Tim May wrote:
> We've been hearing this jive for several decades. "Librarians will
> become more important."
>
> In my experience, it just ain't so. The human effort in communicating
> a request is greater than simply searching. With two notable classes
> of exceptions:
I don't quite think so either, however let's take into account the
broadening of the subject. the librarians' education today includes even
some programming. most likely, they'll be the people who do the
cataloging and database functions while you use some computerized search
engine to sift through it. but any search engine relies either on the
meaningfullness of full-text search, which is questionable, or on some
kind of catalogue, even if it's just META keywords. in the later case,
the better the catalogue is done, the better your search results.
> Second, when the user is unfamiliar with the library or its
> cataloging methods. "Where would I find reports on DSL installation
> options for my community?"
I'd like to add third, when the user doesn't know enough about his topic
to do a meaningful search. it occasionally happens to everyone, I think,
that you look for something, but can't find it since you're looking for
the wrong keywords.
> Just my view, of course.
same here. :)
we'll see.
