Oh, dear

[telophase]

Dear Library Science Graduate Student From Another University Who I have Never Met;

You left a message on my work voicemail a day or two after I left for Foreign Parts saying that you'd noticed I was the I.T. Librarian and in charge of the library website at my university and that you had a project for your class and as part of this project you were required to create a Voki. And that you had no idea what that was and was hoping that I'd be able to tell you.

The reason I am not returning your phone call is not that it's been almost two weeks since you left the voicemail and your assignment is most likely already finished and turned in. It is that you are a GRADUATE STUDENT in LIBRARY SCIENCE and it didn't occur to you that there are two significantly more useful resources to consult about your question than a total stranger you found on the internets, to whit:

A) The professor who gave you the assignment

and

B) G O O G L E

Please note that until five minutes ago, I had no idea what a Voki was, either, and yet I managed to answer my own reference question almost instantaneously. I did not need to spend valuable time that I could instead spend typing snarky letters on the intartubes idly poking about other universities' websites and telephoning their webmasters to ask the question.

I hope that your area of specialization is not Reference, as you obviously need to take a few more classes on the subject before you are ready to be unleashed upon the unsuspecting populace.

No love,
telophase

Comments

[octopedingenue]

On the bright side, this makes me feel much more hopeful about my odds of getting admitted into Library Science Grad School!

[telophase]

Judging by a number of the students with whom I studied, I don't think you have a problem in the least.

Oops, did I say that out loud?

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

I don't care if the student's specialty is Children's Services - our children's specialist here would have known to hit Google first thing and she's never spent a day in library school. Heck, my Boss the techno-illiterate could have figured that one out, and she can barely do email.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I just marvel at the thought processes that led from "What is this thing?" to poking about the intartubes and then phoning a total stranger instead of typing the unfamiliar word into Google.

[weirdquark]

Maybe library schools are pushing "the internet is full of crap so you can't trust Google searches" rather than teaching people how to evaluate the results you get from Google searches to determine which of the results are helpful and valid and which are crap?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

In my experience, it often doesn't matter what the library schools are saying, as many of the students hear only what they want to. Sigh.