In the introduction and Chapter 1 of Thomas Mann’s book, “The Oxford Guide to Library Research” he discuss how the internet should not be used as the “end all or be all” of researching sources. Even though the internet provides a convenient and quick way of accessing information, there are other means (library) and structures (library) that can be of better use than Wikipedia. According to Mann, there is an ongoing debate about the libraries and whether or not it is becoming restrictive in its access to information in comparison to the virtual world. Mann does not agree with this statement: “While the former [internet] apparently overcome the where restrictions of bricks-and-mortar facilities, they do so only at the unavoidable cost of imposing other significant and inescapable restrictions of what and who” (xiii). The what and who that Mann refers to that the Internet restricts what is being made available and who has access to those resources. The Internet might have fees and certain costs applied to the resources that researchers are trying to access and that in and of itself is a restriction. I agree with Mann, in the respect that sometimes I find a really great website that has a plethora of information regarding a particular topic and all I can do is look at the resources that they have because there is a fee for accessing those “great resources that I want.” I almost feel tantalized, taunted by the Internet because I can look but I can’t access. Some researchers (students especially) might not be able to afford the fees and costs that it might take to access certain information on a particular website. Further along in the introduction, Mann discuss the steps of researching and the being processes that it takes to hypothesize, generalize and articulate one’s idea. Mann suggests that when researchers are searching by subject that they use controlled vocabulary, know the type of literature, and the use of the subject expertise of people sources.
In fact, in Chapter One, Mann talks about the use of the Encyclopedia and how it is very beneficial in the first stages of researching. These steps are helpful and I found myself really thinking about my research methods. I tend to go into research gun-ho with only an idea and a subject at hand. I go straight to the databases and enter my idea or topic; I do not reach for the Encyclopedia nor do I form questions about my topic. Chapter one and the preface have really forced me to think about my research methods and how I can improve or weave in other ways of the beginning research process.
