1. On the idea that students aren't using the physical library -- It isn't because the library doesn't have Starbucks fraps and lemon poundcake (although that would be nice.) It's because faculty do not necessarily ask students to do the type of research that requires the reading of a whole BOOK, a format that still largely exists only in hardcopy. It's always "find scholarly articles" when half the time students can't understand what they're reading because they aren't at the stage of cognitive or academic development to comprehend in-depth research articles.

2. Articles online v. hardcopy -- Students mostly concentrate on the articles they can find online. Not a bad thing necessarily, but students sacrifice content for convenience about 99% of the time. Not everything is available online due to copyright and a new publisher trick places a 1 year embargo on online journals (arrrgghhh!) so that libraries HAVE to purchase the print if they want the current issues, etc. etc.

3. Physical libraries not needed? Let's just say that the more the online environment grows, the more stuff that's out there, the more EDUCATION is needed so that students can locate relevant and quality information sources. I see myself as a "research counselor" of a sort, students come in, they have no idea how to find items that are more academic in nature, where to look, or how to recognize them when they do find them. Students want to ask a live human being how to find what they need. (And no, chat room reference isn't the same thing!) It's psychology and sociology -- people feel more comfortable in a physical place, getting help from a physical being. Students need help with information skills in order to be successful in today's workforce. It's up to librarians and faculty working together to create research assignments that help students build their information literacy skills. (See http://www.ala.org/acrl/ilintro.html for more information on information literacy.)

Do I wish that everything was online? Yes and no. I would love to be able to tell a student that we can find everything they need for their research online, even though I think that items online lend themselves to the "don't think about just copy and paste it" mentality or worse yet, "don't read it, just print it out on 37 reams of paper, take it home, and still don't read it." But the publishers are not going to let everything go to online distribution. It's dollars and cents to them, and right now they don't see the fat bottom line with online that they do with hardcopy.

We don't need to reinvent ourselves, we don't need to install whirring foam machines. I agree that we can take great leaps forward in making the library an inviting and comfortable place, but that's not the real issue, is it? (Please tell me it isn't.) We need to collaborate more with faculty to make sure students are using appropriate information sources, both online AND hardcopy (as long as hardcopy exists). What's a library FOR, anyway?

My dos centavos for today.

-- Celita DeArmond, reference and instruction librarian, University of Texas at San Antonio (posted 11/12, 1:55 p.m., U.S. Eastern time)

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