Research BEFORE the Internet and After the Internet

Research by Type

Then

Now

BOOKS
Finding books required diligent knowledge of subject headings or a really good subject specific bibliography.

Access was limited by the in-house collection and/or the luxury of time to order the title from Interlibrary Loan.

Evaluation was based upon the publisher, author reputation or third party reviews.
Finding books requires knowledge of keywords used on a topic, and the ability to use a computer.

Access is still mainly in-house however CSULB has access to over 4,000 electronic books as well as Link+ book delivery which can take as little as 3-5 days. In addition to purchased electronic books, individuals have access to many "self-published" titles freely available on the internet.

Evaluation of books is still done the same way however, researchers must carefully evaluate books published by individuals who bypass the traditional publishing process. Often "vanity press" online books lack validity or contain misinformation.

PERIODICALS
Finding journal articles meant the ability to use a print index which again required knowledge of appropriate subject headings or using references from a key publication.

Access again, limited by journal holdings or Interlibrary Loan.

Evaluation of article content was done by the peer-review process by the publishing journal in addition to analysis of all research on the topic and validation of article content.

Finding articles has become much easier. Many scholarly or popular publications have sold their content to research databases that the library pays for. One can find articles just by knowing a few key terms or an author's name and working knowledge of a computer.

Access to articles is available almost anywhere using a computer as long as a researcher is affiliated with a University. Many articles are also freely available on the web in the form of e-journals, organization sites and even personal pages.

Evaluation of articles provided by publishers is still performed in the same manner. However, articles published in e-journals or other web sites may not undergo the same level of scrutiny, if any at all. A researcher must learn how to determine the validity of content without the screening process of peer evaluation.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

primary sources
Finding primary documents was almost exclusively limited to specialized bibliographies and literature searches performed by librarians or found within references in journal articles.

Access to these materials usually meant a journey to the place that housed archives and special collections on a specific topic. Interlibrary loan was usually not an option for items such as state documents or one of a kind publications.

Evaluation of these documents was done by recognizing limitations of the time period and the information type of the source (newspaper article, government document, religious pamphlets etc.)
Finding primary documents has become much easier with the birth of the internet. More and more libraries and archives are putting digital collections online for public use.

Access can be as easy as performing an internet search. A search on the Library of Congress site will yield a wide variety of primary documents available for printing. Rare and fragile documents have been digitally preserved and are accessible to all level of researchers.

Evaluation of primary documents is performed the same way. However as time goes on, the content of web sites will be considered primary documentation. Electronic documents can be easily manipulated either by the original author or those accessing the site illegally. These primary document web sites will need a much greater degree of evaluation.

WEB SITES
Finding web sites is as simple as typing in a few keywords. Often times, the problem is finding too many web sites.

Access to most web sites is freely available. However, most scholarly peer-reviewed information is available only by subscribing to research databases.

Evaluating information on the Internet can be the hardest thing of all. Especially for the novice searcher. Sifting through thousands of web sites to find the perfect information source can be a difficult and arduous task.