On one of my listservs mentioned this FREE ebook entitled, Educating the Net Generation. It is available in PDF or HTML format, and you can either download the entire book (huge file) or chapter by chapter.

Wow, it looks to be a very interesting read. So, why am I talking about it on a medical library blog? Well these Net Generation students will be your medical students, your interns, your doctors, your surgeons, and eventually your administrators. Know what they know, learn how they learned, so that you and your library can be relevant in their continued learning.

Here are two brief blurbs from Chapter 13, Net Generation Students and Libraries.

"Given that this generation of college students has grown up with computers and video games, the students have become accustomed to multimedia environments: figuring things out for themselves without consulting manuals; working in groups; and multitasking. These qualities differ from those found in traditional library environments, which, by and large, are text-based, require learning the system from experts (librarians), were constructed for individual use, and assume that work progresses in a logical, linear fashion."

"What are some of the major disconnects between many of today's academic libraries and Net Gen students? The most common one is students' dependence on Google or similar search engines for discovery of information resources rather than consultation of library Web pages, catalogs, and databases as the main source of access. Since students often find library-sponsored resources difficult to figure out on their own, and they are seldom exposed to or interested in formal instruction in information literacy, they prefer to use the simplistic but responsive Google. Another disconnect is that digital library resources often reside outside the environment that is frequently the digital home of students' coursework, namely, the course management system, or CMS. Library services are often presented in the library organization context rather than in a user-centered mode. Libraries emphasize access to information but generally do not have facilities, software, or support for student creation of new information products. All of these disconnects can be remedied if appropriate attention is paid to the style of Net Gen students."