ABSTRACT
Is it possible to identify potential reference librarians among high-school and college students, based upon the kinds of assignments they choose to undertake, and upon their hobbies? Given the opportunity, why do some students prefer to compile a bibliography or directory, when the majority of their peers opt for the essay approach? Furthermore, how many bibliographers have been “collectors”, whether of matchbook covers, stamps and coins, dolls or barbed wire? May we postulate that the typical bibliographer is by nature a collector of something or other? The author is or has been a collector, a reference librarian, a bibliographer and a teacher of reference service, and he posits the following hypotheses: (1) that high-school and university students who, when offered a choice of type of assignment, irrespective of course, compile bibliographies or directories, as a minimum have the makings of reference librarians (and indeed, may enter our field); and, (2) given the “collecting” nature of bibliographic compilation, that most bibliographers either are or have been collectors, in their avocational pursuits. Of all human beings in the world, each of us has the most experience with himself (herself); I therefore shall base my arguments on my personal student and career life-histories. In addition, I intend to refer to myself in the third person, “he”. A final request: since this essay is chronological, the facts and factors substantiating my two “educated guesses”, as set forth in the two above-mentioned hypotheses, are intertwined.
