Booksquare

The most interesting aspect of this New York Times article on online research is, paradoxically, missing from the headline and the lead (is this what they call sexing up the news?). Of course college kids use Google to do research. It opens up lots of free time to download music. Seiously, why the “Gee Whiz” headline when the real story is that libraries are looking at ways to open up their vast trove of digital resources? You know, the stuff they’ve spent the last decade or so putting online but leaving inaccessible to most of the world (this is not a slight on the effort — we understand the barriers). For writers and readers alike, this goal is incredibly cool (we suppose others might benefit as well; we’ll think real hard to see if we can come up with a few other social groups). And, of course, because we’re selfish and lazy, we especially applaud anything that can be done that will save us from driving and parking at UCLA.

• Old Search Engine, the Library, Tries to Fit Into a Google World