Where have all the experts gone, Google?

One of the tools of my trade, any journalist's really, is that long list of go-to-guys when you need information, comments or just sympathy for my thankless job.

When W.D. Snodgrass died, I dialed Don Faulkner at SUNY Albany and, presto! he lined me up with Snodgrass sources. The same process worked for my John Updike obituary and a piece on Edgar A. Poe.

Sadly, that brilliant, yet diabolical Internet creature, Google, is replacing the experts with their fathoms of knowledge.

Example: The other day, I needed background on a poem, so I phoned a well-versed source in that discipline and left a message. The expert returned my call with the advice:

"Just Google the poem. I'd have to look it up."