Laurie Taylor's THES Column was always a joy. This piece comes from a column where characters choose their favourite read of the year:

Douglas Stacksmaster (Senior Librarian)
Oddly enough you don't catch many of today's new information specialists (formerly librarians) sitting around reading good old-fashioned books. Oh no, most of us these days are into "accessing data-bases" (excuse the jargon). My own favourite database this year was one called InterLibrary. Instead of all those hours mooching along the shelves you now simply key in the topic which interests you and this database immediately tells you the number of inter-library loan forms you will need to complete in order to obtain the necessary information. fascinating stuff.

THES 28.12.90 p.16