The Great Debate: Print Versus Electronic Resources

This week’s topic has been of great debate within our online community. Nancy and Gloria have very relevant points that it appears that print is becoming obsolete and that rarely is a student spotted using anything but online sources for research. Nancy also made the comment that she can’t recall the last time she used a dictionary – she uses google. I agree. I can’t remember the last time I touched one either.

So what does this mean? Should we have a book burning bonanza and saddle up with software? I entertained the thought. One needs to consider all potential possibilities in pursuit of the best solution. Why do I need print resources after all? I couldn’t think of any real reasons. Many of the problems cited with electronic resources in our course notes are indeed issues, however many of them can be overcome or dealt with. For example, the concerns of “advertising of sites” and “the lack of acceptable authority” can be removed if students are given credible sites to access information. The “ease of plagiarizing by cutting and pasting” and a “lack of student skills to distinguish best site from among many” are combated by teaching our students information literacy strategies. The argument that “searches (are) limited to number of computers in school library or lab” makes me laugh- there are at least 60 computers in our school with internet access and one decent set of encyclopedias. Ha!

(Yikes. I’ve talked myself into the book burning option. Time to consult The Voices of Reason – other colleagues in my district, my mentor, the international teacher librarian forum and, of course, the text. If this is such a hot idea, surely others would have burned their reference sections by now.)

The text has some excellent quotes that have caused the pendulum to swing back to the middle:

“The Web, albeit a unique one, is merely one more reference tool for school library media centres.” (p.101) Perhaps it would be hasty to have but one tool in my toolbox (even if it is a deluxe Swiss Army knife, which I am convinced is the only tool a woman needs). What if this tool breaks down? What if our users do not enjoy using this tool? What if our users are tactile learners or visually impaired and need to have print resources?

The Web is “not a source of information but rather a means of communication” (p.103). I’m not sure I agree with this. I think it is BOTH a tool for communication (email) and a source for information (Wikipedia).

So onto polling colleagues in my district and those on the international TL forum. As you can imagine, the answers were widespread. Interestingly, only one librarian (in a private school in the US) suggested going totally digital. Most suggested keeping some print resources, if only for the reason that electronics and internet connections can let us down. Many use their reference section as a base for teaching lessons. Hmm. Sounds a bit like teaching “library skills” in a formal way which is not my style.

I was really curious to hear what my mentor thought on this topic. He is a) ruthless at weeding and does not have a resource in his library that hasn’t been used in one year; and b) the King of research and information literacy skills. He is likely one of the most knowledgeable TL’s I know. Even he keeps print resources, albeit a bare bone collection that is supported by website links on his library site.

So, after a week of interviewing and probing into the reference sections of libraries near and far, I believe that print resources do have their place in a library, however not in the quantity that has been maintained in the past. The cost for quality online resources is significantly cheaper than print ones and is, for most students, the preferred vehicle to access information. We must remember, however, that it is our role to provide a variety of resources and tools to our users, and the internet is just one more tool.