The Original Search Engine

[Jon_King]

NPR quip: The original serach engine were Librarians.

[wyweb]

absolutely.. no doubt...

[tbear]

LOL, I was always faster than the local librarian at finding what I wanted in the 'large' London library near where I lived as a kid ;+)

[Essex_boy]

reminds me of being at school we used to have this really fat and aggressive woman Librarian boy were we scared of her.

Her nick name was 'Conan the Librarian'

[lawman]

I haven't been to a library in a long time. I'm guessing that the card catalogs you flipped through, and maybe the Dewey decimal system, no longer exist. :)

[kevinpate]

nah, you can still find the card catalogs, over in the corner in the old foo section :)

I still use them at some places, and if you ever saw their keyboards and chairs, you'd understand why ... ick!

[weeks]

On Friday I was looking for access to a database that costs $500+ a year subscription. I called the firm and told them why I needed it, that $500 was a bit steep for what I needed and his reply was, "Check out your library. Most have access to us." Whoa! Yea, library!

[smells so good]

The original search engine were Librarians.
(original quote edited)

Librarians would have been power users and custodians of the engine, which would be the card catalog. I remember feeling the power unleashed when I was taught to use the card catalog. It has a significant place in the history of humankind.

The premise of relevance fuels modern search engines, and overall they deliver to varying degrees. In the old days one would note the Dewey Decimal numbers on a nearby pad, and then search the aisles for just the right book. Librarians were most useful during this part of the search, something that modern search hasn't fully grasped.