Friday, May 18, 2007

Librarians are Freakin' Awesome!

I wish people had patience for us; everybody wants everything right now, or at the very least, they want something right now. The problem with asking a librarian for something is that we're going to try to find it. You ask for an apple, we'll find you an apple. Unfortunately, many people don't want the apple they ask for: for them, a cookie would have been good, too.

I wish more people understood what we do: we will help you find shit.


Here is a response from "librariansgonewild" to an editorial in the
Washington City Paper about when the reporter went to a D.C. library to find a book:


Well, I can see why they chucked it. I just checked OCLC (a nation and world wide catalog of library holdings, more or less) and almost no public libraries hold copies of this book anymore,...Public libraries need room for 8 copies of an Oprah book...The good news is, many academic and government libraries nearby seem to have this book, so you can arrange for interlibrary loan through the DC Public Library.


That's why I love librarians; most people would just express agreement, disappointment, sux2bu, or whatever. But a librarian finds the information. librariansgonewild, you rock.

Now I don't know why the original librarian gave the reporter attitude by saying, "we're not an archive," unless the reporter twisted the facts to support her opinion piece (really? do reporters do that?). But it's possible that this particular librarian wasn't truly awesome, so I'll modify this post's headline: Librarians are Freakin' Awesome, Mostly.