Google in the Research and Teaching of Instruction Librarians

Abstract

This exploratory study assesses the differences and similarities between how instruction librarians in Western Canada use Google and how they instruct students to use it. Survey results indicate that these librarians do use Google but can be influenced by faculty to present Google negatively to students.

Google and the scholar: the role of Google in scientists' information‐seeking behaviour

“…Janes, 2002; Pomerantz, 2006; Crane, 2007; Miksa, 2007; Carr, 2008; Nichols and Rowlands, 2008). Librarians have criticised Google for what they believe is a negative effect on students' and academics' information‐seeking behaviour (Sorensen and Dahl, 2008). Bell (2004) summarised this situation by stating that “Google has become the symbol of competition to the academic library” (p. 15).…”

The Truth Is Out: How Students REALLY Search

“…For example, Taylor (2012) has found that students search erratically through resources and make weak attempts at evaluation. Sorenson (2008) found that students mostly start with Google and other search engines, and then may go to library web sources (p. 487). Holman (2010) studied students' mental models of the Internet and traced many retrieval problems to an inability to understand the structures behind Internet search engines (p. 24).…”

‘Power on’: Googlecracy, privatisation and the standardisation of sources

“…They have focused only in the supply of educational materials, and the public sector more generally is relinquishing its capacity in this area. While the literature has criticised Scholar on the grounds of its low "quality assurance levels" (Sorensen and Dahl, 2008;Bell, 2004) or due to 'Panoptican' concerns, there is an overwhelmingly positive view of the advantages of the tool. This paper has aimed to contribute to the construction of a more balanced assessment, by sketching some of the current and future challenges and tensions inherent in the above processes.…”