Surprising things students don't know

Contrary to how librarians see themselves, a recent study in Illinois concludes "[t]he idea of a librarian as an academic expert who is available to talk about assignments and [guide students] through the research process is, in fact, foreign to most students. Those who even have the word “librarian” in their vocabularies often think library staff are only good for pointing to different sections of the stacks." What Students Don't Know

It's not that students are not succeeding in finding information to use in their papers, it's that "They’re taking very long, circuitous routes to their goals..." which can result in a dislike for the research process and possibly education in general.

Here are some other observations:

• Faculty and librarians make assumptions about students that frequently overestimate their skills - assuming they have some idea, for example, of what a scholarly source is
• Students who were interviewed mentioned Google more than twice as often as any other tool, but have little knowledge of how to use Google to find good academic sources
• The central dilemma for librarians:
  
  • "librarians are more relevant than they have ever been, since students need guides to shepherd them through the wilderness of the Web", yet
    
  • “Students showed an almost complete lack of interest in seeking assistance from librarians during the search process.”
  • "Librarians are believed to do work unrelated to helping students, or work that, while possibly related to research, does not entitle students to relationships with them."
    
• The central solution (and problem)
  • Because librarians hold little sway with students, they can do only so much to rehabilitate students’ habits. They need professors' help. Unfortunately, professors are not necessarily any more knowledgeable about library resources than their students are. “Faculty may have low expectations for librarians, and consequently students may not be connected to librarians or see why working with librarians may be helpful,”
  • One big reason for this: "library directors see the library as serving primarily a teaching function; professors see it above all as a purchasing agent."
• One part of the solution for the researchers in this project - putting more of an emphasis on pragmatism vs. idealism. Seeing this pragmatic approach in a more positive light. Seeing it as helping students avoid their long circuitous research processes and substituting much more efficient search methods.