Pew Study Shows Students Prefer Web to Library

Many librarians suspected it was true, but now there's data to back it up: middle- and high-school students overwhelmingly prefer doing research at home on the Internet rather than going to the library. According to a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 71 percent of teens used the Internet as the major information source for their most recent school project, while only 24 percent used the library as the major source.

"Librarians and teachers probably know these things already, but this study documents it," says Amanda Lenhart, one of the study's principal authors. "We wanted parents to know just how much their children are using the Internet, and parents might not be as clued in." The study also points out that many students make use of homework help sites.

Still, Joyce Valenza, library information specialist at Springfield Township (PA) High, wishes that the study had also looked at how often students used subscription services, such as SIRS, InfoTrac, or ProQuest, available through school and public library Web sites. "A lot of the best material for projects just isn't available for free," says Valenza. "That's where libraries shine. It's okay to focus on the Net if you're searching for something current like the Arab-Israeli conflict. But if you're researching John Adams, you'll find a few brief articles, but not David McCullough's biography." She also says that educators need to remind students that the Internet, for all its breadth, isn't very deep. "Information from before 1996 doesn't exist on the Web, even in subscription services."

While Lenhart admits the survey results might look discouraging to librarians, she says that librarians nonetheless play an important role in training the students to find and use information. "We talked to lots of teachers" as part of the research, she says, "and they felt that librarians are helping students develop media savvy."

Researchers surveyed 754 12- to 17-year-olds with home Internet access. Ninety-four percent of the students said that they use the Net for homework. Forty-one percent of the online teens, the study says, use e-mail and instant messaging to correspond with classmates or teachers about schoolwork, and 18 percent of the students say they "know of someone who has used the Internet to cheat on a paper or test." The report, released in September, is available at the Pew Internet Project site at www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=39.