ABSTRACT
With the rise of distance education and changing student research habits, teaching
faculty and librarians are faced with new challenges with students working on
class research projects. The ways in which students are using, or not using, library
resources and conducting secondary research is changing in the modern digital
age. Studies show many students are using free Web sources instead of library
databases and scholarly articles, which presents a challenge for both librarians
and instructors seeking to help students learn the literature of their majors and
future professions. One study found that students at all undergraduate levels
indicated free Web resources were their first choice for conducting secondary
research (van Scoyoc & Cason, 2006). Another study finds that younger students
(the Millennial Generation) tend to use free Web resources rather than sub-
scription library resources (Holliday & Li, 2004). Students’ familiarity with
Google and proclivity for searching the free Web is a factor that librarians and
instructors must take into account with all students but especially with distance
education students. A survey of distance education business students in Ireland
showed that students’ first choice for information was either Blackboard or a Web
search engine, depending on their information need, following by the library’s
online resources (Byrne & Bates, 2009). Another study has shown that distance
students use the Internet for research more than on-campus students (Brouse,
McKnight, Basch, & LeBlanc, 2010).
