Role of the reference librarian
Posted by: Barbara Bibel
I agree with Dave and I think that by doing all of those things, we empower our patrons. Teaching them to use the library and its resources is vital. Since one of my primary responsibilities is consumer health information in a public library, teaching patrons to evaluate information can literally be lifesaving. A few years ago, a woman came into the library seeking information to help her husband, who was very ill. He had both chronic myelogenous leukemia(CML) and Crohn’s disease. She had heard that having both conditions was not uncommon. Her husband was seeing two specialists who were not communicating with each other and they prescribed conflicting drug regimens. I did a PubMed search for her and did find that having both CML and Crohn’s was not uncommon. I gave her information to take to the physicians as well as my empowerment message: She and her husband were the doctors’ employers. They had a right to information and second opinions and the right to change providers if necessary. I never heard back, so I don’t know the outcome, but I do know that I helped someone that day.
