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:
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.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.
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.