About a month ago I learned firsthand how much things have changed when it comes to finding information.

I went to the Marshall Lyon County Library to look at the 2025 World Almanac. There were several things I wanted to check (election statistics, biographies of famous people who died etc.) Much to my surprise there wasn’t an opportunity.

The library’s almanac is dated 2023, with information compiled in 2022. The librarian at the desk checked the Internet and found that the World Almanac is still published. Maybe they’ll order one for 2026.

It would be useful to me and to anyone else who believes in consulting an almanac for basic facts and statistics. It’s better than relying completely on Google.

The World Almanac is very well-indexed. It’s organized in a logical way. What might take a lengthy search on the Internet can be found within two minutes.

Things have changed for libraries. When I worked at the downtown Marshall library in the early 1990s we had an entire wall for the card catalog. When someone checked out a book we date stamped a card, filed the card at the circulation desk, and put a different card in the book with the date due.

Our reference librarian was the only person who did computer based research. She spent the vast majority of her time in the reference room and the library stacks.

In school we still used note cards for the process of writing a term paper. We would hand write a rough draft and revise it before typing a final draft. All of our sources were things in library collections.

We’ll never go back to that. The public has a huge appetite for computers and smart phones. Many people under 50 would be totally lost if they didn’t have their mobile devices.

I wouldn’t want to totally go back. Computers have a purpose. I find that Internet, email, Facebook, Google, Word and Powerpoint are very useful as tools. My only issue is that we’re maybe becoming too dependent on electronics.

Children should still be taught how to use reference books. They should make note cards when they first learn how to write papers. The computer is fine as a resource, but it shouldn’t be the only source.

When we check the Internet and do nothing else we fail to think for ourselves. We lose the opportunity to evaluate information. We don’t take issue with questionable ideas.

That’s why there’s so much misinformation on social media. That’s why there’s both right wing and left wing bias with some of the most popular news outlets. People have to do their own research to be truly informed.

I believe it’s still important to read at least one daily newspaper. Radio and evening news broadcasts are good sources as well.

Public libraries are probably the best sources of all. We have an excellent one in Marshall, and surrounding towns are also well served.

The almanac situation this winter was the first time in my life that the Marshall library didn’t have something that I think belongs in every collection. I’ve been a local library user for more than 50 years, starting when I was a child attending Bonnie Doyle’s library story hour in the children’s department.

Librarians will always be gatekeepers of information. With limited budgets they can’t have every good book, every good magazine, every reference book, or every type of computer product. They do a great job by giving us as much as possible.

I’m pleased that local libraries have mostly retained a good selection of books from the 20th century. Some books are so important that they should be kept forever.

Still it’s a balancing act. Our Danielle Steel section is about three times the size of the John Steinbeck section. Steinbeck is my favorite author, and my home library of about 400 books has more Steinbeck than Marshall’s public library.

Other than that, the library has more from the literary icons, more Faulkner and more Hemingway and more of many others. I have the complete works volumes of Shakespeare and Twain, but the library equals that.

Industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie financed public libraries throughout the United States more than a century ago. He wanted everyone, including the working class, to be able to read and study.

We need the same commitment to libraries in the 21st century. We should keep up with the times yet also keep with tradition when it comes to things everyone should know.

— Jim Muchlinski is a longtime reporter and contributor to the Marshall Independent