Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Libraries losing students to Internet teaching & learning

CHENNAI: The vast world of information available on the internet has many students deserting the libraries in droves.

“Only about 30 per cent of students use the library these days. Everything is available on the internet,” says P. Nisha, a second year B.E student from the Central Electrochemical Research Institute. “It is so easy to search for information on the net. I just need to type in a word. In the library, I would have to search from rack to rack, book to book.”

Libraries in schools and colleges seem to be losing patronage among students, as students like her consider the internet a worthy alternative. The internet, which has crept into study rooms, is slowly showing encyclopaedias and reference books borrowed from libraries their way out.

“Most people do not have the patience to search bookshelves anymore,” agrees S. Krithika, a second year B.E student from the Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology. She says that teachers, who offer book lists and references from the library, have also started to suggest specific websites, appropriate to their subject, which have reliable articles.

C. Satish, Senior Principal, D.A.V. Boys Senior Secondary School, Gopalapuram, endorses the practice of students using the internet for projects and assignments. “It is important to use technology to one’s advantage,” he says.

Most high school students have a time constraint since they would have to attend several classes even after school hours. “The internet helps them save time… It is very informative and students can make their projects better by browsing through different websites,” he adds.

“I had to work on a project related to HIV and AIDS. I sourced many facts from the WHO website. I also went through a few medical journals. I put them all together, added visuals and made a presentation in class,” says R. Roshni, a class XI student.

Bharath Kumar, a class XII student, also uses the internet regularly to look for information. However, teachers and parents are wary of the internet when it comes to credibility. “When it is a narrow topic demanding specifics, the internet may not be the best option,” says Swathi Kumar, Bharath’s mother.

It is the reliability factor that keeps some students from depending entirely on the internet. “There is a lot of online material on my subject, but it is hard to know what is right, what is wrong. Books are still more credible,” says Sumukhi Suresh, a 3rd year B.Sc. Nutrition student at MOP Vaishnav College.

Although teachers recommend specific web articles, she says most students depend on the college library first. “The internet acts as an extra tool, an added advantage,” she says.

For some teachers, plagiarism is the most worrisome aspect of widespread internet research.

“When a whole group of students have lifted material off the same website, we let them know this is not acceptable,” says an English lecturer from a women’s college in Chennai.

She actively promotes library usage in classroom hours.

“I give them a topic and send them to the library then and there. I expect them to come back to me and report what they have found, so they have no other option but to get used to using the library,” she says.

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