Library Tech Confidential

Reviewing John Broughton’s Wikipedia: The Missing Manual in The New York Review of Books, Nicholson Baker hilariously describes that mightiest of social media reference work free-for-alls as follows:

It’s like some vast aerial city with people walking briskly to and fro on catwalks, carrying picnic baskets full of nutritious snacks. [read more]

[via Library Juice]

Guiding Light: Which book light outshines the others? - “If these people have nothing to hide, why do they sneak off to a dark corner with their tiny, battery-operated lights? Why do they continue to read after their spouses have gone to sleep? What, exactly, are these book lighters planning?” [Slate]