Need For Speed (UNDERCOVER), originally uploaded by B A R A N.
HaHaHaHa. Our library is so small, we only have one desk. It is the jack-of-all-trades desk. Reference, yep. Technology questions answered, yep. Book recommendations, yep. Local gossip, yep. Reference desk, schmeference desk. Sure; we don't get kids in asking for books on leaves, cells, and the like for their projects, but we do get kids in looking for information on those same topics online. Our job has changed from knowing what books to get on those subjects to knowing what online sites to use for those same projects.
I tried Yahoo!Answers, Mahalo, and WikiAnswers. They all seemed a bit silly to me. Mainly the sites consisted of a lot of people asking questions that a lot of people had already asked (okay, so mainly I checked the book categories, where a lot of people were asking what to read, and others were answering Twilight.) I think it would just be easier to do a direct search for your answer. But, I guess in the case of, "What should I read?" the best answer would be to talk to a librarian; and if you've got a question about certain products or how-to's, answer sites would be a great way to get your answers. How nice to have people willing to answer your questions about Windows Vista! Snappyfingers worked much as a regular search engine, with you putting in some key words, but the results were different. It gave you a series of questions to pick from, and the beginings of the answers, with the website the answer was found at. I thought this one might be the most helpful when it comes to a question with a more solid answer. It wouldn't work as well for those, "What should I read?"-type questions.
Why do people use these sites instead of "googling" things and/or checking with their local libraries? It seems like it may be stemming from a need to communicate more with others. It's more like these Q&A sites are more social than anything else. Where else to hang out with a bunch of people discussing the starter problem on your '96 Grand Am--and all these people actually know about or own Grand Ams. How cool is that? You can't get it with a regular search engine, and I find it pretty hard to believe anyone could find that in their neighborhood.
Libraries often give off a feeling of being "old school", slow and steady, much like a turtle. But pop the shell, and look at the technology and speed under there!
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2 comments:
Haha funny picture but so true, I've tried some of the online sources for info and there is nothing like a real live person with a good working knowledge of books to get you what you need.
You've a very astute assessment of this whole issue, practical, commonsense, and just my kind of librarian attitude toward the whole thing. Well said.
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