A librarian is someone who knows how to find information and who believes in your right to have it.
The knowledge of how to find information is key. Where to find it is secondary. The ‘where’ might well be the institution at which the librarian works, i.e. a library, but it doesn’t have to be. When the ‘where’ of information is unknown, the librarian can tell you how to find it. Not where you will find it, and not what you will find, but the steps to follow in order to find it.
Knowledge of how to find information may in turn be compared with the knowledge of how to find data, which is the essential characteristic of the researcher. The researcher knows how to bring their attention to a certain slice of reality and sieve it for data. Data arranged according to an interpretive framework becomes information. Information assimilated by a mind becomes knowledge. Data are the raw ingredients. Information is a dish made of data. Knowledge is a full stomach.
