Making State Database Packages Work - Digital Reshift

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Chris Harris

Making State Database Packages Work
August 13, 2007

Thank you to Sandy Miller, teacher-librarian at North Hills Senior High in Pittsburgh, PA, for writing to SLJ to share your thoughts on my recent column about Wikipedia. Extending this conversation is critical, as the Wikipedia debate really is just one of the visible issues of a deeper root problem - what is the place for libraries in this digital age of increasingly unintermediated access to information. It is the same question that travel agents, real estate brokers, and many other information service industries are trying to tackle.

So, why Wikipedia instead of state-sponsored databases? The short answer is that Wikipedia is for users.

The long answer addresses nuances of naming conventions, human interface design, marketing efforts, and beaurecratic hassles. I would highly recommend checking out the Library Garden post from Amy Kearns: STEP ONE: STOP CALLING THEM DATABASES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! . I would also suggest that we stop using brand names and go with better descriptors. We can't really impact the poor interface designs on most of the resources except to either keep pushing vendors to change their products or to go with a third-party federated search product like WebFeat to handle the search. Once we have a product that users might actually be able to use, we need to do a better job of marketing it. Part of this goes back to finding a name that works for users, but it also means taking a user-centered approach to the portals. Finally, states need to keep working on ways to provide this for people - people don't tend to like beauracracy, especailly when they see things for "free" on the net.

I think these state resources are great, and we certainly do everything we can to highlight them on the library portals we provide for our member libraries. Please don't misinterpret my asking for a more open approach towards Wikipedia as a rejection of state provided databases. Consider it instead a warning that continuing to refer to a resouce that is a source of information in 30% of online households in such negative terms starts to make us look clueless.

Does your state offer a package of databases/online resources and if so, how are they marketed to users?

Posted by Chris Harris on August 13, 2007 | Comments (1)

August 17, 2007
In response to: Making State Database Packages Work
Sandy Miller commented:

I read Amy's post and I found it interesting. For the most part, I have called my databases "online subscription databases". My students never really had a hard time with the term databases. I typically begin the year by teaching students how to differentiate between non-subscription and subscription sources. Since my students are required to cite sources using MLA, the library provides Noodlebib. Noodlebib requires students to differentiate between "subscription databases" and "websites". I tailor what I teach to what is required in the classroom. To call databases something other than databases at this point in time would probably cause some students undue stress when it comes time to cite sources :) Now back to Wikipedia. I am not totally against Wikipedia. I use it to find current tech information and some pop culture facts. It is user friendly. I like the mind map feature. However, I still like to know the authority of my information. It matters. I think that unintermediated information is great for hobbyist but edited info is a requirement for most researchers. I would feel better about Wikipedia if there were more editorial controls, less acts plagiarism, and a reduction of vandalism. The fact that probably less than 30% of households use state provided resources should make librarians feel clueless. Librarians are the, perhaps unsaid, professionals entrusted and responsible for marketing these publicly funded resources. I present subscription databases to parents at open houses, to teachers during in-service training, and to students in relation to research assignments and personal needs. With meaningful instruction, these sources are not impossible to use. We need to promote these resources asap. I think that if we wait until companies make databases easier to use, they will disappear. Now I know that my students will not use subscription databases at all times. I teach students how to locate and evaluate websites to include Wikipedia (I love showing students the history tab of an article!). Once students learn that not all information is created equally, they are able to choose wisely. By the way, we need to be information/media literacy teachers so that we are not replaced by garden gnomes as were most of the travel agents :) Have a great school year.