Information literacy

Tara Crisafulli

Prof. Harden

FYSM

            Technology has forever change the way people read, write, and educate themselves. When one thinks of technology something such as a card catalog does not come to mind. The “old school” ways of a library have been changed due to a simple computer. If I remember correctly, when I was in fifth grade I would have to dig through multiple different draws of a card catalog before finding the card that you needed. This being very time consuming and aggravating needed a change; an online card catalog. Along with this online catalog, technology has advanced many different aspects of information literacy.

             The use of an online catalog does not just save time, but it is more convenient and organized. If one wanted to find out if there are multiple copies of a book, or if they were check out, it could be done in a heartbeat. On the rare occasion that all copies are checked out, or the library does not have the book you need, one would turn to loaning from other collections. Due to the fact that these other collections are at other institutions, it makes it hard to find out what they have. New York connect now makes it possible to search for a book with in collections that belong to colleges/universities around New York state. Then allowing you to check out the book, and have it delivered to your school. The only flaw in this is the fact that it could take up to a week for the book to come in.

            Time is a reoccurring problem that technology is able to sweep under the rug. Loaning books from other collections is very beneficial, but there is one more tool that makes Connect New York look like an item of the past; online search engines. Search engines began with Google, Yahoo, and Ask Jeeves  then continued to stretch to things like  Wilson web, Pro quest, or Lexus Nexus. Engines such as Google give you results that match up with you input. This does not necessarily mean that it has anything to with the topic, or item you are looking for. Where as Pro quest, Lexus Nexus, or Wilson web are a more developed; when searching you are able to narrow down your results. These engines let you search by key word, topic, time period, or type ( newspaper article, novel, journal etc.).  This allows one to access information in a timely, less aggravating manor.

            The ability to locate, identify, and access information is a large part of society.  Some may consider the purpose of technology is for timely access, and as stated with in this blog, technology has done its job.