Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Librarians and Information


I love Neil Gaiman for the above quote! (He's the guy that wrote the book Coraline (that the movie was based off of) and the Sandman graphic novels, as well as many others!) (check out his website at http://neilgaiman.com/)

This quote stands for everything that a librarian strives to do for their users. Yes, you may be able to go online and look things up for yourself and yes, you may actually be able to find information on what you're researching. But...will you find the correct answer to your question(s)? And will you be able to find the most accurate results? Or the most relevant? Sadly, probably not. Search engines return any web page that has your search terms in it. This can lead to something called information overload...and half the hits aren't what you're looking for anyway.

Librarians, on the other hand, receive special training on keywords and how to search for information. We are able to bridge the gap (as best we can) between users and information. We may have to take down your number or your email address so we can get back to you (some reference questions require more research time then others), but we will do our best to find an answer (or multiple answers!) to your question.

And that is why this quote is perfect.

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