Redefining the Role of College and University Archives in the Information Age

1996 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 272-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Brown ◽  
Elizabeth Yakel
Author(s):  
Frank Menchaca

This chapter considers the role of libraries and educational publishers in the information age. Studies show that, for most college and university students, the trigger for research remains the classroom assignment. Tasks associated with specific learning objectives—writing a paper, preparing an interpretive reading, engaging in historical or statistical analysis—still motivate students to engage in research. What has changed is the fact that students no longer rely on librarians, libraries, or traditional publishers for information resources. They go directly to search engines. Today’s learners are, however, quickly overwhelmed and, despite being “digital natives,” struggle to evaluate information and organize it to build ideas. The ability of publishers, librarians, and libraries to address this issue will determine their relevancy in the 21st century and, perhaps, the success of students themselves in the information age. This chapter reviews a wide variety of literature and experiential data on information literacy, findability, metadata, and use of library resources and proposes how all players can re-think their roles.


Author(s):  
Linda Corrin ◽  
Tiffani Apps ◽  
Karley Beckman ◽  
Sue Bennett

The term “digital native” entered popular and academic discourse in the early 1990s to characterize young people who, having grown up surrounded by digital technology, were said to be highly technologically skilled. The premise was mobilized to criticize education for not meeting the needs of young people, thereby needing radical transformation. Despite being repeatedly discredited by empirical research and scholarly argument, the idea of the digital native has been remarkably persistent. This chapter explores the myth of the digital native and its implications for higher education. It suggests that the myth’s persistence signals a need to better understand the role of technology in young people’s lives. The chapter conceptualizes technology “practices,” considers how young adults experience technology in their college and university education, and how their practices are shaped by childhood and adolescence. The chapter closes with some propositions for educators, institutions, and researchers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Umme Kulsuma Rashid ◽  
Oli Ahmed ◽  
Muhammad Alamgir Hossain

As humans, we need to connect with one another, our friends and families, our culture and country. Present age is the era of information and technology and social media. College and University students spend significant amount of time on Social Networking Sites like Facebook etc. The present study was conducted to explore role of number of friends on Facebook on the relationship between individual’s need for belongingness and Facebook addiction. A sample of 180 university students was selected as sample through the non-probability sampling technique. Findings suggested that male Facebook users had significantly higher number of friends on Facebook than female Facebook users. Findings also explored significant positive correlation among need for belongingness, number friends on Facebook, and Facebook addiction. The relationship between need for belongingness and Facebook addiction was partially mediated by number of friends on Facebook. The study findings would be helpful to mental health practitioners to effectively deal with emerging problem of Facebook addiction.


2021 ◽  
pp. 149-154

According to the original idea, a sustainable future is expected to keep humanity and our habitat on Earth free from drastic, catastrophic changes, while also allowing ideology-free progress with beneficial scientific, technological, and cultural advancements of society. Changes in human society have occurred throughout history, sometimes rather slowly, some other times with dramatical speed, even by revolutions. Nevertheless, in our recent past many processes have accelerated to levels never experienced earlier, achieved primarily through a staggering range of scientific and technological advances, followed by cultural changes, some of which have not been anticipated. This was a consequence of associated better living standards for many, which also resulted in a major population growth on our planet. Although a pandemic like Covid-19 or other major international events may temporarily reduce the pace of some global changes, as of now, such events do not appear to cause major slowdowns of fundamental changes in the main trends. Therefore, while facing an accelerating future, there is today a much more urgent need for purpose-focused innovations and for their most important sources: real, nature-based science, and truth-committed scientists and technologists. Ramifications for culture and society in general are also essential. More action would be required to counter the cultural pandemic of the information-avalanche of trendy simplicities dressed up as “know-it-all” excuses, used by many in our society. Their intent is to skip the effort needed for real, science-based education and for logic-respecting thinking with responsibility. Especially, in the age of WWW and Internet, it would be highly important to formulate reasonable expectations for a code of “Internet-Integrity”, as a Cultural Innovation, that would help to provide better focus on truthfulness and fact-based understanding of nature, society, and culture in our rapidly evolving Information Age. In turn, such a “Cultural Innovation” could also lead to a more broadly-based participation, hence more successes in the development of new, purpose-focused technological innovations, and at a deeper level, in the enhanced, further development of their scientific foundations.


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