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Research Before The Internet (as evoked by A. S. Byatt - Possession: a Romance)
For anyone whose university days predated the turn of the century, when we had to go to libraries to look things up in books and journals, or even use primary sources, perhaps researching a thesis, dissertation or final-year project, Possession brings it all back. You feel as if you are researching the Victorian poets yourself.
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Your description of doing pre-internet research brought back such memories! That's how I learned to do research! Then in the 21st century, I had to relearn everything I knew in order to do it online. Online research is definitely faster but every once in awhile, usually in an historical context, I'd need to actually look at some old books to follow a citation trail or something tricky like that. At least I could do it -- young researchers helping me were simply incapable of it now.
ReplyDeleteYou had to be organized and methodical and put in the hours. There was no excuse for missing things because literatures were smaller. With today's click me quick mindset things can look thorough even when they're not.
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