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But why were people asking reference librarians questions? When I spoke to librarians in the mid-90s, they'd just point me towards sources that could have an a
by greggarious 12y ago
But why were people asking reference librarians questions?
When I spoke to librarians in the mid-90s, they'd just point me towards sources that could have an answer. It was up to me, the reader, to ultimately find the answer.
- dredmorbius 12y agoDepends on where you were and who you were asking. At several large research university libraries, I found the reference librarians could be downright obsessive in tracking down some questions. It would depend on workloads and other factors, I suppose.
- greggarious 12y agoThis was mostly for pleasure or K-12 assignments. The sort of questions that were very fact based. "Do snakes poop?" "How far away is Mars?" That sort of thing.
- dredmorbius 12y agoI was specifically thinking of uni-level questions.
- greggarious 12y agoAt the uni level, aren't they more supposed to help you find the appropriate database rather than find the answer for you? I might ask a librarian how to access back copies of a journal, but I wouldn't expect him or her to do my lit review for me...