Technology and the Internet may be becoming more ingrained in people's everyday lives, but there is still a need for the reference section at the library.
Becki White, reference librarian at the Pottsville Free Public Library, said Tuesday that she receives calls each day for numerous reasons. The calls include people needing the telephone number for their doctor's offices, businesses trying to track down who sells particular parts and even people who say they've been searching the Internet for three hours trying to find something, which White can usually help them find in about five minutes.
"While a lot of people use the Internet, most people don't know how to use it well," White said. "I help them find what they're looking for. I find information, whether it's a book title, a phone number, a side effect for a prescription, whatever. That's my job."
The reference section at the Pottsville Free Public Library services all the libraries in the county, and White is the only public library reference librarian in Schuylkill County.
"The other libraries in the county are small and usually only have one or two paid staff there," she said. "As the district center, we are able to separate those out to some extent."
White's position is paid for by the district, therefore, if Pottsville wasn't a district library, there wouldn't be a reference librarian.
"Anybody that can't find something at their local library is free to call here," she said.
Penn State Schuylkill has its own reference librarian, but they still trade information from time to time.
White said that to be in her position, you need to have a master's degree.
She received her liberal arts bachelor's degree in mathematics and has a Master of Arts degree in library and information studies.
While she said that a lot of people asking for help are the older generation, she does get calls from people of all ages, including some students whose teachers tell them they can't use the Internet for a project and need help finding something.
"I still get a lot of people coming into the library looking for information," White said. "The Internet has affected a lot, but sometimes people misunderstand its limitations, so they need help. Many people in the area also don't have Internet access since they can't afford it. That's another aspect as well."
One important part of the reference department is that it also contains a hard copy of facts and books. White said this is useful for times when the Internet may go down.
She said, the state once contracted with a company called Health Sciences Libraries Consortium to provide the Access Pennsylvania catalog, a catalog containing library holdings across the state, and one time it went down due to construction across the street from the building that holds its servers.
"If you lose Internet access for a couple of days and you need information, having backup copy in print is nice," White said. "I use the Internet a lot, but, honestly, I would not trust my life to it. There are some questions I get that I know I can grab the book off the shelf and find the answer much faster than I can by going to a website."
Books in the reference section are "not books that can be read cover to cover" and include handbooks, guides, dictionaries and encyclopedias, which can be only one volume.
One of White's duties is to select which materials are appropriate for adding to the library's collection. She must assess which are most likely to be used and are most useful to the local population.
"I have to look for those who have a very low reading level, all the way up to end of life, so I have to cover almost the entire age range, whether it's 5-year-olds looking for horses or 75-year-olds trying to find side effects of medications the doctor just prescribed them," she said.
The encyclopedia at the library, World Book Encyclopedia, is updated once every two years and is currently the only encyclopedia available in print for high school students to adults.
The cost of that is about $1,000, plus White's budget covers about 100 reference books a year that average about $100 per title.
Since information is not always free on the Internet, more money is spent on the books.
"You can find information on the Internet, but you don't know if it is always right," White said. "My job is helping people understand which information they can trust to use and which they should steer clear of."
Since the reference books can't be checked out, she can use them to help people find some basic information which people can use to start looking for longer books in the circulating collection.
The Pottsville Free Public Library also started purchasing reference ebooks that are available to anyone with a Pottsville library card.
One last thing the reference section at the Pottsville Free Public Library does is reference work internationally.
"I get genealogy requests from overseas, people who are looking for ancestors," White said. "One of the more interesting ones that I've gotten, I've actually gotten a few people who live in Belgium and the Netherlands looking for information on Pottsville soldiers who died during World War II and they want to take care of their graves, so they want to connect with the families that still live in this area. I've helped connect at least one group together."
She said that information such as newspapers from Schuylkill County are not available online through Ancestry.com so people with those requests have to contact the library.
For more information or to contact the reference department at the Pottsville Free Public Library, email White at potref@pottsvillelibrary.org or call 570-622-8880.