Marc Meola
Humanities Librarian
African American Studies, Art, Classical Studies, English, History, Philosophy and Religion
TCNJ Library
Room 216
meolam at tcnj.edu
MLS, Rutgers University, 1997
MA, Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University, 1995
BA, Philosophy, Rutgers University, 1990
ACRL-NJ/NJLA-CUS, Past President
Selected Publications
Meola, Marc. "Chucking the Checklist: A Contextual Approach To Teaching Undergraduates Web-Site Evaluation." portal: Libraries and the Academy 4.3 (2004) 331-344.
This paper criticizes the Checklist Model approach (authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, coverage) to teaching undergraduates how to evaluate Web sites. The Checklist Model rests on faulty assumptions about the nature of information available through the Web, mistaken beliefs about student evaluation skills, and an exaggerated sense of librarian expertise in evaluating information. The Checklist Model is difficult to implement in practice and encourages a mechanistic way of evaluating at odds with critical thinking. A Contextual Approach is offered as an alternative. A Contextual Approach uses three techniques: promoting peer- and editorially-reviewed resources; comparison; and corroboration. The Contextual Approach promotes library resources, teaches information literacy, and encourages reasoned judgments of information quality.
Meola, Marc, and Sam Stormont. 2002. Starting and operating live virtual reference services : a how-to-do-it manual for librarians. New York : Neal-Schuman Publishers.
Selected Book Reviews
Privacy in the 21st Century: Issues for Public, School, and Academic Libraries, Helen R. Adams, Robert F. Bocher, Carol A. Gordon, and Elizabeth Barry-Kessler. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2005. 247p. $40.00 (ISBN 1-5915-8209-1) portal: Libraries and the Academy 6.2 (2006) 233-234
Knowledge in a Social World , by Alvin I. Goldman. College and Research Libraries , 61 (2) March 2000: 173-4.
