Librarian Secrets

Librarians do a lot of research. In the olden days, librarians had to search through reference books (yes, we still use them occasionally) to find answers to questions like:

• What is Woody Allen's real name?
  
• What are the symptoms of lupus?
  
• What is the exact longitude for Petaluma, California?
• Where can I find an old map of Little Rock, Arkansas?

We still get questions like these everyday and most libraries have subscriptions to wonderful online reference databases to help find the answers. However, there are also many good resources available on the Internet and librarians use these as well. I call these Internet sites "Librarian Secrets." Of course, they are not really secret. I plan to start recommending some of my favorite ones here, on this blog, as a regular feature.

The Librarian Secret for today is: Who2?

This Web site contains over 3,000 biographies of famous people, including real and fictional characters as well as some famous animals. The site is easy to use and provides a search box and alphabetical index. You can also search by birth year, categories (actor, chess player, political figure, etc.), birth place and various other features. Do a search for Woody Allen, and you will find out his real name is Allen Stewart Konigsberg!

I hope you will try this site the next time you need some quick facts about a famous person.
FL