Features 1/22/99

Reference librarian helps students surf the Net

By Ginger Miller

The man who knows the library inside and out has almost gone.
Warren Babcock was Utah State University's reference librarian until he retired at the end of December. However, he continues to help at the reference desk and teach students how to find the information they seek for about 10 hours a week. Specifically, Babcock spends most of his time teaching students how to research articles without using physical materials, but rather the Internet.
"My career has been fantastic and these 10 hours a week let me have my cake and eat it too," says Babcock.
He has been employed at USU for the past 17 years. Prior to coming to USU, he was the librarian at Washington State University for 13 years.
In 1993, Babcock was selected as librarian of the year by the Utah Library Association.
Babcock said he enjoys working with students and helping them to find the information they need.
"There is no better feeling then to get a new overwhelmed freshman and help them figure out how to find things," he said. The role of a librarian is to teach people how to effectively use the tools to find the information sought.
The Information Super Highway gives people greater access to information but you need to know how to use it, he said. Teaching classes of students how to use databases to find materials is something Babcock said he enjoys very much.
As a librarian, one of his roles was to find the best information sites on the Internet for the Business and Marketing classes. He is responsible for finding the best information in these subjects and evaluate the sites for the best information.
Babcock uses several criteria to of whether the site provides the best information. Some of the questions he asks himself are: is the site was done by a professional organization with a reputation, and is the site maintained by a known professor or university?
It is his philosophy that librarians have an essential role in helping patrons to navigate through the information super highway.
"Teach them (students) what they need to know and they can do the searching on their own," said Babcock.

BS
EEC
Archived Months:
September 1998
October 1998
November 1998
December 1998
January 1999
February 1999
March 1999
April 1999