Mat-Su College: Computer and Network Technology

Unlike with webpages, which anyone can write and put online, things in the library generally go through a few steps that ensure some level of quality:

• A publisher decides the topic is one worth writing about, and that the author is knowledgable enough to write the book or magazine article
• The publisher or author might have others check the content of the book before its published
• Our library decides to buy the book (and we generally read reviews before buying anything)

For these reasons, the library has a lot of good quality information and little bad information. In contrast, a search engine will give you lots of quality information -- but also a lot of bad information.

Simply put, it costs money to write, review, and publish high-quality information. The companies behind such information rarely give it away. Unless you're willing to spend money, you will miss out on some good articles and books.

Fortunately, the library provides immediate access to much paid material -- and, once you know how the library works, you can really get just about anything through the library for free.

The library is no harder to use than Google. Both offer one search box that provides instant access to millions of results.

But only the library's tools offer free access to all of the results and very powerful options to limit your searches.