And, just like that, we're back!
We inadvertently took some time off (let's blame Mercury – he's my favorite scapegoat), and we hope you missed our somewhat regular doses of snarky charm.
We thought (okay, I thought and Nicole is too busy to disagree with me) we'd start off our return with a topic that inspires deep, philosophical discussion in the library world…
What is a librarian?
What is a librarian? It sounds like such an innocent question but, when you really start to think about it, the answer isn't all that clear. The obvious response is, "a person who works in a library," but more than librarians work in a library (more on this at a later date). According to Google (because, as we've discussed, librarians do use Google), a librarian is "a person, typically with a degree in library science, who administers or assists in a library." That's still pretty vague and, quite frankly, meaningless to anyone who's not already familiar with the work that goes on in a library. Perhaps a better question is…
What does a librarian do (and how can they help me)?
Ah – that sounds a little better. What does a librarian do and how can they help me? I'm going to answer the second part today because helping people literally drives what we do. We can help you:
- Search the library and find articles, books, etc., for your essay topic or homework assignment.
- Identify the right database for your research.
- Refine your search skills so you can spend less time doing research.
- Find specific articles or books (i.e., you have the citation of an article, but you need the actual article and couldn't find it on Google).
Our goal is to help you get through the research step of your assignment faster, and there is literally no question too basic (trust me, we've seen it all). If you have a question, we have an answer. And, if we don't, we'll do our darnedest to find one for you. Just Ask Us!
(See how I worked that shameless plug for our service in there?)
In the next installment of Debunking the Myth, we'll cover a bit more about what we do behind the scenes and lift the curtain on who actually works in a library (other than librarians).