Vast Active Library and Information Science blog. From a recent library science graduate in Wellington, New Zealand. A focus on reference and current awareness tools and issues, especially free, web-based resources.

 
Another MeFi link, I'm afraid. This time the discussion is more interesting than the link - Fucking Google It!. Basically it's a webpage you refer someone to when they ask a "stupid" question:

"Google Is Your Friend
All Smart People Use Google
You Appear To Not Be One Of Them

Someone thinks you are an idiot because you were too stupid to check Google before asking a question. They gave you a link to this site as a joke. The fact that you followed it pretty much proves the point.

Hope that helps."

What scares me is the assumption, both on this site and by some in the MeFi thread, that Google is the answer to everything. And this comment, in an otherwise sharp post:

"The same is true at your local library. I can look up creationism and come away with a dozen books doing their damndest to dress up religion as science. At least on the web I'll get some counter arguments."

Ouch! So much for our cherished belief that we're putting accross both sides of an argument. I do somewhat sympathise, though - my local public library, while generally good, has a large section of books which enthuse about graphology (handwriting analysis) filed in the psychology section. Now, anyone who's studied industrial psychology, as I have, knows that the literature shows very, very poor results for graphology as a predictor of job performance. But there doesn't seem to be much support given to this viewpoint in the library's collection.

Makes me wish I had a MeFi account though, so I could provide an information professional's perspective (also to correct the claim that Yahoo! uses Alltheweb's database, when according to Greg Notess it uses a modified Inktomi db.

(Yes, I know Jenny posted this before I did, but I saw it on MeFi before I saw it on her site, I just didn't have time to post this because I was at work. Honest ;-) )

| posted by Simon at 6:05 pm