On-the-fly reference

摘要

As librarians, we can see them coming a mile away. People with questions. They see something in our eyes and know we have the answer, or know where to find it. We're mistaken for clerks in stores, hosts at parties, and librarians in other libraries. No wonder librarianship is often described as more of a calling than a job. "Library people develop a generally benign facial expression for the workplace, which they keep on all day," says Seneca College, Toronto, library educator Karen Olcen. Our dispositions indicate a willingness to help and not ridicule, and perhaps to even find the elusive answer. As a result, we often do information work in our off-hours, either as volunteers or as ready reference for friends and relatives. This sort of on-the-fly reference is at once familiar and foreign. Many of us reach instinctively for the keyboard that isn't there, or wish that we were back with our books. Often we are working with or for nonlibrarians who have a differentidea of the job to be done. Makeshift information desks are often added as an afterthought at large events, to keep the organizers free for more managerial tasks. "I feel like a sort of information MacGyver," one librarian told me. "I have to try to answer questions only using the materials I have available." I have frequently found myself doing on-the-fly reference. I have worked at info desks at Seattle's Folklife Festival, the Direct Action Network headquarters during the 1999 World Trade Organization protests, and in August 2001 I staffed the Playa Info desk at Burning Man, a seven-day outdoor music and art festival in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. Other librarians I have spoken with have worked at infoshop desks at demonstrations, written annotated bibliographies for musicians, done research for nonprofit groups in their communities, and frequently acted as personal librarians for friends.