Library vs. Internet

THE library and the internet are repositories of our collective knowledge. Libraries and the internet host our cultural heritage, the memory of our present and past civilization.

We live in the information age, where access to many wonderful internet resources is just a few quick clicks away. But the internet is not a substitute for a library. A library has a very systematic way in which information is catalogued to enable searchers to locate the desired information. The internet, on the other hand, has no system for consistency. Different search engines to their databases in different ways. The accuracy of both library information and internet information are dissimilar. In a library, the information is selected, reviewed, evaluated, and catalogued. Information found in the library are selected for specific purposes and specific reasons to be included in the collection found inside the library. Internet information on the other hand, has no evaluation criteria. Anyone can publish anything on the internet without restriction.

Libraries and the internet are major sources of information that researchers commonly use, for purposes of academic assignment and to obtain reliable information that can be utilized to researches. A library is a sea of books, educational magazines, newspapers and so on for people to dive into, explore, discover and build knowledge. Unlike a library, the internet is a universe of computer networks where researchers can search for any kind of information, bad or good, simply by opening the network. As sources of information for students, libraries and the internet have many similar but different aspects such as time, reliability, and accessibility.

The use of both library and the internet will depend on the researcher. In a research the material cited on paper needs to be up to date to ensure accuracy. The rise of the internet has presented researchers with new sources of information. The ease of locating an info in a vast array of data on the internet is a tempting alternative to visiting the library. There are numerous benefits to relying on libraries for research purposes. The information stored in the library is usually of quality, and librarians take great pains to ensure that the periodicals and books housed are reliable sources. Libraries often include material that cannot be accessed on the internet, or at least cannot be accessed for free. The library and the internet seem to be serving the same purpose in the lives of the researchers; it is just a matter of pick.