Library of Congress will do your research

A few weeks back I saw a little blub in PC Magazine on the Ask a Librarian website provided by the Library of Congress. The site provides an online reference service that promises to reply to your question in just five business days.

I decided to give it a try. My question? Which U.S. college has educated the most Nobel Laureates? I thought this wouldn’t be something that could be answered with a simple Google Search.

Three days after I submitted my question, I received their reply:

I have not found a comprehensive list of Nobel Laureates by undergraduate or graduate affiliation. The top schools in the United States for total Nobel Prizes awarded are: Harvard, Stanford, M.I.T., CalTech, and Columbia, and tied with Berkeley is University of Chicago.

But the information didn’t stop there. They sent a myriad of data (see it yourself). Everything from breakdowns by category to links to where the information can be found.

The next time I need some research done, I think I’m going to put the Ask a Librarian service to work.