Reading Report # 4

“The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an Appetizing Alternative to Google”

by: Steven J. Bell

When it comes to research papers, students find internet search engines, like Google, to be a lot more user-friendly than library databases. Unfortunately, internet search engines provide a wide array of irrelevant information which the article refers to as “infobesity”. Library databases prevent all of the irrelevant information by only providing “nutritious” information on topics. Unfortunately, many students lack the ability to use a database properly. This article stresses that teachers, libraries, and database creators should work together to help boost the popularity, knowledge, and usage of library databases amongst students. Many creators are making their databases more user-friendly and they are adding additional services to increase the popularity of their sites, such as citation creators. Also, teachers and librarians can increase the usage of databases by offering tutorials and by requiring that assignments be completed with the use of databases instead of internet search engines. Another initiative to increase the use of databases is the “RedLightGreen” project where databases provide the same, simple search options as internet search engines. 

I definitely believe that databases should be re-evaluated so they will be more user-friendly for students. My college library has recently re-formatted their database access website and though the databases are helpful in narrowing a search topic, it still requires several steps to navigate to the actual article. If database access was more user-friendly and faster to navigate through, I do believe that more students would be able to access the proper sources they need. Not only would this make life easier for students but it would also make teachers more pleased because students would not be using irrelevant, unacademic sources in their assignments.