Does anyone do in-library research any more? Most people don’t. Not even book-loving me. I adore the perfect scent of old library books, shelved in endless stacks in the badly lit, flickering fluorescence of university libraries, re-covered in industrial strength primary colors, the titles stamped on and the catalogue labels typed in that odd Library Label font.

And yet, I no longer use libraries for research. Now I use them as quiet places to be alone and get s**t done. No one is allowed to talk, so no one can bother me. Any researching I need to do is accomplished via the Internet. Library sites on the Internet, not Wikipedia. But digital, nonetheless.

The books I require are requested online and delivered to my library so I can pick them up, read them, and write stuff down. No more camping out next to the card catalog (I think they’ve recycled those), making lists on scratch paper with the stubby library pencils, and then wandering for hours on every floor to locate the texts only to discover they’re checked out and I’ll have to go fill out some forms to request them from another university library.

Now it’s all done with a keyboard and minimal legwork. No more physical limitations as far as how many books one library can house. And no more goose-chasing on foot–a definite benefit of mankind’s many technological advancements.

Finding Dulcinea, also known as the Librarian of the Internet, is an excellent starting point for pre-vetted sources of digital research. I’d begin with their article, Making the Most of Libraries in the Digital Age and go from there. Feel free to take advantage of their mission to cut the crap and show you to the Websites containing usable information.

Further Reading:

Reuters: Alternatives to Google
24 Most Underrated Websites of 2008

Posted by Alexa Harrington