Interview with a Reference Librarian

I met with Calvin Craig the Information Access Librarian at Gaston College's main campus. He is the main reference librarian with morning/afternoon hours. He also teaches study skill sessions to different classes about how to use online databases and how to find informaiton in the library. He is also in charge of the library website. On a typical day in the semester, the morning hours are busier with students and questions. The typical user is hard to describe because of the diversity of the campus. The average age varies from high school students earning college credit to retired folks returning to school. There is a large, dedicated group of nursing students that take their education and research seriously, but are capable of working independently. The most common questions come from writing assignments on social issues. These requests are so typical, then college subsribes to two online databases that focus soley on these political and social hot-button issues. As far as difficult patrons, Mr. Craig has not experienced many. The majority of issues arise from the public patrons using the internet. Two public users and one student have been banned from the library beause of innaporpriate use of the internet. Overall, I was very impressed with the interview. He was very hospitable and gave me a tour of the library introducing me to everyone, including Dr. Cook the Director of the library. Mr. Craig was nothing, if not thorough and I appreciated his time.