Zorn Whups Chicagoist’s Ass

“In the wee final moments of Thursday night, Chicagoist received an e-mail from Chicagoist's favorite professional blogger and columnist Mr. Eric Zorn.

The subject line: ‘whup ass report -- Nexis’

Seems Chicagoist may have inadvertently overstated things yesterday when we said getting the phrase ‘can of whup-ass’ into the pages of the ‘stuffy and stodgy Tribune’ signaled a ‘hope for tomorrow,’ as Zorn uncovered at least four previous occasions when said phrase has appeared in the Trib. Using his trusty Lexis-Nexis, Zorn found the mentions and they go clear back into 2001.

While one Chicagoist staff member was heard to say that if Zorn wants to lend us the cash to get a subscription to Lexis-Nexis we'd be happy to check for such things, and while two of the references are found in the pages of Red Eye, Chicagoist knows when we've had our asses handed to us and we can admit it….” [Chicagoist]

I was going to leave a comment on the Chicagoist site to the effect that while they may not have access to Lexis-Nexis, they most certainly have access to a far wider range of materials that most definitely includes an archive of the Chicago Tribune, all for free, thanks to their local public library. Except that in this case, that local public library is the Chicago Public Library. In order to prove my point, I searched for a list of the databases to which they offer access. Guess what? No list. Just a link to “Chicago WebFeat Remote Authentication.” What on earth do you suppose is a WebFeat Remote Authentication, much less a Chicago one?

That’s when I realized that Chicagoist doesn’t know the answer to that question, either, and really, why should they? So to Chicagoist, trust me that your search would have gotten you what you needed if the page had been labeled something that made sense and provided any type of explanation or list at all. Bookmark that page, because there’s a wealth of information available to you from it (assuming that you have a library card, and I feel pretty confident that you do). And to CPL, rename that page ASAP and add a list of all of the databases available in order to highlight your assets, not hide them!