Tuesday Morning Detective Work

摘要

1 I've been feeling nostalgic for the days when I often saw lots of people during a reference shift. It wasn't uncommon to have more than one patron in the reference office and to be juggling phone calls at the same time. Sometimes two librarians or a librarian and an intern would be kept busy. Not every shift was like that, even during the peak seasons when first-year students had research assignments, and I can't say that every busy shift was fun and invigorating. But still, I miss them.2 Where has everyone gone? A lot of students and other researchers are getting what they need (or what they think they need) on their computers, either in the library or at home. But some researchers get stumped and still figure out to come to us, and when they do, their questions can be much more interesting and challenging than some of the questions that filled our busy shifts years ago. I don't have to teach law students how to Shepardize in print (even though I was pretty good at it), but there are still some questions left for me. Like the one I faced on a recent Tuesday morning.3 A law student had met with me the week before to talk about her research project related to the Department of Agriculture's Dietary Guidelines. After a productive meeting, she went off to do more research. She hit a dead end and wrote to me. She'd found an article in a public health journal that stated: "initial resistance by the Department of Agriculture during the Nixon administration to begin the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children demonstration program was countered successfully by a lawsuit." The article didn't give details about the case but cited only: "Leonard RE. Recalling WIC Program's 1960s humble beginnings. CNJ Weekly Report. 1994;24:4-7." And there the trail stopped. The student hadn't been able to find the article in CNJ Weekly Report, and searching in Westlaw hadn't yielded the case. Could I help? Because of this one question, I stayed busy during my reference shift-even though only one or two people walked through the door.