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If it wasn't in an encyclopedia, you just trusted word of mouth.
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this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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I dunno every time I spoke to a librarian they were either super unhelpful or just plain dismissive.
'hello, I'm trying to find information on the Inventor of the Volt, Alessandro Volta' 'look in the autobiography section' 'i couldn't find anything there' 'ok fine I'll look, here you clearly didn't look properly go find this book - the life of Voltaire' 'that's a different person though ..' 'it's just a different spelling' 'no they're different people' 'well that's all we've got so read it and see' 'but...' 'we're closing soon sorry I don't have time for more questions'
Not everyone had access to libraries in the first place and at least half the librarians were awfull at their job or awfull people, and they'd never help you with anything even slightly complex anyway even the good ones. I found more information about Volta while writing this comment to check the spelling of his name than my local and city library had buried in all their many volumes.
Yes libraries were fantastic and important before the internet, but the reason they're merging into social places and community centres is because we still have use for those (previously forbidden) uses but for research they're basically pointless now.
You have a valid point but your conclusion is weak. Libraries aren't pointless for research just because you have anecdotal evidence of bad experiences where they could have been just a shitty person, dumb person, having a really bad day, in a rush to get home to relieve a babysitter... etc, like that's just human nature shit.
Edit: sorry my tone came off WAY too strong and aggressive. I didn't mean it like that.
I just think milage will vary a lot more with libraries than the internet, affluent areas tend to have better libraries and better staff which I think can cause a bias in how we think about things. The internet has been an absolute game changer for impoverished areas, especially being available on a fifty dollar tablet or second hand smart phone.
And that's before you even consider how huge it's been for under-developed areas, I spoke to a guy from Ghana whos school has about a dozen old textbooks when he went there and now his son plays Minecraft and studies with the same resources and tools we use in the UK.