Library Science (Fiction)

Benjamin R. Steinberg

When I tell people that I am a reference librarian, a lot of them say something like, "Oh it must be so interesting with all the new technology." It's true that computers are interesting, and it's even true that computers are useful in reference work but a lot of work with computers is routine, like adding toner. Even when the technical aspects of the work is interesting, the equipment and software are often primitive.

The problem solving aspect of the job is great fun, as well as useful; I wish that someone had taught me how to use a library properly when I was in high school. Knowing the collection is only part of reference work, though.

Most of reference work is dealing with people. People like it when you help them, but they even like it when you can't, as long as you pay attention to them and don't blow them off. There's a famous study in librarianship, corroborated by later work, which found that reference librarians provided the correct answer only 55% of the time.

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