![\"cows\"](\"https:\/\/librariansmatter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/cows.jpg\")
<\/a>Mammals-7-147 – Zeby or Brahmin Bull, Alderney Cow, Scotch Cattle, Durham Cow. (n.d.). Retrieved from https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/artvintage1800s\/15908916478\/<\/p><\/div>\n
2. Found phone numbers, street directions, names of specialist professionals, statistics about countries, names of local government representatives.<\/p>\n
All these were common questions on reference desks – not just from people with issues with functional literacy, but almost anyone who wanted to find non-local information.<\/p>\n
3. Maintained a collection that would answer all the queries in 2.<\/p>\n
Keeping electoral roles up to date, Australian Bureau of Statistics pamphlets in order, street directories re-shelved, seeing in an article in the daily newspaper that the Dental Association had issued a new directory and ordered it.<\/p>\n
4. Taken a student’s library card while they used the University Handbook to find the units that they may want to study, or to photocopy a record of the units they previously studied.<\/p>\n
If the University Bookshop had sold out of recent handbooks, or it was night time, or the student had the financial position of most students and could not afford to buy a handbook each year – then the library reference desk was the place to go. Of course, if not carefully guarded by library staff or students were not forced to hand over something of value, then the items would surely walk, so at least one query each night involved this transaction of suspicion.<\/p>\n
5. Public library. Car service manuals. Driver’s licence, See 4. above.<\/p>\n
6. Advised people about the author of a book, when it was published and how to get hold of it<\/p>\n
Once upon a time libraries had copies of “Books in Print”. Librarians knew how to use them. Booksellers did too, but did not necessarily do so for members of the public. Members of the public had to go through one of us to find out bibliographic information<\/p>\n
7. Photocopied indexes of recent journals, stapled a circulation list to the top and sent them around the in-trays of professional staff in the office.<\/p>\n
… and called it “Current Awareness”. I suspect this still happens in some places where older members of staff expect this – but I could be totally wrong.<\/p>\n
8. Showed a student how to use a printed Citation Index to find academic papers on a particular subject.<\/p>\n
Once upon a time the path to a relevant journal article was far more of a tiger safari than it is now. Students would get an article from the unit reading list, look at the references at the back, physically go to the shelves and hunt down the next journal article and leap frog onwards and onwards toward on-topic nirvana. Citation indices were about finding the information needed not just about bibliometric impact.<\/p>\n