I realize that it has been awhile since my last post--and for that, I apologize to my readers. A lack of inspiration and a wealth of school projects and assignments have conspired to make life busy and force me to prioritize. For anyone working full-time and going to school on top of that, prioritizing is a reality (so those of you thinking about enrolling in an academic program while continuing to work--take note!).
One of my recent assignments--one that I'm still working on--has been a great introduction into what reference materials have to offer. The project has been extremely time-consuming, but I think in part that is due to my stubbornness when it comes to using print sources instead of online sources. I hate to rely on online resources because 1) not everyone library patrons is familiar enough with a computer to use them easily (so I would hate to only be able to recommend these sources to library patrons) and 2) online resources are not 100% infallible. Computers/servers/websites can freeze or break down; being unfamiliar with print resources if this were to happen would be a huge detriment to connecting patrons with the information they need. So, given the choice to use print or online versions, I will choose print and exhaust that source before trying the online version.
The online version usually has one major benefit (aside from the obvious one of accessibility) over the print version: better searchability. I saw this in practice when utilizing one source to search for information needed for my current assignment. A print source, Encyclopedia of Associations, had four separate volumes (although 3 were parts 1, 2, and 3 of Volume 1). A concerted search of what I was looking for was unsuccessful because I was trying to reconcile my terminology with the terminology the resource used in its various indexes. Also, since this wasn't the most recent edition of the resource, this fact could also have been a factor in my search being unsuccessful--the information just wasn't available when the edition I was using was published. And so, I turned to the electronic version, Associations Unlimited (this source is available to me through my university's library. Not only was I able to make much more complicated searches than the print version indexes allowed, I could also use some of my terminology since the online version was more forgiving in its recognized searching terminology.
Despite, the advantages of currency and searchability of the online resources, I still do like and appreciate print sources. I like being able to glance at an encyclopedia page and see sub-headings that may lead me to exactly the information I need. Depending on the encyclopedia's website (if it has one), a user may or may not be able to do the same thing without scrolling through a long entry or having to click to another page. The print sources that I got acquainted with as part of this assignment were (for the most part) easy to navigate. I was also surprised with some of the sources I found just by browsing around the shelf of a source I needed; The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft was one unusual find. I like this serendipitous finding of other interesting resources that comes with browsing through print sources. This doesn't always happen with online sources.
I can't imagine that I am alone in my preference for print sources, although I keep reading opinion pieces where people claim that books are going the way of the dinosaur. I would be interested to hear other opinions on this. Are print or online resources preferable? And why?
