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Librarians Help Patrons Without Wikipedia

(SIOUX CITY, IA) If we want to know a quick fact about an event, historical figure or even celebrity, lots of us turn to Wikipedia. But, many of the Internet's biggest websites took themselves offline Wednesday in protest.

Wikipedia went on black out Wednesday taking a stand against two anti-piracy bills going before Congress. Wikipedia and other major websites said the "SOPA" and "PIPA" bills in Congress could kill the free and open Internet.

"I do use them often; multitude of sites. I use Wikipedia. I use Google and Yahoo I use quite a bit," said James Schinkle.

What in the world did we ever do without Wikipedia? Perhaps it's time to pull out the old Encyclopedia.

"We still get phone calls and we still find that those are the best places to go for some easy answers," said Sara Doyle, the Research Services Manager at the Sioux City Public Library.

Thank the librarians, alternatives still exist! Sioux City's Library has online research databases you can access at home with a library card or you can go to the library and search in person.

"If you want information on famous people or popular people, that's a great way to go. They've got several articles," said Doyle.

"I do that sometimes. I do think that's important to keep our staff here at the library busy," said Schinkle.

Doyle said Wikipedia is a source that should be available as a starting point.

"But from there, you know, I think it's good to branch out and seek out other sources as well. Just don't rely on Wikipedia," she said.

As for the reason behind the blackout, library patrons are sympathetic.

"I would hope the government would kind of back off some of this and let people have the resources they need," Doyle said.