Before Google, reference librarians answered questions via telephone. “We learned not merely how to find information but how to think about finding information. Don’t take anything for granted; don’t trust your memory; look for the context…”
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Comments 1
In the early '90s, I moved to New York to edit nonfiction for a big publisher. I called the reference librarians all the time (on my corded phone, in my private office, which had a door and a credenza! I was 23 😂😭). New York has three different library systems, so I'd circumvent the question limits that Akey describes by rotating my calls among NYPL, Brooklyn, Queens -- but when I was working late, and the New York desks closed, I'd start calling west: Chicago Public Library, Dallas, LA. When the desk in Honolulu closed, it was time to go home.
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