The Information Professional

The University of Western Ontario - Western provides the best student experience among Canada's leading research-intensive universities.

University-age students today are sometimes referred to as ‘digital natives’ – a group of people who have grown up with the Internet. But many young people are unsure of how to use computers and the Internet beyond social media or web-browsing purposes. Librarians are now helping students fill this digital void.

Libraries are looking to teach students how to optimize research and many now offer workshops on how to make sense of the information they find.  Librarians provide instruction on how to search efficiently within academic databases, using simple tricks such as adding brackets and asterisks to narrow down searches.

Nowadays, it’s important to recognize not all students are tech-savvy and for libraries to have support services for students through liaison librarians. These librarians spend time in research-intensive classes introducing students to the library resources available to them.

Read more here:  http://communications.uwo.ca/western_news/stories/2012/November/librarians_move_to_fill_void_for_digital_natives.html