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Report on: "Using Google Technologies for Information Sharing and Library Instruction"
Worcester MA Report by: Bridget Rawding, Merrimack College |
| March 17, 2006 |
David Cobb, Curator of the Harvard Map Collection, Harvard College Library.
David Cobb spoke about the value of Google Maps and Google Earth, and the kinds of projects for which they can be used. He noted that while GIS is obviously very useful, it can also be clunky, and it is not user-friendly. Google Maps will not replace GIS, but it will compete with it, and it also offers competition to paper maps. MapQuest started it all with the launch of the MapQuest website, and it still has a large market share. But Google Maps has superior cartography, and it also includes visual imagery, so it is a strong competitor.
Mr. Cobb then demonstrated Google Earth, a software tool that is downloaded to one's own computer, and provides a 3D representation of the planet (http://earth.google.com). Google Earth has many uses as an educational tool; one can view hydrology, shore lines, and even create one's own digital elevation model. It also enables the user to incorporate many sophisticated layers, including viewing buildings in three dimension. Google Earth can help urban planners, landscape architects, conservationists, etc.
Google Earth provides very high resolution photography, useful to geographers, as Mr. Cobb demonstrated by showing its images of Mt. St. Helens. Urbanologists might find its detailed images of New York City or other metropolitan areas useful to their research. Similarly, Mr. Cobb demonstrated how one can view agricultural irrigation patterns in the Midwest.
Before moving on to a demonstration of Microsoft's own Virtual Earth project (http://local.live.com/), Mr. Cobb urged the audience to evaluate these products by viewing locations you already know (such as your own neighborhood). That is the best way to assess the quality and accuracy of what you see. Cobb noted that Microsoft's map system employs better quality aerial photography than Google Earth, due to a deal Microsoft made with the U.S. Geological Survey to acquire rights to use all their aerial photographs for TerraServer. However, Microsoft's user interface is clunkier than that of Google Earth.
Finally, Mr. Cobb addressed some of the other "real life" value of these services, as well as unresolved concerns. Conservationists can use these products to get a quick overview of work being done on wetlands, while average users might use them to preview a driving tip. For scholarly uses, GIS remains superior because it is filled with metadata; Google Earth is not, so we do not know exact scale, currency of data, etc. Finally, as data is updated, will old photography be archived, or simply overwritten? These are questions to keep in mind as products like Google Earth and Virtual Earth become increasingly popular.
Using and Teaching about Google Scholar
Angie Locknar, Instruction Coordinator for Engineering and Science Libraries, MIT,
Jennifer Hanson, Coordinator of Instruction/Reference Librarian, Emerson College
Jennifer Hanson spoke about how Emerson College Library has incorporated Google Scholar into undergraduate library instruction for the EN100 introductory classes. Librarians currently meet with EN100 students on three occasions. The first session provides an introduction to the library catalog and multidisciplinary databases such as EbscoHost's Academic Search Premier. In the second session, librarians teach how to find scholarly information. It is in the third and final session that librarians introduce Google Scholar. Students work on an activity that has them compare Google Scholar search results with those found in the catalog and a database.
Emerson College does not have federated searching at this time, so there is no link in Google Scholar to refer Emerson students to the library's collections. As a result, this instruction often sends students back to the databases, once they become aware of how many resources are actually available via library search tools. Ms. Hanson did note that they have found an increase in Interlibrary Loans for materials found in Google Scholar. She theorized that this is because students are so familiar with the Google search interface, where they do not need to worry so much about search strategy.
Angie Locknar then spoke about how Google Scholar is taught at MIT Libraries. She noted that the librarians do not have a lot of structured, general interaction with the undergraduate community, so they decided to focus on graduate students for teaching Google Scholar. In the past, the library would provide database-specific workshops, but over time they have found "theme-based" instruction is more popular with the students.
The Google Scholar workshop is highly interactive, based around a worksheet that has students compare search results for a particular topic in Google, a library database, and Google Scholar. The activity begins with an overview of Google Scholar and its strengths and weakness; librarians emphasize that Google Scholar is a BETA product, a concept that resonates with MIT graduate students. They also point out that coverage is not comprehensive, nor is the scope of coverage clearly defined. Through this activity, graduate students come to see the limitations of Google Scholar and the advantages of starting with the library's subscription databases for their research.
In conclusion, the MIT librarians teach that Google Scholar might be a good starting point for undergraduate research, but that it is not really appropriate for graduate level research.
Report by:
Bridget Rawding
Head of Public Services
Merrimack College
North Andover, MA.
bridget.rawding@merrimack.edu
© Copyright 1999-2006, ITIG ACRL/NEC Information Technology Interest Group. All Rights Reserved.
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