#15 On Learning 2.0

I think the section of the Iceberg article that I agree with the most is the "Reliance on User Education". We put an incredile amount of time and resources into teaching our patrons how to use the library; what if we put half of that towards making our resources easier and more intuitive to use in the first place? User education will never go away, of course, especially in graduate and advanced classes. However, I do believe that we need to rethink how we get patrons to use our resources. If it takes a 2 hour class just to learn how to do the basics of finding a book or article, then something is wrong! It is one of the major reasons that our new patrons go to Google. It is easy, intuitive, and you get something back (even if it frequently isn't the best "thing" for what you need).

I've been intrigued by more intuitive models of resource discovery lately; in particular, Innovative's new Encore product, which is being beta-tested at Michigan State University (and other sites). Play around with it here:

http://www2.lib.msu.edu/

or directly here:

http://catalog.lib.msu.edu/screens/encore.html

Neat-o!