Beginning Reference Librarian


When I first became a librarian there was no Internet. Really! We actually had to rely on books, or place phone calls. When someone wanted to know something, they would call the Reference Librarian. They thought we knew everything. Which of course we didn't. But we were supposed to know where to look to find every answer. Some of the questions I remember that aren't in the attached article:

  • Who was the first woman to walk on Mars? (The woman who asked this wouldn't believe no one had walked on Mars, yet.)
  • What are some phone numbers for call girls in Las Vegas?
  • I haven't seen my child for years, how can I find him/her?
  • How many miles is it from one city to another in the US? (We had a whole book dedicated to this.)
  • Who used to live in my house and do you know if there is a ghost?
  • Someone I know just died and I need the words to a certain song by tomorrow, can you find them? (I eventually indexed all our song books because so many people asked this. I got carpal tunnel syndrome as a result and workman's comp. paid for the surgery.)


The list could go on and on. The Internet certainly changed things. We had to learn how to find reliable sources and in the beginning searching was a challenge, but it didn't take long for things to improve. You used to have to search using things like: Midvale AND Utah NOT taxes. There were classes we attended to learn how to do that.

The letter is from the owner of KWIK radio. Dennis and I met Sue and her husband Jim Fox while working on the Labor Day Telethon. They were usually the Masters of Ceremony for what used to be a national fund raiser, hosted by comedian Jerry Lewis, for Muscular Dystrophy. 













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