Reading Report 4

The reading report dealt with the current alternatives libraries possess to counter the Google mania taking place today. While few would argue the overall superiority of these databases in terms of search depth, the convenience of other sites, predominantly Google, is causing students to take the easy way out. The effect of this means often sloppy research for college term papers, and overall simplified information, compared to its alternatives. The author, Stephen Bell, partially believes libraries are not focusing enough effort into making these alternative search engines, such as EBSCOhost, more attractive to students. He also ascertains that the reason for this is the lack of understanding of these sites by the library faculty.

I thought this article was extremely relevant to our class. Often times I feel I do not learn anything useful that I can use in everyday life in my classes, but I know that the search engines which were introduced to me in this course and detailed again in this article will definitely come in handy when I have to do research on any given topic, which I am sure I will do countless times in my future. I thought Bell had a great point about making the other search engines and databases look more appealing or “smell like fast food” in attempts to lure the students in. This may sound like false advertising, but I think once most students see what these alternatives are really all about, they will begin to use them on a more regular basis. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, maybe apathy, these search engines will probably never be as successful in terms of hits as Google. Google is simply too convenient. For instance, just to find this article I had to do a lot of searching, or at least a lot more than I would have used had I used Google. In today’s world where everything is all about speed, I am afraid Google is simply too guilty a pleasure to turn down.