Making the Best Use of the Library
There are several types of men with whom the business librarian has to deal in doing research on business problems. One type of man who uses the business library is the one who comes in occasionally and browses among the books without communicating to the librarian in charge what subject matter he is looking for. This type of man does not purposely mean to be secretive, but he does not know how to use the service of the library and the librarian which are at his disposal. Often he turns away from his perusal of an encyclopedia with a disappointed look, and in one case when the librarian asked what he was looking for, replied that he was trying to find the address of Mills College but that it did not seem to be in the Encyclopedia Britannica. Had he told the librarian at the start what he wanted the address could have been given him from another reference book in about one minute's time.
Another type of man with whom the business librarian has to deal, is the one who conceals his specific object when he asks for information, and does not therefore make it possible for the librarian to procure the information desired in its most simple and direct form. For example, an engineer once asked for descriptive periodical articles dealing with the construction and equipment of some large hotels. The librarian, of course, thought that what he had in mind was to make a study of the equipment, whereas all he wanted to get out of these articles was the names of firms who had installed certain mechanical devices. This information could have been collected much more quickly than in the time it took for the librarian to make a complete list of satisfactory descriptions of the kinds of buildings for which he asked.
The type of man who uses the business library most effectively is the one who takes his librarian into full confidence as to what he is doing, and what he wants to do, and gives the librarian not only the opportunity to produce what he has asked for, but also to make helpful suggestions as to material which he possibly has not thought of in connection with his problem. The business man who thus directs and uses his trained librarian and his specialized collection gets the service which counts and has annexed an indispensable asset to the earning power of his organization.