What Students Don't Know August 22, 2011

New article on the ethnological research done this year in Chicago at the University of Illinois reveals the difficulties students and librarians face bridging the gap that separates student need and librarian research help:

What Students Don't Know

August 22, 2011

In lieu of librarians, whose relationship to any given student is typically ill-defined, students seeking help often turn to a more logical source: the person who gave them the assignment -- and who, ultimately, will be grading their work. “[R]elationships with professors … determine students’ relationships with libraries,” wrote Miller and Murillo. "In the absence of an established structure ensuring that students build relationships with librarians throughout their college careers, professors play a critical role in brokering students' relationships with librarians," they wrote.

Because librarians hold little sway with students, they can do only so much to rehabilitate students’ habits. They need professors' help.

What kind of help? A professor could create an expectation for students to talk to us about their assignments, to look at the options of databases, to learn a few useful searching tips and techniques. Tell them they need to Google like a librarian. We'd love to discuss it with you. Come visit soon.

--Micaela