h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

But it is.

(Didn't see Inspector Lewis, Hyp, but the odds are it should be decenty acted.)

It's easy to find information. What's not easy is finding relevant, accurate, verifiable information.

It might depend a bit on subject matter, but I don't think it's too difficult to sort out the reliable from the unreliable, provided you've got some critical awareness.

And that you're actually searching for knowledge as opposed to something to hand in as homework.

The quality control on websites is done by the people who put them up. If the site cares about accuracy, then they try to make sure the information posted is correct. If they are slipshod, then information is presented as gospel when it is in fact incorrect. And hten there are places where they deliberately put a political or religious spin on information in order to win converts to their positions. Truth is totally irrelevant in these instances.

With print reference sources there is someone to independently verify information before the volumns go into general distribution.

What concerns me nearly as much as the unreliability of internet sources is the trend for students to use the internet exclusively as a source of information. I have fewer and fewer people using my reference library each year. I agonize over selections for the reference library because the books are so expensive I want to make sure what I have is absolutely reliable. So it is a disappointment to me when the students totally ignore it and use Wiki or some other internet source where the information isn't nearly as reliable.

I am also concerned at the use of the internet for medical information. There is a lot of misleading, even dangerous medical information floating around, much of it anecdotal. I wish people would stick to sites run by respected sources, like Johns Hopkins or the Cleveland Clinic or the Mayo Clinic.

So, I see the current state fo the internet as too much information and too little quality control. We have wonderful sites with accurate information and sites that are pure hookum and a generation of students who can't tell the difference.

I love the amount of information the net puts at your fingertips - I'm writing from a background of having little information readily available though, having spent most of my time in various Sticksvilles. Wish I had a library like yours locally, Hyp.

There's always been dodgy information around, but then libraries started being selective (yes?) and reliable, and kids had text school books, and being critical about those would probably have been regarded as trying to cause trouble. So we've had a few decades where questionning sources or writer's motivations hasn't been taught in general. You could see the internet as a real instigator for switching critical faculties back on. Perhaps?

I'm really saying we need both, I guess, but we need some teaching in how to use them together.

Can't substantiate this but my gut feeling from school leavers coming into work, and from my niece's comments, is that they don't apply thought as we were taught to. They follow processes and don't problem solve or question results.

I spend time explaining why something is done, so they can find their own preferred methods, and they just look at me blankly and wait for me to show them step by step what to do .

My brother's independently voiced the same opinion about undergraduates he was teaching.

Waz (old enough to be a 'grumpy old' )

I don't see this as a major problem...more of a challenge.

The basic tenets of research pretty much demand a broad perspective of the subject. There is a lot of information on any given subject on the internet, a whole spectrum of perspectives, and if you want to get your facts straight, you can determine through a process of elimination which sources are or are not reliable.

Your librarian stare doesn't bother me. My sister's a librarian, remember????

You know, this is all oddly appropriate for the subject heading...

Inspector Morse was a right 'grumpy old...', he looked pretty scathing of Lewis's critical abilities at times (if not all the time) and straightening the facts and sorting the reliable witnesses from the unreliable, and the fraudsters and the downright evil-doers was key.

The problem with current students is that they very often *don't* have the skills to sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to information, often following the 'it was on the net, it must be true' theory. Of course, the same can be true of print resource as well. A major, major part of the academic librarian's role now is to teach students how to evaluate information.

And you wouldn't believe how many times I've had to explain the concepts of contents and index pages in books to students.

I didn't see the Lewis pilot, but I do like Morse very much.

I would have to say that the Insector Morse series is my all-time favorite British series. That's why I was so interested when I saw the trailer for Inspector Lewis. Kevin Whatley did a fab job portraying Lewis in the Morse series.

I also like the Midsomer Murders series. It is so much fun. There are some really over the top characters and situations. I am distressed because there are loads of episodes that haven't been shown in the US yet and aren't available here on dvd. I live in hope of eventually getting the newer ones.

Midsomer Murders becomes more as it goes on, and is an awful lot of fun.

If it should ever be aired in the US, don't miss Whately and Richard Briers in a one-off BBC TV play called 'Dad' (in it's UK release at least). It's a tough one to watch because its subject matter is very disturbing - abuse of the elderly. KW plays a son whose guilt about neglecting his Alzheimer's-sufferer-father drives him to blame the old man, and their relationship descends into harrowing cruelty.

Anyone expecting to see Lewis reprised would be deeply shocked, but it certainly proves that the man (in fact, both men) can act.

On second thoughts, don't watch it, watch something more cheerful instead. It took me weeks to get over it, during which AB disgracefully allowed me to buy all of the beer.

That sounds like a grim topic, but an important one. My dad had Alzheimer's. I'm sure I could relate to the frustration felt by the caregivers, but not to cruelty. I know it happens, though. It is just heartbreaking.

Richard Briers must be getting along in years. And I agree, he is a good actor. I was surprised the first time I saw him in a drama because I was used to him doing comedy.

And good for AB. You should be buying all the beer anyway.

It's true the print media can be just as misleading. Especially newspapers. I've heard two different local radio personalities in the last week say on air how they'd been misquoted and fabrications had been written about them.

At our library on our homepage we have subscriptions to a number of reliable online databases. We have trouble finding ones that aren't american-centric though. No offence, but we find we need more local content.

Our reference collections are getting smaller and smaller.

Speaking of english detective series, has anyone seen "The Last Detective"? I saw an ad for it the other day and thought I recognised the face, it's former Doctor Who, Peter Davison.

I suppose I should mention that I watched Inspector Lewis. I thought it was well done and certainly worth my time. So, I hope they make more of them.

they should definatly make more! it was realy good!