Standardized tests and study skills

[Peter Rivard <rivard@EARTHLINK.NET>]

On July 7, Peggy Gutha wrote:

While automation is definitely the wave of the future, some of us still
have paper card catalogs.  So we do still need to teach people how to use
them.  You never know when you might move to "Smallville, U.S.A." and need
to research "off-line".
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yes, indeed.  Not only that, but many large, noted research libraries still
have their frozen card catalogs in their buildings and they often contain
records for holdings which are not in the OPAC.

When this discussion started, someone stated that "...these children are
using libraries in which card catalogs and paper indexes are no longer
existing..." (paraphrased)  I found this statement a little disturbing as
well.  Academic, school, and public library reference rooms are full of
paper indexes, many of which are not available online.  Additionally, as a
researcher/student/teacher who spends literally hours every day online
utilizing the web and database vendors, I often find that the paper sources
are faster and more efficient, especially if the information sought is not
absoulutely current.  It is also important to remember that most material
more than a few years old is not indexed in electronic sources.

It is not now time, and it will probably never be time, to abandon the paper
tools in our libraries and depend on electronic sources exclusively.  If we
teach our students anything other than that electronic sources are only one
tool to access information, and not always the best tool at that, we are
doing them a disservice.

Peter Rivard
rivard@earthlink.net
Teacher of theatre arts/UK grad student of library science
For all the water in the ocean
Can never turn the swan's black legs to white,
Although she lave them hourly in the flood.
        Titus Andronicus  Act IV, scene ii