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Librarians: The Google Before Google
An anonymous reader writes NPR has an article about the questions people ask librarians. Before the internet, the librarian was your best bet for a quick answer to anything on your mind. "We were Google before Google existed," NYPL spokesperson Angela Montefinise explains. "If you wanted to know if a poisonous snake dies if it bites itself, you'd call or visit us." The New York Public Library in Manhattan recently discovered a box of old reference questions asked by patrons and plans to release some in its Instagram account. Here are a few of the best:
- I just saw a mouse in the kitchen. Is DDT OK to use? (1946)
- What does it mean when you dream of being chased by an elephant? (1947)
- Can you tell me the thickness of a U.S. Postage stamp with the glue on it? Answer: We couldn't tell you that answer quickly. Why don't you try the Post Office? Response: This is the Post Office. (1963)
- Where can I rent a beagle for hunting? (1963)
What does it mean when you dream of being chased by an elephant?
That you're Hillary Clinton running for President in 2016.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
"How do I hide a dead body?"
Prop it up at a desk in Congress; no one will ever notice...
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Of course nowadays the question one-level-up from that might be "Where can I get a Sears & Roebuck catalog?" to which the answer is amazon.com, funny enough.
"You saved 1968." - Ms. Valerie Pringle to the crew of Apollo 8
We asked very different things of librarians and Google.
Me to librarian (in the early 1980's): Where can I find a good book on sharks?
me to Google: +tentacle porn midget chocolate sauce -"val kilmer"