[13452] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: Reference Librarians vs. Search Engines
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lloyd Davidson)
Thu Aug 3 20:11:59 2000
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 2000 21:40:16 -0500
From: Lloyd Davidson <ldavids@NORTHWESTERN.EDU>
In-Reply-To: <20000802175105.28866.qmail@hotmail.com>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
Message-Id: <4.2.0.58.20000802211620.00949ed0@casbah.it.northwestern.edu>
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It is part of human nature not to want to ask another person for
assistance. It is more than a little embarrassing and demeaning and the
questioner is placed at a disadvantage in front of someone they may well
feel intrinsically superior to, or at least don't want to feel inferior
to. That is the universal truth hidden in the old joke about men never
being willing to stop and ask for directions. Asking a machine for
assistance is much less threatening since our errors and lack of knowledge
are never made public to a peer or, even worse, to a
subordinate. Machines treat everybody equally and are never
patronizing. While you may not get exactly the answer you want from a
computer, at least no other person knows how many times you have stumbled
in getting it or how foolish your question might have been to begin
with. Your self esteem emerges intact, even when you fail. Given this,
and given a choice, it is inevitable that machines will replace humans as
providers of information and even knowledge, as long as any semblance of
what you need to know can be made available through such an impersonal,
non-judgmental resource.
If wonder if the situation would change if we designed computers to
constantly insult users? In such an environment, human advisors might seem
more attractive.
Lloyd
At 13:51 8/2/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi:
>
>Do you find library patrons preferring search engines to reference
>librarians?
>
>Flo Leung
>Queens Public Library
>New York
>________________________________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
