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Libraries Competing Against The Internet

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from the gotta-keep-up dept

Mon, Sep 9th 2002 11:01am — Mike Masnick
It seems with high speed internet connections in every dorm room, and more and more research materials showing up online, it's tough for the typical university library to keep up. So, they're adapting to the digital age by adding all sorts of "extra" features to try to draw people out of their dorm rooms and into the library itself. These include things like Starbucks operating within the library itself, comfy chairs, and other things to make the whole library-going experience more social and less isolated.
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4 Comments

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  1. identicon
    gray powell, 9 Sep 2002 @ 11:14am

    works and doesn't

    yea our library does that.. Put a big coffee shop inside, nice comfy leather chairs, and wireless laptops you can check out.. And then they are going to change it to make it close at midnight. Crock a shit

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    MeV, 9 Sep 2002 @ 11:42am

    Another place to study...

    Sometimes, your dorm room isn't as quiet or hospitable as you'd like. Idiot dorm mates, noisy party on the floor, whatever. The library is a good place to cocoon.

    If you want to nosh or drink coffee, the local Starbucks is better.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    lazy2register, 9 Sep 2002 @ 12:49pm

    It's about the material

    I think, it is about the material, one would get at the library vs Internet. These libraries have a hard time competing against the Internet to keep research papers, journals and other reference materials up-to-date. I have seen a trend where students are more inclined to Internet while writing a research paper, because it is simple and effective. I have seen some instructors who enforce that students should have at least 50% bibliographical references that are "non-online".
    I think that, on-site features such as Starbucks at the library would help if students can *actually* find what they are looking for. The competition for the content is really fierce and as I can see, so far Internet is winning.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Matt E, 10 Sep 2002 @ 6:59am

    Re: It's about the material

    I would say rather, that the Internet has a hard time competing with the library for content. The Internet only appears simple and effective when in fact for writing a research paper it is probably neither. Sure, some research materials are available online, but it is a pitifully small amount compared to the vast resources of a good research library. If there is good material for students to use on the Internet, chances are it is because the library paid for access to it. This is the library's material, not something that sprung from the primordial swamp of the Internet. That doesn't mean that instructors should require that materials be found offline. If a solid paper can be written with online sources, so be it. A good instructor will know the subejct well enough to recognize a solid paper based on solid research, whether the materials used had to be photocopied by someone inside a physical library or were printed from PDF files fetched through the library's electronic journal subscriptions.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]


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