WSJ on Libraries

Via John Blyberg:

http://www.blyberg.net/2007/03/19/didnt-i-just/

Tenuous WSJ Link:

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117391084682537392-qNtwMyrV5hF6_OvdZJdpIjRiplo_20080313.html

Meanwhile, with most teens turning first and foremost to the Internet for schoolwork, students are arriving in college unable to navigate libraries. At Minnesota State University Moorhead, collection-management librarian Larry Schwartz finds himself explaining to students that books are shelved by call numbers. “There’s concern in Libraryland about how we should serve these people who grew up with computers,” he says.

Matthew Kessler, a student I know at Western Michigan University, proudly avoids the school library. Given all the books and magazines it houses, “that place is a firetrap. I don’t go in there,” he says, only half-jokingly.

I’ll be taking this article to class for discussion tonight. The part about navigation intrigues me…