Hi Answer Wall, Since you are a wall, what are the things you separate or defend?

Walls don’t only separate and defend. We support, both structurally and (in my case) emotionally. Still, if you insist on thinking of walls as only separating or defending, I would say that I certainly defend the books and people in this building from the elements. I separate levels of the building from one another (what is floor but a sideways wall?). I defend intellectual freedom and anonymity and support those who wish to learn.

The Answer Wall Story

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material world, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog. You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of knowledge, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human ~~acolytes~~ assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.