A letter from an alum about Technology in Teaching — 12/17/03 issue

December 16, 2003

Edward Tenner's December 17 piece on electronic resources available to the Princeton community particularly resonated with me. An academic librarian for close to a decade, I can identify personally with the comments decrying today's students' research habits.

As the article rightly points out, the proliferation of such "information illiteracy" is aided and abetted by the seductive allure of the Internet, which beguiles users with the prospect of immediate gratification. The sheer ease and convenience of Google has come to overshadow the cornucopia of other available resources, resulting in a fundamental change in the conduct of research in the Information Age.

I could not be more in agreement, therefore, with those like Professor Stanley Katz, Jacqueline Druery, and Jane Bryan, who recognize the important role which librarians can and should play in the development of critical information gathering and evaluation skills among students, which, one would hope, should be considered an essential part of their Princeton education.

David Ettinger '76
Washington, D.C.

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