Currency: Is It Important?

In the TL course that I am actually not finished yet it seems to me that too much was made of currency; that is, how current or "up-to-date" a source is.  On the website evaluation assignment I even lost marks because one of the websites I chose to be used when teaching and learning about film techniques did not make the magical cut-off of 2004.  Interestingly, this was a website by Yale University that I think any English teacher would use in a heartbeat.  So, how important is currency really? 

When reading for the website evaluation assignment I came across some articles that argued that too much is made of currency.  In history, for example, it is more important to use an authoritative source rather than one that is just recent or up-to-date.  Indeed, in most disciplines this would have to be the case.  This would include teacher librarianship and, indeed, many articles were used in the lecture notes that date from the 1980s and 90s, especially the stuff on organisational change. 

Moreover, as I noticed when completing the assignment on definitions of information literacy, a definition that is recent may be exactly or almost the same as one that is not.  This is because there seems to be a consensus on what information literacy is and should do, even though the wording of a definition may be slightly different and everyone seems to want to have a go at defining information literacy because this is fun.  So, "recent" may actually not mean "up-to-date".  In a sense, something that is not recent or current can be up-to-date.

This may explain why many websites that I have seen recently, including government education ones, are not putting copyright or updated dates at the bottom.  Moreover, I can safely say that any English teacher would probably say, a date on a website about film techniques is not necessary.  Information about film techniques does not change ever.  A long-shot will always be a long-shot.  A canted angle will always be a canted angle.  The information does not change. 

It must be said that in some cases currency may be important.  Actually, it would be truer to say, perhaps, that for some currency may be important.  If a doctor, for example, is trying to discover causes of cancer currency of opinion would be expected.  If engineers are trying to work out how to build better dam walls, new information would be very useful.  If you are a teacher librarian writing a submission for a government inquiry, latest information would be a must.  In these cases, timeliness really matters.

To conclude this discussion (I probably should put this task keyword in so that I can show this post to the students) and there is plenty more to say, I would argue that too much is made of currency.  For most people, (especially teachers desperate to find anything on a particular topic on the Internet or in the library) currency will not matter and will not necessarily mean that the information user is not using up-to-date information.  Indeed, for academics currency will also often not matter.  A quick glance through most recent journal articles will reveal articles that were written whenever.