Article Review #2 Trends in Print vs. Electronic Use in School Libraries

Trends in Print vs. Electronic Use in School Libraries

by Scott Lanning and Ralph Turner

To mark the release of the 2nd edition of Essential Reference Services for Today’s School Media Specialist (Canning and Bryner 2009) two librarians from the Gerald R Sherratt Library in Southern Utah University, Cedar City Utah, completed a comparative survey on print vs. electronic reference sources. 

They also recognized a comparison between academic and school libraries, using these two resources.  In their research, they chose to take detailed data of the use of print and electronic sources at the academic level (B.A., Masters, PhD) and surveyed the use at the school level (grade school and high school).  And in their resolve they found that electronic sources are favored at all levels in both types of libraries.

 At their own academic library in 2009, Gerald R. Sherratt Library, they found that electronic databases were used 16 times more often than print circulations. (663,785 electronic - 41,950 print) . The same inference and comparable data was found at other academic library levels, regardless of accreditation. But there was a realization that the higher the level of education the more print sources were used. 

“The more in depth the research needs, the greater the percentage of book use”. (p 213) 

Does this mean that higher levels of knowledge and information are found in print sources, or that more confidence is instilled in print sources compared to electronic sources for evidence serving a higher level of academics? Does this mean the reference collection at the academic libraries is more adequate than that found in school libraries, where reference resources do not serve the needs of its population? Or is it simply that people prefer one format over the other?

In school libraries, again the use of electronic resources drastically outweighed the use of print resources.  The print resources still can not compare with “enhanced searching, a wider range of sources and multimedia materials”. (p 217) But, it was found that the lower the academic level of the students and the smaller the size of the school, the more print sources were used. (p 217) Considering the fact that smaller sized schools might have less people to draw from, and thus smaller budgets, does it mean they produce a clientele with a lower GPA, and an environment which is not moving toward the importance of technology in education?  Regardless of school size, and wealth, schools must be aware of the draw towards media, and media tools for students. They must be willing to accommodate individuals from all walks of life, age, ethnicity with electronic resources.

Trends in popular electronic resources include Google, Ask and Bing. All three of these resources cater to individuals who appreciate an easy to use search box, colourful graphics and an endless amount of results for each query. They make it difficult for popular print resources such as World Book Encyclopedia, Compton’s Encyclopedia, and an assortment of biographies, dictionaries, almanacs and atlases to compete. These print resources are organized, available at different reading levels and can be found in every library, but they are also cumbersome, often outdated and do not lend to the “one click” response. Put simply, use of printed resources is dissolving. The one solid reason why they are still in use is because individuals are not trained, or savvy enough to use electronic resources. “Resources have changed, as have the tools and skills needed to access these resources”.

Therefore it is not only the job of the teacher-librarian to organize and administrate. It is a responsibility to provide and engage library users with new types of search engines, web portals, and specific resource sites. We are creating life long learners, and not consumers of the past. “ We seek to teach and inform, for we know that now more than ever, information literacy skills are vital in creating a better student and enlightened citizen” (p 219).

References

Lanning, S & Turner, R. (2010). Trends in Print Vs. Electronic Use in School Libraries. The Reference Librarian, 51:212-221. 2010. Taylor & Francis Group LLC