Metadata and Search Engines

The Internet Traffic Map above gives a visual of the activity that happens on the web. In LIBE 465 we discussed spiders or web-crawlers, bringing a whole new meaning to me of why we often call the internet the web.We learned that major search engines such as Google send out these web crawlers to gather information in order to determine how they order search results. Human-powered directories, on the other hand, use humans to determine the listings. How does knowing about this help me as an organizer of information? How does this help me teach information literacy skills?

The first thing this knowledge does is validate the important role of Teacher Librarian's. As students find themselves "...awash in a sea of information, not all of which is reliable" (BCTLA, 2010), the role of TL is critical. First of all, its important to help staff and students understand the value of human powered directories such as the databases available through the library webpage. It's important to help them see that these are designed by humans for educational purposes and that these humans have thoughtfully taken time to determine the worth of this information. A visual that comes to mind in explaining this is an overflowing garbage can which contains a few hundred dollar bills. With human powered search engines someone has sifted through the garbage for you determining, through a thoughtful process, the items of worth; with crawler-powered engines you have to do this yourself.  Databases save their users time by pointing them to credible sources. The key for TL's here becomes teaching users how to access these databases, so they can take of advantage of the work others have done for them in the search process.

But does this mean we should discourage students from using crawler-based search engines such as Google? Certainly not, as they can provide access to materials not included in human-powered databases. But the key here is to teach students to be discriminate about the information they are accessing; to teach them to determine what makes a site credible on their own. For this I would use Joyce Valenza's CARRDSS method: Credibility, Accuracy, Reliability, Relevance, Date, Sources Behind the Text, Scope (Valenza, 2004, p.65). As the BCLTA's Points of Inquiry expresses we want to encourage students to be "... reflective and critical thinkers who acquire the skills for independent learning" (BCTLA, 2011).

Works Cited:

British Columbia Teacher-Librarian's Association. (2010). BCTLA Position Statement: School Library Programs, Teacher-Librarians and Effective Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from http://bctf.ca/bctla/pub/index.html

British Columbia Teacher-Librarian's Association. (2011). The Points of Inquiry: A Framework fro Information Literacy and the 21st Century Learner. Retrieved from http://bctf.ca/bctla/pub/index.html

Maritime Museum of British Columbia, Internet Traffic Map. (2007). Retrieved February 11, 2012, from: http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/index-eng.jsp

Valenza, J. (2004). Power Tools Recharged. Chicago, IL: American Library Association