Reference Librarians Sit at the Right Hand of God

Or maybe it's "God sits at the right hand of reference librarians". I love reference librarians. Can you tell?

Just yesterday I had a truly wonderful experience with the AskaLibrarian online service at King County Library Service. The librarian helping me was a fellow named Carson. Besides the fact that he knew where to look, what tools to use, how to be creative in thinking what other sources he could consult.. he was just so darned pleasant and enthusiastic about it. I find that reference librarians are more often than not as love with history and its hidden treasures as I am. The difference is is that they can access them better than I can.

Given that much of my life is spent boring total strangers with the wonders of Anglo Saxon England, to have someone like Carson getting enthused about finding out who was abbess of Romsey Abbey in the year 985 was gratifying.. maybe even soothing. Neither of us was ever able to pin down the actual dates but we sure had fun and learned a lot of other things along the way. When we ended our online chat session, Carson said he had to go but he was so involved in the search he would continue and get in touch with me by email. He did, this morning, with all sorts of other wonderful bits of information. I found out several things I will be able to use in the current novel and one or more of the sequels. Abbess Ethelflaed liked to sing psalms in the middle of the night in the icy winter waters of the Test... naked, though that would hardly matter. My bard, O'Quill, might find that embarrassing if he happened across her then. And her successor, Elwina, was warned about a Danish raid by a miraculous voice. I wonder if it had an Irish accent?

I certainly have had numerous equally fulfilling experiences with reference librarians. I think the group of them at the Bellevue Regional Library have gotten an impromptu education on the delights of Anglo Saxon England out of me, but they sure seemed to enjoy it! Being severely bisually impaired I think I appreciate these resourceful folks more than most. Even if I had the time and skills, the research I could do on my own is tiny. It's better now, with my BookReader and the one I discovered the University of Washington Bothell library has, but no electronic device will ever match the capacity, wit and willingness of the brain of a reference librarian.

Wouldn't it be nice if every "expert" shared knowledge so earnestly and eagerly?