[BC] Re: libraries vs on-line research

[Blaine Thompson]

Donna Halper wrote:
> how one erroneous "fact" is quoted thousands of times in cyberspace by 
> people who NEVER checked the original to see if that's what it really 
> said.  Partisan websites and broadcasters do this all the time-- and 
> before the flame wars begin, I say again that BOTH sides do this-- 
> cherrypicking "facts" to make their case and then assuming nobody will 
> check the original.  It's a real problem for those of us who want to 
> do fair and accurate research.
>
> As has been said elsewhere, the big issue is still the haves versus 
> the have nots.  Many libraries in rural and poor parts of the country 
> cannot afford all the fancy-shmancy databases with the newspaper 
> full-text information, and as a result, students who use those 
> libraries are behind in doing their research, while students from 
> wealthier neighbourhoods can get full-text of many major newspapers 
> and magazines, which helps them do their school-work (assuming they 
> don't plagiarise... sigh...).
This is probably more my area than most folks, as my day job is in a 
university library.  I'll second Donna's comments and add that errors 
occur offline as well!  Many professors can't correctly cite their 
sources in a journal article.  We have seen academic plagiarism (Sokal!) 
as well.  Plagiarism amongst university students happens too but 
professors are fighting back with such wonderful websites as Turnitin 
(http://www.turnitin.com)

If you're a parent, run one of your child's term papers through it.  The 
results are sometimes very amazing.

I won't offer much opinion on going to a library versus using its 
website resources - or the debate between the resources of larger versus 
smaller libraries.  As I'm fairly niche into academia, I don't follow 
the financial plights of public library systems.  Fort Wayne is home to 
the second largest genealogical collection in the world (number one is 
the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City).  I know our public library system 
is better than some and insufficient when compared to others.

But it's the same in radio right?  Not everyone can be WOWO, WBZ, or WINS.

Now, back to looking at that Cingular commercial and thinking how 
annoying it is...

Blaine Thompson
Fort Wayne, Indiana