"Information Navigation 101"

"Information Navigation 101: New programs teach undergraduates how to use the Internet and the online card catalog in search of the best sources"
By Andrea L. Foster

In the article, "Information Navigation 101" by Andrea L. Foster, the author argues that although today's college-aged students may appear to be technologically savvy, they are seriously lacking knowledge when it comes to using resources in the library to find appropriate academic information. Frances A. May, a library coordinator of user education and outreach states, "'students think they know more than they do.'" While this comment may seem harsh, I think it holds a great deal of truth. There are many avenues of research that most students have not even begun to tap into.

Foster informs the reader of the dramatic increases in digitally available text over the last several years and indicates that because of the increase "students are drowning in information." As a college student, I find this to be a very true statement. There seems to be so much information existing literally at my fingertips that it can become overwhelming to even think of sorting it all out. The entire process can become frustrating and as a result many students are turning to Google and Wikipedia for the easiest answers. While Google and Wikipedia remain constant references of my own (because I feel like I am at least somewhat capable of determining relevancy and authority), I think it's also important to understand other systems of "information navigation."

The article goes on the discuss a "kind of instruction [that is] occuring at colleges all over the country as part of 'information literacy,' a growing librarian-led movement to make students more adept at locating and evaluating electronic data." I experienced such instruction on more than one "class field trip" to the library during my college education. Although with each session (they were the same lesson repeated) I was able to get a better grasp on the concept of navigating, in my now senior year of college, I feel that I have only just now gained a level of understanding that could truly be useful to me in research projects. It may have been more effective if, instead of only one library session per class per semester, there were follow-up sessions. This way the information would not have to be so condensed into one 50 minute session. However, the ideal is not always the attainable. Its unrealistic to think that on top of all other duties, librarians should also make time to become full-time teachers university-wide.