Thing 34—On-Line Answer Sites

I work at an elementary school, and I have actually encouraged students to try to use some of the better screened sites (eg., WikiAnswers) to find the answers to their research questions. Part of my goal, both as a teacher and a librarian, is to help students learn how to become more self-sufficient in using the available resources and navigating the material that is out there. Also, these sites allow students to phrase questions in the way they think of them--unlike traditional search engines that need quotes, etc. The students like being empowered—I like them being more independent. By teaching them how the sites work, I can get them to see the benefits of not simply resorting to a Google search, since many of them do not have the experience or knowledge to evaluate the answers or material that such a search might result in. I think that people also like the sense of anonymity: if I am worried that my question might seem dumb or embarrassing, then I really don’t want to have to ask it of a live person.

The questions at some of these sites really run the gamut—from a simple plural in another language, to the curious (why are people ticklish), to how to get an extension on their taxes (I’m doing this on April 15), to game cheat codes, to what is meant by the words “economic stimulus.”
I think some of them are library questions, but some of them are either simpler or more complex. I wouldn’t want to ask librarians for help on my taxes—unless they also worked as tax accountants! I’m also not sure I would ask a librarian for cheat codes on a game, unless he or she were an avid gamer. But the other questions are certainly things I would ask. I also think a person could ask a librarian on advice for where to go to FIND the answers to the questions. That is often what I do as a school librarian.

People use these sites for a number of reasons. As I suggested above, most of us prefer to be independent. And somehow, it feels more independent to post a question on line than it does to ask someone more directly. I do think that we as librarians are often in the shadows, until we retrain people to recognize librarians as being not just technically savvy, but perhaps helpful and non-judgmental in recommending potential sources for information. Having some sort of web presence would probably help that. But it can be tricky. Working at a school, I find that the social networking sites where students spend the bulk of their time are places that we as a teaching staff are discouraged from interacting with kids at. (Ugh, an ugly sentence—sorry!) And I really don’t want to be available 24/7 for K through 8 students (or their parents). I’m trying to put together reference wiki pages that can enable greater “self-solving” but that doesn’t mean students will take the advice offered there.

I like the idea of slam the boards. I haven’t participated but think it might be interesting in the summer when I have more available time.