One major goal for teachers and librarians today is to foster “information literacy,” a set of skills that allows us to efficiently communicate what information we need, understand where and how to search, think critically about information and use it strategically to achieve our goals. Information literacy instruction typically involves activities like a discussion of what makes […]
Evaluating Sources
Is Wikipedia a Reliable Source? A Look Into Its Credibility
”Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That’s what we’re doing.” These oft-quoted words from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales demonstrate an interesting paradox: how can an information source be lauded as a modern-day Library of Alexandria while at the same […]
What Are the Best Free Websites for Learning and Productivity?
Today, there are tons of fascinating knowledge collections available for free on the open web. You can learn all about a new subject, acquire a new skill, or even take a complete university course from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. Often the trouble is finding these best resources, […]
How to Evaluate Podcasts: Tips for Finding the Best Podcasts
Podcasts, defined as a type of digital media with an episodic series of files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication, are a great way to consume information. Since they are most commonly listened to on portable media players, you can keep up with the news or learn a new subject during your daily commute […]
An Analysis of Two Very Different Online Collections: Use, Users and More
The two collections discussed here are the Japanese Woodblock Print collection at the University of California-San Francisco, representing a digitized version of physical holdings, and Arts Journal, a gateway to third-party public domain sources on the internet. While the collections share a few surface similarities, their intended user groups and organizational schemes have little in […]
Media Consolidation and Conglomeration: The Library Consequences
Over recent decades, consolidation has been a consistent theme in mass media and other types of information providers, with the emergence of large information empires which continuously acquire new subsidiaries. This conglomeration is a challenge to LIS because the values of these companies are directly contrary to many of the core values of librarianship. First, […]