[11567] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
The Web and Research Papers
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sloan, Bernie)
Fri Aug 15 20:10:22 1997
Date: Fri, 15 Aug 1997 17:28:48 -0500
From: "Sloan, Bernie" <bernies@uillinois.edu>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
There's an interesting op-ed piece in the new issue
of the Chronicle of Higher Education. The article is
titled "How the Web Destroys the Quality of Students'
Research Papers", and is written by David
Rothenberg, an associate professor of philosophy at
the New Jersey Institute of Technology. It's in the
"Point of View" section (p. A44) of the 8/15/97 issue.
Rothenberg bemoans students' use of Web resources
as an easy and less-than-desirable way to gather
information for research papers. While part of his position
is based on the usual arguments about the quality of
resources found on the Web, he also notes that
students seem to be using books less and less, in
favor of readily available articles and other sources.
While Rothenberg, as a professor, takes "much of the
blame for the decline in the quality of student research"
in his classes, he also assigns a portion of the blame
to libraries. At one point he notes "Of course, you can't
blame the students for ignoring books. When college
libraries are diverting funds from books to computer
technology that will be obsolete in two years at most,
they send a clear message to students: Don't read,
just connect. Surf. Download. Cut and paste."
He also states: "Libraries used to be repositories of
words and ideas. Now they are seen as centers for
the retrieval of information. Some of this information
comes from other, bigger libraries, in the form of
books that can take time to obtain through interlibrary
loan. What happens to the many students...who
scramble to write a paper the night before it's due?
The computer screen, the gateway to the world
sitting right on their desks, promises instant access--
but actually offers only a pale, two-dimensional
version of a real library."
Bernie Sloan
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bernie Sloan
Senior Library Information Systems Consultant
University of Illinois Office for Planning & Budgeting
338 Henry Administration Building
506 S. Wright Street
Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: 217-333-4895
Fax: 217-333-6355
e-mail: bernies@uillinois.edu
