Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Amid a pandemic and QAnon conspiracies, this librarian is focused on facts

The New York Times – “…Before the pandemic, waylaying bad research was my job. I worked as a reference librarian, which meant that on any given day I might help someone uncover what business their ancestor was in, the story behind the name of a neighborhood park or the relationship between two historical figures. Researchers arrived with their own hopes and hypotheses, which the truth often wiped out. (“I’m sorry, sir, but it appears that your great-grandfather was not a cosmopolitan golf pro. He was a mailman.”) Many researchers left disappointed — in their families or their heroes or the nature of the world. But more often than not, weeks or months later, an email would chime through: They’d continued along the path we’d uncovered together and needed more help. The truth isn’t always what we want it to be, yet it remains compelling, by nature of being true…”

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