Comments on: Explaining Authority (Part 2) http://acrlog.org/2009/06/08/explaining-authority-part-2/ Blogging by and for academic and research librarians Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:32:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Maura Smale http://acrlog.org/2009/06/08/explaining-authority-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-127591 Maura Smale Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:23:37 +0000 http://acrlog.org/?p=1652#comment-127591 Great post, Olivia. I agree that discussing why information was generated and where it comes from is really beneficial to students. And we certainly should encourage their skepticism, though I sometimes wish we could redirect it a bit, i.e. wouldn't it be great if they were more skeptical of the Internet (or at least realized that it's not the best fit for <i>every</i> information need). Recently I find myself spending more and more time on these topics in my classes. It's so easy to forget that undergraduates (esp. freshmen) have little to no experience with scholarly information -- they haven't been required to use it yet. A colleague of mine recounted that she asked a class to define "journal," and to a one they all equated the term with a diary. I've tried to keep that in mind while I'm teaching, too. Great post, Olivia. I agree that discussing why information was generated and where it comes from is really beneficial to students. And we certainly should encourage their skepticism, though I sometimes wish we could redirect it a bit, i.e. wouldn’t it be great if they were more skeptical of the Internet (or at least realized that it’s not the best fit for every information need).

Recently I find myself spending more and more time on these topics in my classes. It’s so easy to forget that undergraduates (esp. freshmen) have little to no experience with scholarly information — they haven’t been required to use it yet. A colleague of mine recounted that she asked a class to define “journal,” and to a one they all equated the term with a diary. I’ve tried to keep that in mind while I’m teaching, too.

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