Student Research in the Digital Age

August 22, 2012

A Day in the Life of a Student Researcher – Take One: Student approaches the library information desk looking for help on a research paper.

STUDENT:  I’m working on a research paper for school and I need to find a book resource on “Topic X.”
LIBRARIAN:  [Searches the online catalog to no avail.]  We don’t seem to have any books in our collection on your topic, but we might be able to find something for you in one of our online databases.
STUDENT:  It has to be from a book.
LIBRARIAN:  Some of our databases include book materials or digitized versions of entire books.
STUDENT:  My teacher says we can’t use the Internet.
LIBRARIAN:  <sigh of exasperation>

A Day in the Life of a Student Researcher – Take Two: Student arrives at the library information desk approximately 2 minutes before closing on a Saturday afternoon.

STUDENT:  I need to find an article out of Newsweek about the 9/11 terror attacks for a school paper that's due Monday.
LIBRARIAN:  Well, those would be in our back issues archive, but we’re about to close, and they don't checkout anyway. Fortunately, we have online databases that contain Newsweek articles from that time period that you can access from home. Do you have a computer with Internet access?
STUDENT:  My teacher says it has to be from the magazine, it can’t come from the Internet.
LIBRARIAN:  <Sigh of resignation> 
[Dejected student leaves empty-handed, certain of a failing grade on this assignment.]

A Day in the Life of a Student Researcher – Take Three: Student returns from the weekend Monday morning and turns in the bibliography for a research paper assignment.

TEACHER:  I see you have your Internet source. Where are the two magazine sources and your book source?
STUDENT:  The library only had one book on my subject and it was a kid’s book.Then, they wouldn’t let me check out the magazines and I didn’t have enough time to look through them at the library.
TEACHER:  Did you try their online databases?
STUDENT:  Their what?
TEACHER:  They have databases full of book and magazine information available online through their website.
STUDENT:  But I already had my Internet source.
TEACHER:  <sigh of desperation>
[Student grumbles back to his desk to work on his slouch, and the teacher drifts off to her happy place, sipping Mai Tais on a tropical beach with George Clooney.]

Back in the day, a research paper assignment in school meant hours spent at the local library immersed in dusty periodicals indexes, old magazines, and 30-pound reference volumes, riding a Snickers™-induced sugar high with a stack of note cards in hand, prepared to write furiously until the hand cramped into a gnarly disfigurement or the library locked its doors – shooing away a small but dedicated fraternity of bleary-eyed coffee zombies until the next day.

With a wealth of digital information literally at their fingertips 24/7, today’s student researcher is free from the tortures and turmoil of the pre-digital "dark ages," and must now navigate a different set of hurdles; chief among them is distinguishing the good stuff from the garbage in the age of Google and Wikipedia.

For its part, MCPL is dedicated to providing reliable online research material, and has devoted considerable resources to building a database collection that is the envy of public libraries nationwide. The challenge for the Library, as illustrated in the opening scenarios, is getting the word out to our student researchers and their teachers that a goldmine of fantastic online resources awaits their discovery through the MCPL website.

To that end, the North Independence Branch recently hosted an afternoon workshop for the William Chrisman High School faculty. Over 100 teachers and administrative staff attended the 3-hour workshop to get a taste of MCPL’s database resources and learn why they can be such an invaluable, reliable alternative to the ocean of dubious material and misinformation available on the Web. The Library is grateful for the opportunity to partner with local teaching faculty to spread the word about our online resources and inspire a new generation of young researchers to dive in and explore.

Kyle K.
North Independence Branch