Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/05/20/how-to-find-a-book-without-kno.html
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Nice, but it has been decades since I have seen those in a library.
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They still have them at the local main library near me, though they use computers now.
Mostly I was being a smartass - still knowing how to do things ‘analog’ is never a bad idea.
Especially in such dark times, when it seems like TPTB are hell bent on taking us to “Fury Road.”
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If we get to true Fury Road state, I plan on just taking whatever book the roving gangs of battle-librarians give me and liking it.
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All I’m saying is this: Rely solely on tech at your own peril.
Thanks for helping diminish the joke.
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Worldcat membership costs mega-$$$$ these days (thanks, OCLC!) so a lot of public libraries aren’t in there at all.
(edit) Also, where is “ask an actual human librarian at your library” in this list, wtf.
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I can smell this image. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
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Once upon a time, I thought I got my job at a bookstore because during the interview a customer came in and said “I’m looking for a book I don’t know what the name of it is but it’s something about King David and it’s funny”. After waiting a moment for the employees to answer that they had no idea, I said I think the book you’re looking for is “Oh God!” by Joseph Heller. Much later though I found out that, in fact, that had nothing to do with it and I had been hired because I was tall and had good hair.
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Sadly, many library systems are replacing trained, experienced librarians with non-professional staff, so the person at the reference desk may not have had several years of university education, followed by a graduate degree, followed with years or decades of accrued knowledge.
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In a documentary I recall about some wonderful library staff (they’re ALL wonderful, but this library was in London perhaps?) the staffer was asked, “What was the most unusual request you’ve received?” He went on to tell of a patron who asked if they had a photo of Hitler at the 1948 Olympics.
“Perhaps you mean the 1936 Olympics?”, he replied.
“No,” the patron replied. “I believe it was the 1948 Olympics.”
To enhance this awkward exchange, as the staffer was telling the tale with its long, pregnant pauses, an animation went on showing a notional Hitler doffing his sweats and lining up as if to compete in the marathon at the 1948 London games.
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Librarians are awesome.
That is all.
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I would just bring Stefon with me to ask on my behalf.
One of my jobs, decades ago, as a junior clerical at a central library was updating holdings information on the backs of those cards at a union catalogue (a catalogue of holdings of several libraries). Hour after hour of standing at the drawers, pulling cards, and crossing out the holdings if a book had been withdrawn, or adding it in if a new copy had been acquired.
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Yikes; your poor back!
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It was more the feet and legs if I recall.
We moved to microfiche first and then online, and we came in one Monday, and couldn’t figure out what looked different, and then we realised that the entire catalogue had been removed over the weekend, without any notice. It was massive; two sets of back to back cabinets about 25 feet long with the holdings for one district library and about 15 satellite branches.
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…a lot of books were sold and then we moved on
I’m going to go ahead and blame OCLC for that too; not because they’re responsible, but because they deserve it. (Maybe they are responsible, in a way, for perpetuating the business-ification of library operations and budgets.)
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They always need people who can reach the top shelf.
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