Should all printed archive research litterature go to the Recycle Bin?

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/11/23/group_think/

I don't know about you, but I honestly can't remember the last time I've been to a library to do any form of research (academic, professional, or personal). Not to say that's a good thing, but it is a fact. As the majority of people these days, my first step in researching anything is typing in the letters "g-o-o-g-l-e" into my web browser.

This article from the Sunday Globe had a very interesting and controversial view of the advancement of online research, specifically focused on academic research. Based on a study done at the University of Chicago, this article argues that the use of internet search engines may actually be narrowing the results of our research rather than expanding it. This is counter-intuitive of the "long tail" theory of the internet broadening our search and allowing individuals to find their niche of whatever they're looking for. Infact a recent study on DVD/Music sales at Harvard Business School demonstrated the exact opposite of the long tail, finding "The importance of individual best sellers is not diminishing over time. It is growing." (Elberse, Anita, Harvard Business School)

So, what does all of this mean? Which theory is correct? I see it more as a function of human nature than technology. I don't think anyone can argue the fact that the internet CAN greatly broaden the amount of information available to us. If we as a society choose not to use it for it's full capacity, then that is our issue (not technology's). The major search engines such as Google simply respond to what people want. Since the mass majority of people want to be steered to the most popular and most recent sites on the internet, that is how Google ranks it's hits from a search. That doesn't mean we all have to follow the herd.

As long as we understand the basics of how the technology and tools work, we can use it accordingly. If we're searching for breaking news reports, the Google algorithm is going to work perfectly as-is. However, if we're searching for an old article in an unusual journal or looking for a strange bootleg music recording, we may need to dig a little deeper into the long tail of the 100+ hits Google may list.

As far as true academic research material goes, I think similar principles apply. If we want to grab the low hanging fruit on the related topic (#1 through #10) on the Google search, then we're going to get the mainstream results. If we want something outside the norm, we're going to need to work harder for it. In order to make this a reality, action will be required on the part of publishers and researchers who wish to have their work seen by others. The published piece must contain the proper "tags" or keywords associated with it, so that it will be picked up in an internet search. Otherwise, it may never be seen by anyone. As for brick and mortar libraries, I do feel that their use will unfortunately continue to diminish over time. This was reinforced for me on election day when the initiative to build a new library in my town of Walpole was drastically defeated. This could have obviously been biased because of the current economic state, but I do not see a library holding the same sense of necessity that it once did.

So, similar to the work required for new publications, the same will be required in digitizing and posting old archives; they need to be uploaded, tagged, and associated in proper context so that searchers can find the piece relatively easily. Perhaps this opens doors for new business opportunities of modernizing old research journals and periodicals? It also may create opportnities for different types of search engines for different applications (if they don't already exist). Maybe Google could create sub-set searches such as "Google History" or "Google Science" that would hone the individual searches into research periodicals and journals in those specific categories (and shut off their page rank algorithm for those types of searches)? So, it may not be time to physically burn (or recycle) the archives yet, but we can't fool ourselves into thinking that mainstream society is reading them either.