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Information Literacy Students Compare Google Scholar With EBSCO's Academic Search Premier
Academic reference librarianship has given me an opportunity to discover and develop two professional interests: online searching and teaching information literacy. The Association of Colleges and Research Libraries defines information literacy as "the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information."1 To become a successful online searcher, an individual must acquire all these skills. Imparting information to students about database content, indexing, and good search syntax and then witnessing their comprehension and application of this information are two of the greatest satisfactions a reference librarian can experience.
The launch of Google Scholar (GS) in November 2004 presented a unique opportunity for instruction librarians. Powerful search software had been deployed to canvass an unknown assortment of materials; the consequence was often perplexing, though potentially useful retrieval. By explaining and demonstrating GS's advantages and shortcomings, instruction librarians could exploit an ideal teachable moment.
During the past several years, I have been involved in teaching online classes for a one- credit library skills course. I have incorporated into it a database comparison exercise intended to have students experience GS's advantages and disadvantages. This article broadly reports the assessments students made concerning their interactions with GS and the traditional library subscription database from EBSCO called Academic Search Premier. A review of the issues that have accompanied the emergence of GS will help contextualize the database comparison exercise.
Discord Among the Brethren
GS naturally creates controversy among information professionals. It rankles bibliometricians, who, having scrutinized its retrieval, criticize its butterfingered handling of citations. It baffles librarians who are incredulous at the resource's inability to perform the simplest sorts of search results. Watching a student use GS when your library offers 200 subscription databases can really take the wind out of one's sails - if not bring down all the masts. It positively maddens everyone who took database integrity and transparency for granted. But GS encourages others, who, having embraced Web 2.0's perpetual beta, see it as a prodigious vehicle for attracting more users to library Websites, increasing use of library materials, and improving the status of libraries.
Peter Jacsó, whose vigilance has revealed the shortcomings of many databases and search software packages, has frequently highlighted...