SINGAPORE – Librarians and academics are seldom feted nor do they often take centre stage. Popular sentiment has oftentimes dismissed, even denigrated, them as nerdy and characterised book-related pursuits as ivory tower preoccupations far removed from the gritty realities of the “real” world. 

But a recent read highlighted to me once again the underrated importance of book-related skills. It is an especially timely reminder in the wake of the Yale-NUS library debacle and the current craze for artificial intelligence, a gimmick which disguises a lack of real understanding beneath a veneer of legibility and coherence.

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