How Students Virtually Approach the Library

NELIG Annual Program 2013Kendall Hobbs

Reference/Instruction LibrarianWesleyan University

khobbs@wesleyan.edu

Discovery Tools

• Single “Google-like” search box to search most/all library content

• We tested: – WorldCat– Summon– EBSCO – Primo

The Study

• Students who recently completed a paper/project requiring sources beyond assigned materials

• “Briefly show and explain how you found resources for that assignment”

• “Use the four candidate discovery tools to search for your topic”

• Recorded with BB Flashback Express (from Blueberry Software)

Summary of Findings

• Tools started to look more similar than different

• No strong consensus on favorites or ranking.• Similar patterns in doing research and using

tools

General Search Strategies

• Basic keyword searches, then modify with facets, other terms, etc.

• Mostly articles, maybe some books• Abstracts • Fewer clicks are better• Rarely go past first page or two of results

Using Discovery Tools

• Good general understanding of facets, but vague on details

• Favorite facets: full text, scholarly/peer-reviewed

• They go with default settings

Wesleyan’s Current Home Page

WorldCat (Trinity College)

Summon (UConn)

Summon’s Subject Facets

EBSCO (U of Georgia)

Primo (Northwestern)

How Do We Teach This?

• Is “good enough” too easy?• From “how to search” to “how to evaluate

search results”• Discovery tool vs. subject indexes/databases• Does it really make much of a difference? • Rethink information literacy standards?

Some Common Concerns

• Is this “dumbing down” research?• Can we trust the process/results?• Future– Information scarcity– Information overload– ?