During the session held for schools, a young man stood up. He was essentially putting forth his point that Google or the internet in general can provide the same information easily. The NLB presenter responded why this was not so, but I think that explanation was lost on the questioner who did not appear convinced.
Just as surely, we know that this belief is a leading opinion among internet users, and among school students.
Can internet search be the new textbook?
Leading online tech publication The Register (whose contributors and readers are mainly information technology professionals) stated in a 2004 column: "In the United Kingdom, the administration has presided over the slow strangulation of the public library service, and now simply points parents and schools to the internet. Buy a PC and broadband, and you'll have everything you want: and if the garbage flies at you at 500 times the speed it did on dial-up, then you're experiencing the thrill of truly living in the "information age"!"
Not sure if the above is still true these days, five years hence.
But unlike that expressed above, the Singapore NLB is certainly making great effort in promoting its eResources in its current outreach sessions to schools, the academic community, and the business and industry sectors. Its selling point: easy availability of quality and focused information sources.
Search engines like Google, Live Search, Ask!, etc have all got their uses in the adult general information gathering arena.
But for quality education of our children, we must provide more targeted and relevant information sources that are reputable and verified.
Early promise of the internet
The internet came about in the mid 90s of the last millennium on the promise that it would give us unlimited access to information found in various globally-networked computer repositories.
For a frequent internet user, getting information means he first turns to the internet. But ask him if how much of what he searches for is what he wants, and he will more likely than not give a sobering answer. Yes, the returns are high but these tend to be low on relevance especially when he is searching for highly specific information. Or, he has to spend a lot of time culling the information and launching more and more targeted searches.
Reader Scott Middleton writing to The Register stated: "I do remember comedic experiences using Lycos Search when I was younger in college. Most things you searched for would bring up 95% questionable material (as in adult) and you would have to wade through it to get to the 5%. I don't think it's elitist to consider filtering the content for educational purposes. Creating a hub of servers directed primarily, or even solely at the world education system would be a fantastic idea. It's not even logistically impossible. Every country now has a drive to get its populace onto the Internet in one form or another. There is nothing stopping them refining their policies one way or another or even departmentalizing it for this system and the education system."
Whither for reputable information databases?
Scott Middleton adds, that "to have a Lexis Nexis of information, tailored to subjects and areas of learning for our generation would be not only a brilliant thing, but also something that will improve the education of children."
The reality is that via the internet, we are awash with information, but more hasn't proved to be better.
According to The Register, the promise hasn't been fulfilled; canonical databases and archives that store quality information cost money; copyright is a fact of life, and clever licensing workarounds don't address the underlying economic issues. Information, especially the kind that we require for specific tasks costs money and most rights holders like to be paid.
All these points are acknowledged in the Singapore context. During the schools outreach session, the NLB presenter clearly articulated that all the eResources digital products (ebooks, eNewspapers, music files library, reference books, etc) databases have all been subscribed to or paid for, for the exclusive use of digital library-registered users (by the way, registration is free). 
Bottomline is, if you want quality information, somebody has to pay for it. Here the NLB is doing its part, making its digital library more accessible. And our children are all the better for it. Now it's up to the schools and decision makers to make optimal use of the investment.
