Library is the repository of sources, resources and services for its users (Kumar, 2015, p. 259). Earlier, library was known as the store house of the dead tree media documents viz. books, manuscripts and manuals and their retrieval system was manual (Kumar, 2015, p. 259). Today, libraries are used for more than just book rental, but as tutoring locations for mentors and students, public meeting locations for local organization, and sponsoring interactive educational events inviting local and national contributors to literature. Figure to the left shows a section of a library dedicated to manuscripts and compared figure to the right shows students studying and books available to read. Some libraries are large enough to store old and new information.
Local residents would commute to libraries when open as scheduled. Some had extended night hours, when others would close at specific time. Where I live, there is one big central library, such as the NY Public library, and several smaller ones in different districts. The smaller ones are open less during the week and closed more readily due to emerging technologies such as automation, and less staffing.
Emerging technologies have changed the concept of the library and the accessibility of the material become easier (Kumar, 2015, p. 259) such as the internet. When patrons enter a library they are usually greeted by computer to search through the library catalog to find articles. The same catalog is accessible from their homes by way of the internet.
One of the first library portals on the internet was designed in 1995, known as the, Internet Public Library (IPL) by students attend the University of Michigan’s School of Information, after a faculty member thought it would be interesting and education for them to create a public library (Davidsen, 2008, p. 6). The difference between a portal and a website is that as explained by Davidson (2008), portals offered a subject directory to quality Internet sites and services parts of the library mission (p. 6). A library portal can take a very narrow point of view or an expansive world view and can be produced by educational institutions, commercial firms or governments (Davidsen, 2008, p. 6).
Google, shown below, and Yahoo are considered portals for all with internet access vs. portals tailored for specific audiences such as the Hunt Library available for ernie account users.
Hunt Library is one of two libraries that can be accessed by student, employee, and faculty members at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. A picture of the search bar is below similar to the google search bar above. Two objectives of IPL, as described by Davidson, 2008, it provides a teaching and research environment for faculty (p. 80), Hunt Library objectives are similar. Hunt Library, named after it’s first president Jack R. Hunt, highlights in part of it’s mission statement, acting as an academic support unit, and maintains flexibility and is proactive in meeting the changing information needs of its clientele (Embry, 2016).
I use Hunt Library as a resource to find information relevant to a body of work for educational development of cognitive skills and insight into tested hypotheses. An opinion remains one, until there is physicality behind it, which could be based on experience, tested hypothesis or scientific findings conducted by scholars. A scholar could be a teacher or expert in a field. Shown below is are a few scholars or newly certified experts dressed for a graduation posting in front of their alma mater.
A resource is scholarly in nature because experts spends years testing hypotheses, either to introduce a new viewpoint or interpretation or expand on an existing one. Once complete, they publish their findings on portals such as Hunt Library for professional development and educational purposes. Shared knowledge is powerful enough to change how we see things, literately, such as studies on GMO foods, gluten free labels. Many food brands have transitioned clearly labeling products that are gluten free because of FDA regulations.
Google and Yahoo, are popular portals that returns results with the use of a single word or more. For example, when googling leadership concepts, you receive multiple results ( 277 million) from social media profiles, blogs, databases and presentations that discuss concepts. Many results include just one search word instead of both. You can also see questions others queried in google about in relation to the topic, as shown below.
Some of the results are published by scholars, or people who are not scholars, but have an interest or in discussing the topic online. If you were to search for the same topic using Hunt Library, the results (877K) show literally works that include both words, mostly books and journal articles. You can limit your results by filtering to see full text only, scholars & peer reviewed only, etc as shown below.
Typical information on public portals are mostly opinions, trending news that can include opinions and evidence based information for quick review investigative research. Some portals have a section similar to Hunt Library, where you can search through scholarly books and articles. Hunt Library continues to be a great resource for further learning outside of course materials and I often use results found to create my own body of work.
Sources:
Davidsen, S. L. (2008). The Internet Public Library and the History of Library Portals. Journal of Library Administration, 43(1-2), 5-18. doi:10.1300/J111v43n01_02
Kumar, N. (2015). E-resources: Milestone in the history of library. Indian Journal of Library and Information Science, 9(3), 259-264. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1767579692?accountid=27203
Pellegrini, N. and Agostoni, C. (2015), Nutritional aspects of gluten-free products. J. Sci. Food Agric., 95: 2380–2385. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.7101
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