Tag: researcher

blog ethics

If you are a librarian, why do you blog? For whom do you blog? One researcher is on a quest to find out.

If you are a librarian, why do you blog? For whom do you blog? One researcher is on a quest to find out.

From the WEB4LIB listserv:

An Invitation,

I am a doctoral student at the University of North Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. I have recently started a project that seeks to determine what ethic (if any) is at work in the blogosphere. Also, I am trying to uncover any “duties” bloggers think they may or may not have and to whom.

Please consider visiting http://blogethics2004.blogspot.com and sharing your opinion by commenting on some questions I have posted there.

I will be posting a completed research paper on the site in January for your open comment. I may use quotes from the site in that paper.

Many thanks,
Martin

Martin Kuhn
Roy H. Park Fellow, Ph.D. Student
Journalism & Mass Communication
University of North Carolina
CB#3365

it’s all about the books?

Librarians love Google… and books, of course.

Earlier this week, Jessamyn posted an excerpt from the Playboy interview with Google founders Sergei Brin and Larry Page. Brin said, “Actually, more and more librarians love Google. They use it. They do an excellent job helping people find answers on the Internet in addition to using their book collections.”

I use Google almost every day. I like the interface and the search results listing, and usually I’m looking for something specific. Plus it’s integrated into my browser (without the annoying toolbar). I don’t use it for academic research, though. I wouldn’t use it to help a student do research, except as a finding tool for a resource I know should be online somewhere (like government information). I digress. I did not intend this to be a libraries v. Google rant.

What I take issue with in his statement is the implication that the only thing libraries have to offer to supplement Google is books. Books are great sources of vetted information that every researcher should use. However, in addition to books, libraries provide access to scholarly journals and indexing resources that are not on the public Internet. Libraries are more than books, and it is apparent that Brin either has forgotten this or does not want others to remember it, since it’s in his best interest if Google takes precedence over, say, EBSCOhost or InfoTrac.

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