I'm receiving a few comments about this journal and the fact that those of us who
receive it can see that there might be an agenda (especially when you see the
advertising costs that are paid by those who are sponsoring the journal---ads run
from $1600 per issue and up---remember, the journal is free to the educator /
reader but it's being paid for by the advertisers who have their products promoted
through the journal). However, most of you are stating that you don't rely on just
these types of journals to select materials, equipment or services....that's not
the issue....the issue is:
Do your technology / network administrators read these journals? Do they make
purchases based upon what they read? How about your administrators? Do they also
read these free journals and make decisions based upon what they see / read / hear?
Do they pay attention to the advertisements and see connections between the
articles and the ads? Have they clicked on the "online journal advertisement"
areas to see who sponsors the journal--if it's free?
WE, as librarians, are taught to evaluate media, resources, materials, equipment,
services, etc....but we know that many of our colleagues are not taught these
things. Most are taught how to be an "administrator" of specific areas or how to
select or purchase items based upon recent trends (not necessarily based upon the
"best" performances). I'm not saying that these individuals don't use a variety
of resources to evaluate the choices that are made, but I wonder if they (and we)
are becoming so used to having information packaged in formats that "appear" to be
professional that we accept them without question? Do we evaluate the articles
written in these journals? Who are the authors? Are they independent writers or
are they on the journal's staff? What are their credentials? If we feel that it
isn't "our place" to point out these things to our administrators, teachers, or
other professionals, then are we truly teaching information literacy? Can this
make a difference when we start collaborating with our teachers on research topics?
Many of our students know of no other world than what they see today---but many of
US are overwhelmed with the amount of information that is thrown in our direction
each day---much of which we do not know if it is true or false. Thousands of us
give away personal information without even thinking twice; emails and spam lure us
into a false sense of security and then strip us of even our personal identity.
This may be a wild example of what I'm trying to examine, but I believe that
without professionals (such as librarians), many of our school administrators and
fellow teachers can be fooled into believing what they find online (and even in
print) is true and that many of the products that they see advertised are the
answers to the problems that they face....unless we teach them how to evaluate
their sources AND use more than one resource to examine an issue / item / research
theory.
Yes, there are a variety of resources out there that we subscribe to (not freebies)
that are also have an agenda (American Libraries, Knowledge Quest, etc.) BUT we
also understand, as professionals, that these journals present to us information
from individuals who are often practicing librarians who place their experiences in
print for us to evaluate and learn from---not necessarily to buy a product that
THEY have advertised in the journal. We also know that when we find a resource
that we want to know more about we ask others (i.e., LM_NET)....and as many of us
know, our colleagues often ask us for information on similar "online communities"
in their subject areas that share this much knowledge with one another. We are
fortunate in that we have one another to bounce ideas off of when we need to
examine products and services; however, I would still like to have you consider the
idea that maybe others around you might want to know how to evaluate "good and bad"
information or how to examine resources for bias, agendas, or other issues that we
teach our students when they come into our libraries. This is not to say that we
should be the "know it all" on campus or pretend that we know which journals
everyone should or shouldn't be reading, but to share with our colleagues the idea
that asking questions about something that they find online or in print isn't a bad
thing...it's a smart way to conduct research, business, and educational
instruction.
Just a thought.....
Shonda Brisco, MLIS
Trinity Valley MS / US Librarian
Trinity Valley School
Fort Worth, TX 76132
817-321-0100 ext. 410
briscos@trinityvalleyschool.org
"Those who have the highest expectations for the web in terms of student research,
are those who work
with it, and students, the least." -- LM_NET librarian
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