Thursday, October 11, 2018

Reclaiming Reference at the Library…….in the era of Google!!!!!!!!


Reclaiming Reference at the Library…….in the era of Google!!!!!!!!

For librarians, reference work today is increasingly about community service

I still remember life before the internet, when librarians helped people find answers to real-life problems. It felt powerful—as though librarians held the keys to life’s answers, and I couldn’t understand why everyone didn’t just ask librarians whenever they needed info of any kind. How things have changed.

Then Google came

In the late 1990s, as internet search engines were becoming more powerful and Stanford PhD students Larry Page and Sergey Brin were creating Google, that powerful feeling librarians once had at the reference desk began to dim. Initially, librarians called out internet search engines, criticizing them as imperfect and often inaccurate reference tools. But not for long.

There is no question that the internet has changed how the public consumes information, how they seek information, and how librarians help connects the public to what they are looking for. But the change has largely been a good thing—the old model of reference librarianship could be intimidating for patrons. Today, what information seekers truly seem to want is the compassionate ear of a friend or the help of a neighbor.

However, you think of reference today, the reality is that librarians can’t just sit back and wait to deliver information any more. Our future is in proactively helping our communities ask the right questions, find the right answers, make meaning of the information they find, and put it to productive use.


Regards

Mr. Pralhad Jadhav  
Master of Library & Information Science (NET Qualified) 
Research Scholar (IGNOU)
Senior Manager @ Knowledge Repository  
Khaitan & Co 
Twitter Handle | @Pralhad161978
Mobile @ 9665911593

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