Google vs. the Library (Part III): Assessing the Quality of Sources Found by Undergraduates

Georgas, Helen

doi:10.1353/pla.2015.0012

Cited by 21 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…3 Currently, both GS and academic library discovery systems are main search tools for academic users who aim to find scholarly information. 4 However, despite their popularity and similarities, there exists a lack of empirical studies that comparatively analyze how and why academic users use both systems to find information resources. In particular, a comparative analysis of academic users' perceptions regarding the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two systems has not yet been fully explored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparative Study of Perceptions and Use of Google Scholar and Academic Library Discovery Systems

Oh¹,

Colón‐Aguirre²

2019

C&RL

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Google Scholar and academic library discovery systems are both popular resources among academic users for finding scholarly information. By conducting an online survey with 975 users from more than 20 public research universities across the United States, this study comparatively investigates how and why academic users use these two resources. Results show that the ways participants used both resources were similar, and both were perceived as highly accessible and useful. Academic library discovery systems' perceived comprehensiveness, subjective norm, loyalty, and intended use were higher than Google Scholar, while Google Scholar's perceived ease of use, system quality, and satisfaction were higher than that of academic library discovery systems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparative Study of Perceptions and Use of Google Scholar and Academic Library Discovery Systems

Oh¹,

Colón‐Aguirre²

2019

C&RL

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“…Besides punctuation errors, common mistakes included not recognizing the difference between a website name and a section of the website (or an article on a website), the inability to differentiate between a journal name and an article name, the inability to locate the name of the author of an online encyclopedia, magazine or Web article, misinterpreting information found on the internet and not providing accurate information regarding primary sources found on the Web. This finding suggests that librarians may be well served in taking time to acknowledge internet searching in library sessions and to teach students to be "smarter" about searching the Web, a point Georgas (2015) makes in her study of student use of Google and library databases (2015). Indeed, evaluation is an important area that the researchers would like to address in the future.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student bibliographies: charting research skills over time

Lantz

Insua

Armstrong

et al. 2016

RSR

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Purpose The purpose of this study is to compare two bibliography assignments completed after one-shot library instruction to determine which research skills first-year students retain over the course of a semester. Design/methodology/approach A rubric was developed for citation analysis of student-annotated bibliographies and final bibliographies. Each assignment was scored on a three-point scale, and four criteria were assessed: the quality of sources used, variety of sources used, quality of annotations (for first assignment only) and citation accuracy. Findings Students scored highest on the quality of sources used in both assignments, although there was a statistically significant decline in overall scores from the first assignment to the second. Students had the most difficulty with writing annotations, followed closely by citation accuracy. Students primarily cited journal articles in their annotated bibliographies and reference sources in their final bibliographies. Website use increased notably from one assignment to the other. Originality/value This research is unique in its analysis of two separate bibliography assignments completed by first-year students over the course of a semester. It is of interest to librarians teaching one-shot library instruction or any librarian interested in assessing the research skills of first-year students.

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“…They are different in multiple aspects, namely, aggregation-based library databases vs crawling web system as a source of data, broad vs specific discipline coverage, specific and sophisticated users vs a broad and heterogeneous population and well-defined structure vs informal structure (Ortega, 2014). Much of research over digital libraries and academic search engines has revolved around comparative evaluations on the coverage of scholarly literature (Neuhaus et al , 2006), the quality of search results (Georgas, 2015), citation correctness or accuracy (Martin-Martin et al , 2018) and systems performance (Bates et al , 2017; Brophy and Bawden, 2005).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparative analysis on digital libraries and academic search engines from the dual-route perspective

Cao

Zhang

Zha

et al. 2021

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Purpose Digital libraries and academic search engines have developed as two important online scholarly information sources with different features. The purpose of this study is to compare digital libraries and academic search engines from the perspective of the dual-route model. Design/methodology/approach Research hypotheses were developed. Potential participants were recruited to answer an online survey distributing at Chinese social media out of which 251 responses were deemed to be valid and used for data analysis. The paired samples t-test was used to compare the means. Findings Both information quality (central route) and source credibility (peripheral route) of digital libraries are significantly higher than those of academic search engines, while there is no significant difference between digital libraries and academic search engines in terms of affinity (peripheral route). Practical implications In the digital information society, the important status of digital libraries as conventional information sources should be spread by necessary measures. Academic search engines can act as complementary online information sources for seeking academic information rather than the substitute for digital libraries. Practitioners of digital libraries should value the complementary role of academic search engines and encourage users to use academic search engines while emphasizing the importance of digital libraries as conventional information sources. Originality/value According to the dual-route model, this study compares digital libraries and academic search engines in terms of information quality, source credibility and affinity, which the authors believe presents a new lens for digital libraries research and practice alike.

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Google vs. the Library (Part III): Assessing the Quality of Sources Found by Undergraduates

Cited by 21 publications

References 37 publications

A Comparative Study of Perceptions and Use of Google Scholar and Academic Library Discovery Systems

A Comparative Study of Perceptions and Use of Google Scholar and Academic Library Discovery Systems

Student bibliographies: charting research skills over time

A comparative analysis on digital libraries and academic search engines from the dual-route perspective

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