The Net is a terrific reference tool. There, I said it, the obvious. It's like stating that you should use a saw to cut down a tree. But have you ever tried to do an online search for the currency of Bhutan in the 18th century, who did the music for "The Third Man," the meaning of CLEP, DHCP or DQMOT or the current time in Reykjavk?
A garden-variety search engine might eventually cough up the answer, but if you're in a hurry, forget it. Even index directories such as Yahoo! can be time-consuming because they lack filters.
This column has covered ways to make your Net searches easier, but no matter how well we word our searches, we often end up chasing wild geese. The simple fact is we need librarians, or must aspire to be librarians.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.