One From New Jersey Looks At the latest in library land.
While the number of questions fielded by librarians fell by half since 1997 — as more people do their own research online — requests for help have grown more complicated.
The arrival of electronic information isn’t driving libraries to close, but like almost anything people do nowadays — from buying plane tickets to checking the weather — the Internet has changed the way libraries, and their reference desks, do business.
Recent Posts
- E-Books Can Subvert Book Bans, But Corporate Profit-Seeking Stands in the Way March 10, 2024
- Ten Stories That Shaped 2023 December 15, 2023
- War Sows Disruption at the National Book Awards November 16, 2023
- “No one else is saving it”: the fight to protect a historic music collection November 16, 2023
- No, I Don’t Want to Join Your Book Club November 9, 2023
- Iowa election 2023: Pella Public Library retains independence November 9, 2023
- A door at a Swedish library was accidentally left open 446 people came in, borrowed 245 books. Every single one was returned November 9, 2023
Recent Comments
- Examining Arab and Muslim librarians in fiction – Pop Culture Library Review on Librarian Combats Muslim Stereotypes
- St. Paul libraries face moment of reckoning – LISNews – News For Librarians on Secret and mysterious libraries
- Ellie on Just How Gross Are Library Books, Exactly?
- Prodigious1one on The Teaching Librarian Versus The Teacher
- Jason on Ten Stories That Shaped 2019
- centaurea on Libraries using Internet Trust Tools
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Help Anytime & Anywhere
I think the Internet has made it more challenging to be a reference librarian in many ways. First, people expect instant answers now, no matter how complicated a question. Second, you might be helping someone from anywhere in the world that found your library’s web site.