Encyclopedia: The Dead Tomes

Encyclopedias. The basic reference that almost always has an answer to kids homework. However, if you hand kids the encyclopedia.... they sorta look at it with a frown. You can hand it to them, with exactly what they are looking for... and they will stare glare at it, it's tiny print, and walk away. Even if it is the ONLY item you have with a print source for what they are looking for. Ideally, in today's world, there is a single book on every subject they might be searching. Heaven forbid you have to look in a tome of "Biomes of the World" to discover and learn about the arctic tundra. If you do not have a book titled "Arctic Tundra" - in many a child's mind - you simply do not have a book.

It makes me ponder about our brains. They way we search for and seek information. Or how we, as a society, seem to simply have STOPPED searching for and looking for information. If it isn't at the top of the pile in big red flashing letters, it does not exist. And whatever is there at the top in big red flashing letters is obviously the truth, isn't it? And we wonder why the world is the way it is. Be afraid, be truly afraid.

I swore to myself I'd never be the kind of librarian that shoves books down people's throats. I am currently re-evaluating this.

These thoughts have been brought to you by the Encyclopedia, a large multi-volume tome of vast information that is only good for making your library look full and catch dust. Just ignore the fact that it has peer reviewed information and is generally more accurate than your first google hit.