Iowans and Web Searching

Limits of geography irrelevant
to Iowans who use Web for research

April 8, 2004

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Internet is revolutionizing how Iowans do research, as easy access to information resources is no longer limited to materials found within the state borders.

"The Internet does even the playing field a bit between scholars at smaller schools like Drake and those at research schools with enormous libraries," said David Skidmore, professor of international relations at Drake Univeristy. "Databases, government documents, international media and primary sources that were previously unavailable at Drake or available only at considerable expense or delay are now easily accessible via the Web."

Describing the advantages the Web has brought to the process of gathering the latest information on his subject of interest, Skidmore said several thousand papers presented at the International Studies Association conference he recently attended are now all available online.

"Previously, these papers were available only in hard copy at the conference for a price," he said. "So I usually brought home no more than a dozen or so papers."

Libraries are strongly feeling the effects of the Internet as a promoter of equality among the thousands of institutions around the nation.

"We are sitting here in the middle of the country with a relatively small library and can be equal to places like Harvard or Stanford," said Diane Collett, document delivery/Interibrary Loan manager and library reports coordinator at Drake University's Cowles Library. "Students don't have to be at a big college to get all the resources they would ever need."

One might think that in the age of the Internet, the perceived need for libraries is diminishing, but polls suggest otherwise.

In a poll sponsored by the American Library Association and conducted by KRC Research and Consulting in March 2002, 91 percent of respondents "believed libraries will exist in the future, despite all of the information available on the Internet," according to an ALA press release. Eighty-eight percent "agree libraries are unique because you have access to nearly everything on the Web or in print, as well as personal service and assistance in finding it."

This personal service and assistance in finding information is what Marcia Keyser, coordinator of information services at Cowles, said is one of the most important aspects of a librarian's job, and the reason librarians are responding to patrons' changing needs in the digital age.

Keyser said employees of Cowles have been working with other libraries around Iowa to set up a way for library patrons to get expert reference help by connecting to the Web.

"A lot of people come to the library online instead of coming in person," she said. "We want to be there when they're online to allow them to ask questions. We understand that people hesitate to make a phone call to a reference librarian or come to talk to them in person."

In response to these concerns, a new program called "Ask Us Online" was recently implemented at Cowles in conjunction with three other Iowa libraries. Patrons are able to chat live with librarians to ask questions or search online together using a function that allows both parties to see and control the same Web page at the same time. Following the session, the patron is provided a transcript with all instructions and links from the session.

The service also provides live demonstrations of online resources, allowing groups of patrons to observe as a librarian demonstrates the ins and outs of using the Web to its fullest capacity for research.

"We just want to help people get the information they need," Keyser said. "It's easy to get results by doing a simple search on Google, but it's not always easy to get the best results or the results you need."

Keyser said the program has been in the works since last year, when Cowles and several other libraries started doing background research with other Iowa libraries. They interviewed companies selling the software needed to facilitate the program, and they tested different products.

"Some worked better than others," Keyser said.

For instance, some of them denied access to users whose computers were behind a firewall. Keyser said the problem with this was it would eliminate many students who do research from their workplaces. "We want it to be available to everyone," she said.

"We have a wide range of students, from the ones that live on campus to the ones we call 'adults with jobs.' "

Keyser said that although Cowles has worked with other libraries in the past, the four-way partnership for "Ask Us Online" was hatched from the libraries' shared desire to reach their patrons in the way that is most convenient for patrons. A total of seven Iowa libraries started out working on the project, but three of them dropped out before the program got under way. The program now includes Buena Vista Univeristy Library, Graceland University Library and St. Ambrose University Library, but more libraries may join in the future, Keyser said.

The relationship among the libraries is very important because "with this program, we'll all be helping each others' students," Keyser said. "We will be growing as librarians in this process because it will involve people outside our location."

Another program at Cowles has been in existence for going on 90 years, but it too is changing to reflect the digital age.

Interlibrary Loan first became widely used at Cowles in the 1920s, Collett said. At first, all communication between libraries was done by paper, and later by teletype. Now everything is online, allowing libraries across the country to easily borrow from each other to get any library materials a patron could ever want.

"Interlibrary loan allows patrons access to info that we do not have here," Collett said. "The whole process is a matter of sharing among all the libraries, and it really enriches research."

According to Interlibrary Loan's Web site, more than 6,900 libraries, resource centers and document suppliers around the world belong to the network.

Since Cowles is a relatively large library, it is known as a "lending library," which means it loans out more materials than it borrows, Collett said. In the first nine months of the fiscal year that started in June 2003, Cowles borrowed approximately 1,700 items and lent approximately 3,500, she said.

The Interlibrary loan program is changing as technologies improve. "We now scan most of the articles and send them electronically to the libraries that have requested them," Collett said.

Also, soon the articles that come in for Cowles patrons will be available in electronic form and sent directly to the patrons, so that there will be no need to use paper at any time during the process, and patrons will never even need to step foot in the library to receive copies of the materials they have requested, Collett said.

However, although the many people are reading their information from a computer screen, that doesn't mean libraries aren't checking out books, just like always.

The National Center for Education Statistics gathered statistics in June 2003 from 9,129 libraries around the country. The libraries reported that approximately 1.8 billion books were checked out in the fiscal year 2001.

At the Public Library of Des Moines, the number of library visits and the circulation of materials both rose from 1999 to 2001, according to NCES data.

Traditional libraries aren't the only places people are turning to when seeking information.

For instance, Libraryspot.com is a reference resource on the Web that is published by StartSpot Mediaworks, Inc. in the Northwestern University/Evanston Research Park in Evanston, Ill.

Libraryspot.com's Web site states: "We created LibrarySpot.com to break through the information overload of the Web and bring the best library and reference sites together with insightful editorial in one user-friendly spot."

Libraryspot exemplifies how people in Iowa can digitally move beyond the confines of geography to get information using a resource that is not based locally.

Skidmore identified the advantages of using more tailored online resources, designed for people with specific interests.

"I can join listservs that are devoted to particular communities of scholars sharing common interests," he said. "In the past, it was much easier for scholars in Boston to network with other scholars than for me to do the same from Des Moines. While it is still an advantage to be located in Boston, the gap has narrowed because I can identify and communicate with people of common interests from all over the world via the Web and e-mail. It really is a different world."

Despite the seemingly infinitely large ocean of information on the World Wide Web, traditional libraries have an idealistic appeal that Americans seem to cherish. According to the KRC study, 90 percent of Americans "believe libraries are places of opportunity for education, self-help and offer free access to all," while 83 percent "believe libraries and librarians play an essential role in our democracy and are needed now more than ever."

Keyser said she has always believed libraries and the Internet were meant to go hand-in-hand.

"When I first heard about the Internet in 1991, I thought this was naturally a library thing," she said. "Then I heard about an online dictionary, and I thought, 'This is so cool.' A person who hasn't been inclined to go buy a $15- or $20-dictionary can now go online instead of making something up or asking a friend. Now it's getting to be like that with all kinds of other resources."

Looking into the future of libraries, Keyser said she anticipates a lot of changes. "There is an effort to make it easier to use all programs in one unified interface," she said. "We will try to make it easier to get into all programs without having to jump around, because that confuses people. Right now there are dozens of formats, which is troublesome for many people."

"We want to make it so that all the different resources are available to everyone in a simple format, so that they can focus on getting the information they need instead of dealing with the actual technology," she concluded.