A student once posted “I love dictionaries!” in response to a sources assignment. (Yes, folks, that’s how great my assignments are – they lead unsuspecting students to infatuation with inanimate objects.) I’ve always remembered that quote because it captures the enthusiasm librarians have for even the simplest of reference tools, as well as the joy many of us had when we got to library school and realized we’d found a group of like-minded people who love reference books as much as we do (not to mention, we got college credit for studying the dictionary! how cool is that?).

One of my current students shared this link to a TED Talk about the future of the dictionary (thanks, Anne!).

Erin McKean Redefines the Dictionary

This is a thought provoking talk about the future of the dictionary and, by extension, all reference sources. Very interesting if you love reference books and the dictionary.