Information systems understand us completely

By Carla Pereira*

I’m at INESC Porto since 2002, which is enough to show how I enjoy being part of this team.

However, I will not focus on any of my experiences at INESC Porto, even though I would have some interesting stories to tell you… but I guess I’ll leave that to some other time…

I concluded my Master’s Degree at INESC Porto and this is where I’m “struggling” to do my Ph.D. It is in the context of my doctoral work that I include the recent story I’m about to tell you and, due to its characteristics, I believe that this is an ideal story for the Free Nonsense column, particularly because it is a true example of what a free nonsense is…

Recently, while pursuing my research work, I realised I needed to look up a doctoral dissertation from a colleague that finished his PhD in one of the most important Universities in the country.

Since I didn’t have the book, I went to the library of the Faculty where the dissertation was concluded. When I got there, I witnessed a true example of collaboration... there was no one at the reception, and we could only see one worker (the only one in the library) in a room separated from the reception desk by a glass door.

I waited for a while and... nothing. I noticed then that there was a sheet of paper attached to the desk that said something like “The one on your right will help you!”... The words referred to the computer used for documentation research. Since the computer was disconnected, I chose call the worker using sign language. I explained that I needed help to look up dissertation “such and such”. And the answer was “you can use that computer right there”. Ok! Let us find out where the book is...

I then inserted the title of the dissertation and waited for the result. I got a list of several works and right about the middle of the list, there was the title of the dissertation in red letters followed by: “The book should be here”. So, what do you think of this result? I wonder if “The book should be here” actually means something about results. So... I called the worker again and asked. The answer was: “if it says that the book should be here and there’s nothing else, it means that the book doesn’t exist”.

Ok... After 30 minutes trying to solve the problem, with only two students at the library and only a few books on the shelves, the worker says: “it’s probably inside the boxes with the books that I haven’t catalogued yet”. (Note to self: the dissertation was from the year 2004). What do I do now?????

I came all the way down here to see this dissertation. A very nice student, to whom I would like to thank, showed me where the office of the Professor (author of the dissertation) was and he ended up giving me the book as a reward for my effort. I would also like to thank him.

Ok. Even better... will all this mess, I ended up getting a book! As a student from FEUP, I never thought it would be so complicated to find a book in the library... So, I will finish by congratulating the reception and operation of FEUP’s library! In moments like this, we should really appreciate what we have...

Result of the search: “The book should be here” (that is also what I thought...). Interpretation: it does not exist in the library (this is quite odd!). Why? “It’s probably inside the boxes with the books that I haven’t catalogued yet...” (Now it’s getting more complicated...).

Result of a lost morning: I won a book...

I share this story because it seems quite unreal (anecdotal) to me, but also because it just never crossed my mind that one day this could happen to me... It must be the result of the technological shock.

*Collaborator at the Manufacturing Systems Engineering Unit (UESP)