we didn't worry if it was a creditable source, the teacher gave it to us. When we had to give sources we found as long as they were in MLA formate and wasn't something that looked like it was made in some ones basement it was a good source. Now that I am asked to find scholarly journal I find myself lost and not knowing what I am looking for.