Against the Grain Volume 20 | Issue 2 Article 10 April 2008 Imperfect Tools: Google Scholar vs. Traditional Commercial Library Databases Julie Arendt Southern Illinois University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/atg Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation Arendt, Julie (2008) "Imperfect Tools: Google Scholar vs. Traditional Commercial Library Databases," Against the Grain: Vol. 20: Iss. 2, Article 10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7771/2380-176X.2737 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. Using Google in Technical Services from page 24 against thepeople grain profile and other Google products continue to develop, the usage of Google by Technical Services may increase or decrease, depending on the Instructional Support Technician, University Libraries assessed value of the product. Much remains University at Albany, State University of New York to be seen. It would be interesting to conduct LI B35, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12222 future surveys of this type to find out what other Phone: (518) 442 3628 • <[email protected]> interesting and creative ways there are to use Google in Technical Services. BORN & LIVED: Born in Brooklyn, NY, and lived in Chapel Hill, NC, and upstate New York. FAMILY: Partnered with one daughter. Rumors PROFESSIONAL CAREER AND ACTIVITIES: Cataloging, subject access, and from page 16 disability issues. IN MY SPARE TIME I LIKE TO: Making and listening to music, laughing, and FeedYourPlayer.com. Reported in the Post movies. & Courier (Charleston, SC), March 12, FAVORITE BOOKS: Anne of Green Gables and anything 2008, p.13B. by Rumer Godden. Talk about against the grain! Borders PET PEEVES/WHAT MAKES ME MAD: I hate it when Group Inc. plans to reduce inventory in order people fail to use their turn signals! to increase the number of titles it displays PHILOSOPHY: “Inner beauty” with the covers “face out.” Apparently, this H. Jewell Carol MOST MEANINGFUL CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: Earning is an approach that Wal-Mart has taken as my MLS while being a single parent, working full time, well. I wonder if libraries should follow and not knowing how to drive! continued on page 32 Imperfect Tools: Google Scholar vs. Traditional Commercial Library Databases by Julie Arendt (Morris Library, Southern Illinois University) <[email protected]> ike every other resource that a li- between publication and appearance in the da- to find special brary might offer, Google Scholar has tabase. These same faults could be pointed out materials that Lstrengths and limitations. Instead of for Web of Science, a venerable subscription could not be rejecting Google Scholar because it does not database. Another criticism of Google Scholar found through do everything that the library or librarians do, was that its definition of “scholarly” includes Google Schol- Google Scholar should be accepted or rejected materials that have not undergone peer review, ar, but library based on how well it assists in a particular step so it may lead users to this unvetted material. patrons are in information seeking. That step traditionally Again, this criticism also could be leveled not librarians. has been assisted by indexing and abstracting against a subscription database. For example, Simply having resources. In some circumstances Google book reviews, editorials and commentaries a controlled vocabulary or special materials Scholar is a better tool than the indexing and regularly appear in search results from Aca- is not good enough for a novice user. If users abstracting resources; in other circumstances demic Search Premier, even when the search cannot figure out the controlled vocabulary or it is not. This article examines the strengths is limited to scholarly (peer reviewed) journals. find the special materials, they cannot experi- and weaknesses of Google Scholar compared Instead of comparing Google Scholar to the ence these supposed advantages. For there to to subscription indexing and abstracting data- ideal resource, a fairer comparison would be be a clear advantage of a subscription database bases. It critiques college and university librar- to actual subscription databases. over Google Scholar, novice users should be ies’ continued use of subscription databases Some evaluations have explored whether a able to complete their work more easily with that fail to provide a clear advantage over subscription database produces better results the subscription database than they can with Google Scholar. than Google Scholar. When librarians conduct Google Scholar. Many subscription databases When Google Scholar was introduced, it test searches using advanced search features provide a clear advantage by simplifying ac- initially met with some praise and a fair amount in library databases, they get somewhat better cess to special materials or by leveraging their of criticism from the library world. Both the results with the database than with Google controlled vocabularies. The interface designs praise and criticism generally were deserved. Scholar.3-5 When college students conduct that highlight subject terms next to results sets, Unfortunately, early responses sometimes the searches, the advantage for the subscrip- such as those in EBSCOhost and Engineering compared Google Scholar to the library as tion database evaporates. The sources students Village, should be commended for their effort a whole1 or to an idealized vision of library find from Google Scholar are as good as or to guide novices to controlled vocabularies databases2 rather than to the real, imperfect better than those found through the library’s without interrupting users’ searches. Some indexing and abstracting databases offered databases.6,7 For these novice users, often databases and interfaces simplify users’ work in through the library. Some of the faults that subscription databases do not provide a clear other ways. For example, Web of Knowledge early commentators found in Google Scholar advantage over Google Scholar. provides citation assistance through EndNote included lack of a controlled vocabulary, lack Librarians may be able to use controlled Web, and full-text resources like JSTOR pro- of authority control, incomplete or uneven cov- vocabularies to produce more precise results vide easy access to complete documents. erage depending on discipline, and time lags from a database than from Google Scholar or continued on page 28 26 Against the Grain / April 2008 <http://www.against-the-grain.com> Imperfect Tools ... from page 26 against thepeople grain profile It has been argued that the subscription database is better than Google Scholar after a user learns how to use it.8 For most students, Reference Librarian, Sciences/Assistant Professor especially undergraduates, this amount of Morris Library; Southern Illinois University Carbondale database knowledge is unrealistic. Often 605 Agriculture Drive; Mail Code 6632; Carbondale, IL 62901 the end users of the library’s databases have 9 Phone: (618) 453 2779 • Fax (618) 453 5706 not had any formal training. If they receive <[email protected]> training, it often is a one-time guest lecture by a librarian or informal instruction at the http://www.lib.siu.edu/index.html reference desk. Because one-shot instruction sessions and brief instruction during reference BORN & LIVED: I was born and grew up in Neenah, Wisconsin. I have lived in encounters are the norm, there rarely is time Madison, Wisconsin; Bochum, Germany; Tucson, Arizona; Ann Arbor, Michigan; for most users to thoroughly learn how to use and Carbondale, Illinois. a database. Typically there is only enough IN MY SPARE TIME I LIKE TO: Bicycle, run, read and time to transform a complete novice database cook vegetarian food. user into a slightly-less-than-complete novice. Even when there is more time, the time spent GOAL I HOPE TO ACHIEVE FIVE YEARS FROM NOW: teaching a database reduces the time avail- I hope to have successfully earned tenure! able to teach information literacy skills. The HOW/WHERE DO I SEE THE INDUSTRY IN FIVE Information Literacy Competency Standards YEARS: In a lot of ways, the industry will be like it is for Higher Education from the Association today. Online access to materials will still be growing. Julie Arendt Julie of College and Research Libraries lists five The end of print will still be far from reality. Libraries capacities of an information literate person.10 will still be struggling to afford all the materials and Only one of those capacities deals directly with services that they would like to provide. searching techniques. As suggested by Diane Zabel, perhaps it would be better for librarians to have regular, ongoing collaboration with faculty to integrate or to find a way to purchase short-term access database requires several additional clicks, I information literacy throughout students’ disci- to a database, the time, effort, and expense wonder if the core message will get buried in plinary studies.11 Perhaps it would be better to involved are substantial barriers that should the procedures. Every minute spent teaching teach the broader information literacy concepts not be ignored. Doesn’t it make sense to in- these mechanics is a minute less spent on teach- in a separate, mandatory course and to use one- troduce students to appropriate free resources ing general concepts in database searching. shot instruction sessions