Search Engine

This cartoon came to my attention via Centered Librarian.

On the one hand, there is nothing wrong with updating names. A ‘computer’ used to mean a person who did calculations for a living.

On the other hand, a search engine (in the current sense of the term) is something radically different from a librarian. A search engine provides automated results. A librarian is a person that can help you identify the most relevant results from such a search for precisely what you need.

Google is a bit like the library catalogue, albeit for a much larger, fuller, and less well-organized library. It might take you to what you need. But when it doesn’t – and that will happen often – a librarian can help.

Of related interest, Peter Kirby has crafted a Biblical criticism search engine and an Early Writings search, while Peter Head highlighted the Internet Bible Catalogue.