That's some mighty systematic snarking

Boy, did Richard Cravatt ever step in it when he criticized a librarian for not handing over library records without a warrent. This is a doozy for a riposte from, who else, a librarian.

WHILE I couldn't agree less with Richard Cravatts's take on the enforcement of the laws concerning privacy, I will agree with his contention that librarians know the Dewey Decimal System. That a librarian's professional training concentrates on mastering the use of the system is quite off the mark, however, and as enlightened a concept in the 21st century as starting a fire with a stone and a spark.

In any event, should he himself ever need to be catalogued, I've got a spot for him on the shelf at 621.945. That would be the 620s for Engineering, 621.9 for Tools and Fabricating Equipment, and, specifically, 621.945 for Boring Tools.

ERIKA TARLIN
Somerville

The writer is a librarian at Buckingham Browne & Nichols in Cambridge.

(From Riba Rambles, who also have some more quality reasons why we should fear and respect our librarian overlords.)