help on the net

[m.lee]

matkisso at opal.tufts.edu wrote:
: In article <451j18$i6d$1 at mhafm.production.compuserve.com>, Deborah A. Steinberg <73414.707 at CompuServe.COM> writes:
: > Regarding asking for help on the net:

<snip>

: One thing in the letter struck me.  It was to the effect of, "What, do you tell
: each other to go to the library?!"  My first thought was, "Um, nobody has to
: tell us.  We go look things up on our own."  However, as has been pointed out,
: we often ask someone what the best starting place might be.  

I have to agree that it is too easy to heap coals - but as a librarian 
who arabesqued into industry for the money, plain and simple, I must 
express my concern that many students find library hunts unaided safaris 
into the unknown - reference is increasingly centralized and consequently 
unspecialized.  Many of these students are TOLD to go to the Net, in a 
copout.  Whenever I essay research any more all I seem to generate is 
long lists of ILLs, even though the topic is taught as a major where I'm 
fossicking.  I miss working with students very much, but the attitudes of 
some of my colleagues - pfui.

If libraries were "marketed" like the net, it would be a better world, 
but the attitudes are still self-satisfied in too many cases.  That's why 
library schools are going out of business across the nation.

Michaele Lee Huygen
out of academe