The New York Public Library Has a Human Google

what do you call a group of cat let me check on that it's called a clowder of cats if you have a question any question there's a number you can call nine one seven two seven five six nine seven five and the librarian at the New York Public Library will try to answer it for you hello thanks for calling ask and ypl we have ten librarians on a team and we answer any question that you may have over the telephone in the office today we have matthew bernard Sarina Diane and me our department asked a ypl began in 1967 we started answering questions over the telephone but people have been reaching out to librarians for as long as there have been libraries the New York Public Library has actually saved records of some of the more interesting questions they've been asked over the years like is there a full moon every night in Acapulco why do 18th century English paintings have so many squirrels in them and how to detain them so they wouldn't bite the painter or Plato Aristotle and Socrates one in the same person in a world of Google it's a bit surprising to know that they get around 30,000 calls per year my question is why um oftentimes people might not have access to the technology at home and I honestly think some just want somebody to talk to so the next time you have a question like how many teeth does a great white shark have you can call this number nine one seven two seven five six nine seven five that will ring inside of this building up on this floor and maybe Bernard or Rosa will pick up and they'll answer it for you they have about 300 serrated teeth you [Music]

Channel: Great Big Story

Views: 3,600,444

Rating: 4.9605927 out of 5

Keywords: great big story, gbs, lag, human condition, new york, new york public library, new york city, humans of new york, search, google search, information, searching, info, librarian, library, Weird & Fun Knowledge

Id: PfqgDG1qrKg

Length: 2min 25sec (145 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 17 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

But.... how am i supposed to know new york public library’s number if google’s down? Use bing ?

[u/diegojones4]

Pre-internet I had the reference library on speed dial. I remember once calling them and asking what the elf's name in Rudolf was.

It was Hermey

[u/Arian471]

30k a year is only 100ish a day, thats nothing considering 10 people on the team and 5 working each day, thats only 20ish questions a day per person.

[u/[deleted]]

Or just use Bing. Seriously last year it's gotten good

[u/LovableContrarian]

30,000 calls a year

Make that 200,000 now. Reddit buuuump

[u/heavyhaulskip]

I have a question. How many people has Mathew murdered in his lifetime?

[u/3507321C]

https://lmgtfy.com/

[u/Dently]

Peter Venkman: Alice, I'm going to ask you a couple of standard questions, okay? Have you or any of your family been diagnosed schizophrenic? Mentally incompetent? Librarian Alice: My uncle thought he was St. Jerome. Peter Venkman: I'd call that a big yes. Uh, are you habitually using drugs, stimulants, alcohol? Librarian Alice: No. Peter Venkman: No, no. Just asking. Are you, Alice, menstruating right now? Library Administrator: [disturbed] What has that got to do with it? Peter Venkman: Back off, man. I'm a scientist.

[u/ILikeMapleSyrup]

Reddit hug of death?