When We Were Google

 When We Were Google

                                              photo by Chris Morland

     It is only 46 years ago but this is like describing the time of the Plantagenets when recalling life in the big library before the fire. An age long ago when computers were a rumor and hard copy was the only copy. You could say we did present as the houses of  Lancaster (Los Angeles Public Library) and York (Los Angeles County Library.) These were the heavyweight systems who served the largest pool of patrons in the U.S. at the time. Everyone genuflected to the New York Public Library but when they closed up for the  night we got their reference calls from the bars in the city that never sleeps or stops arguing over rivers, presidents and baseball records. I should refer back to the title here when my co-workers and I at Central Library were google when Larry Page and Sergey Brin were in first grade. I confess I started as a reference librarian in 1979 with an MSLS that required a class in computer application. We made punch cards and studied Cobol and Fortran. The only windows I knew was a drug slang from the 1970's. Sometimes we clicked when we squeexrf a metal cricket to call a messenger clerk to the desk. To begin in the beginning withthe luckiest stroke of my life I was hired to  join the History Department at Central Library where my Mom had once done her homework as a student at LA Poly High School in 1933. I went to library school on a whim and working at Central library was like any little leaguer hoping to pitch in Dodger Stadium. In a stunning set of circumstances I was sitting at the old reference desk in what is now the Children's department but was History on the seond floor, wedged between Literature and Social Sciences. We sat on tall stools, answered rotary telephones that rarely stopped ringing and fed periodical requests into lampson tubes that sent a capsule whooshing up  to a magazine pool a floor above us. There was a creaky dumb-waiter that delivered said magazines where most of the book collection was hidden from public view. The closest thing to a best-seller we had in History was "the Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" by Edmund Morris. The reading room with the famous murals was filled with reference tools and wooden card catalogs for our department only. The open stacks were more like apetizers placed  out to whet the appetites of hungry readers. The reading room with the tall windows facing out on Hope street was filled with a jumble of serious scholars, movie gophers, immigrant students and mentally ill street people mostly minding their own business. At one end of the lengthy space was the wonderful California Room and the ubiquitous walking encylopedia clerk Tom Owen sitting at his Underwood Universal typewriter. Tom was a character too big to tackle here but maybe later. Because eager wannabee Hollywood directors were prone to toss reference books off the balcony to nefarious co-horts below the doors were wired shut giving the room a distinct smell and temperature in Summer. There were stairs at the  back of the room that lead up to the "work room" where staff sat smoking cigarettes and describing that days adventures. Most of the action took place behind the reference desk in a cramped space filled with the clacking of typewriters and pushing and pulling of catalog card drawers. Microform was a rather new idea to reduce space that was in short supply at Central. In the closed stacks behind this center a level below were matching circular configurations known as "the Hole" and the beginnings of an awesome Biography section that wound through 8 layers of shelving. You could find everything ever written about Alexander the Great in there but the 1926 electrical setup kept the light bulb wattage reduced so reading dewey numbers on a 13 digit World War II book was not easy. There were eight tiers of fragrant books overflowing the not terribly well designed library and a basement where areas were named Rat Alley and Baronial Hall. I know why the rat but not the Baronial. Up top was Administration, Personnel, Cataloging, Bindery, Accounting, the Business OFfice, a lunchroom and a little room where the most excellent Pearl operated the Switchboard. Pearl was the brain that directed a staggering amount of questions into the phone lines of departments. She also knew everything about Central library, especially which parking space might be empty on a given day because someone called in sick. Pearl was revered but not feared as she was a lady with manners and plenty of smarts.

      Just sit with your phone in hand today and pick random words to google and see the kind of odd stuff people are curious about. "Do you have a 16th century map of Iran with treasures shown on it?" We opened at 10 am and the inquiries came out of the chute like angry bulls looking to draw blood. Remember too that this part of entreating humanity was comprised of the ultimate cross-section of Angelenos. There were kids hardly able to form sentences who might have hit redial, lonely old people who wanted to shine at the bridge game speaking authoritatively on the Peloponessian War or students who had to hand in a paper the following Monday. "What time is it on the Moon when it is noon here?  "Was Columbus wearing cuff-links when he discovered America?" "What did Madame Pompadeau do? On a reference desk at Central you got in your steps as the books were not on a little screen but maybe six tiers above you. There was also the dreaded human error factor including mis-shelving and mis-reading shelves. The questions ranged from scholarly to "World Book questions" meaning you could find the capital of Kansas under K. On night shifts we got the saloon arguments when you had to repeat the answer twice since one drunk would not believe another drunk who held the phone. Yes, the Nile is the longest river in the world! No, John Hanson was not really the first president. Maybe Adolf Hitler liked to dress in women's clothing. You also got to learn about weather in other parts of the country as their libraries closed ours was open for business until midnight in New York City bars. Mickey Mantle was born in Spavinaw Oklahoma!  A skilled reference librarian like the ones who trained me could juggle several calls at once and you had to pay attention to the recipient of your answer. Thus, telling someone on the line about Josephus when they wanted to know the name of the newspaper in New Orleans might be a bit awkward. Sometimes you could trust your own experience "How do you spell Utah?" We made some mistakes, we were the humans callers want to speak to today when they call their bank.

      I am actually sentimental about the old reference collections that included card files containing precious shortcuts to stuff like "where did California get it's name? Or what is the longest street in LA? Or when did the Herald and Examiner merge? About the time I came on board we had librarians who clipped travel magazines and created vertical files about destinations. Also, one of the greatest creations of the library was and remains the  California file, just chock full of local histories and detailed biographies way before there was Wikipedia. There were little cards about gunfighters and sheriffs, geographic atlases, Kings and Queens and the grandpappy of them all "The Information File" that met an untimely death at the hands of a clueless modernist. Most of all there were thousands of books, glorious sets of encyclopedias and collected biographies and indexes that presented a possibility of anwering the hardest questions. To list just a few. Many of these books still sit on shelves where they have been undisturbed for decades but more than a few are still invaluable. Granted, many of these sources have become databases but they require fees and in the old library we paid for the book and answered the questions."What is a person from Liverpool called?

Guide to Reference Books- known by editors Eugene Sheehy after Isadore Mudge after ConstanceWinchell  To begin at the beginning the Guide to Reference Books was an essentail authority to the best places to get answers. Depending on how old you were when you went to Library School they were just referred to as Winchells, Mudge or Sheehy.  If you made it into Sheehy you were a big time reference source.

Readers Guide to Periodical Literature: for at least 30 years I repeated thousands of times how you searched for articles in magazines listed by this dear old set and what the arcane symbols meant. To tell the volumes and numbers, pages and illustrations seems simple but...The Wilson company started publishing the indespensible set in 1901 and it  helped educate generations of Ameicans up until they thought that google told them everything they needed to know. They could be rather snooty in what they covered and Playboy never made the cut. As time went on less and less students asked for the guide and an unbelievable amount of them did not know what an index was before standing at our desk. Before 1901 it was Pooles but only for the stout-hearted. "What president threw out the first ball in professional baseball?

Biography Index took the Readers Guide and extracted just the people part.

NY Times Index the newspaper version of a thorough index of important articles. Since many newspapers including the many Los Angeles ones did not have indexes the NYT was the place for solid coverage. There was an index to the Times of London but it was so complicated it was used only as break glass in emergency situations.

Dictionary of American Biography the superb source of no-nonsense sketches about important Americans with bibliographies. No influencers, celebrities or pretenders but very short on women.

Books in Print title tells all

Ayers American Newspaper guide essential for finding obscure historical newspaper that patron might want to search for genealogy or local histories. It takes it back to the Boston News-Letter of 1704

Who's Who  listings for British luminaries but branced out a bit later on. To get into the real deep weeds of the aristocracy you would have to brave the almost impenetrable Burke's Peerage  When the guy next to you at the bar in Musso and Frank's claimed he was the Viscount of Beaufort you could look him up if you dared.

Who's Who in America  was mostly handy for checking birth dates and places for notables. George Santos would have been found a bounder here.

Who Was Who  There were several sets covering time frames but this was excellent for certified dates and prominent figures now forgotten.

Hollywood studios and television productions checked the use of names of their characters to make sure there was no serial killer named Joe Blow in Omaha for example. The Who's Who covered areas in detail so you could check "Who's Who in the West" etc. In a large library like Central we collected materials from all over the world i.e. "Quien es Quien" etc

Facts on File  one of the most useful and important sources on any reference desk worth it's salt. These gave a condensed version of events during a given week. Thus you could determine the exact date when Nixon resigned or who played for the NBA championship in 1971. It was what was called loose-leaf and sections would be snapped in and at the end of a year bound as a whole.

Index to Women from Ancient to Modern Times-  researchers who tried to study women's history always faced a daunting task of digging out facts from  patriarchal mountains of printed material. This source gave the topic a clearing house of places you might get info on the accomplishments of women. None of that weaker sex stuff here.

Kane's Facts About the Presidents  beyond the encyclopedia briefs Kanes gave you lots of essential information including even physical characteristics and in depth examinations of their lives before the White House.

American Guide Series (WPA Guides) Excellent coverage of each state in the Union done by historians who worked for the Works Progress Administration as part of the New Deal. Here you might find facts about the Hoover Dam next to the population of Hell, Michigan. There is also a WPA guide on Los Angeles alone.

Chase's Almanac  tells you what is notable for every day of the year and why holidays are celebrated on certain dates. Milestones are here, birthdays of the famous, and festivals. What day is National  crouton day?

People's Chronology by James Trager is a fantastic listing of historical events from prehistory to the present. You might know the Battle of Hastings off the top of your head but do you know when the Seneca Fall Convention took place? Trager does.

Bartholomew Gazateer of Great Britain and Ireland Old time genealogists bow to Bartholomew where the tiniest dot on a Ordnance survey map appears with an explanation, situation and relation to landscape. The essence of authoritative since 1904 when it appeared as six volumes.

Columbia Gazateer of the World  You know you have big ambition when you take on the world but this tome covers the globe with a fine-tooth comb. Using their own words the source covers demography; physical geography; political boundaries; industry, trade, and service activities; agriculture; cultural, historical, and archeological points of interest; transportation lines; longitude, latitude, and elevations; distance to relevant places; pronunciations; official local government place-names and changed or variant names and spellings. Whew!

Rand McNally Commericial Atlas and Marketing Guide  Everything you need to know about every damn state of the Union including the population, rail connections, county seats, rank in state. One heavy book that determines how close you are to retirement if you can or can't lift it

California Place Names- Gudde origin and etymology of the names of places in the Golden State. Ever wonder why Fontana would change their name from Rosena? Me either but it is in  Gudde

Tooleys Dictionary of Mapmakers  Being a map librarian I had to learn about mapmakers but fielded very few questions about my heroes. You might know Mercator or Ortellius or Bleau or even John Speed but Tooley records for posterity all of those crazy cartographers going back to Claudius Ptolemy who came up with latitude and longitude.

Times Atlas of the World  while there are scores of fine atlases of the world, if you want to start at the top you would check out this preeminent look at the globe. You can't help but lament that we made such a bad job of keeping this treasure in good health

Kings Rulers and Statesmen great one volume guide to rulers of countries including the dynasties of Egypt and China. It was here I learned about Ethelbert and all the Prime Ministers of Canada.

Los Angeles A-Z  Nowadays the internet is swarming with "experts" about LA but back in 2000 Dr. Pitt was the go-to guy for the LA stories. A great place to learn that LA history is not just the Black Dahlia and Hollywood Movie Stars.

Out With the Stars Hollywood Nightlife in the Golden Era- Jim Heimann  one of the rare but wonderful limited edition from Dawson's Bookstore. Heimann, the master of  local history images created a book that reflects the dream of Hollywood life that really only exists for an elite few. Very popular book

 Clencia Heraldica o del Blazon- Alberto y Arturo Garcia-Carafe a simply magnificent 40 volume set of Spanish coats of arms that was so protected patrons had to leave identification at the desk just to take a peak.

 Sheperds Historical atlas amazingly complete collection of maps showing historical geography from Ancient Greece up to the Panama canal zone. There are many historical atlases but Sheperds was the granddaddy of them all.

Fannings Illustrated Gazateer of the United States- published in 1853 this precious book lists American place names in great detail and describes counties of the 31 states including the whippersnapper California as number 31

Hand-Atlas über alle Theile der Erde und über das Weltgebäude or as we called it the Stieler Altas of 1891  The best German atlas at the latter part of the 19th century so it is invaluable finding places lost in the two wars. The cartography is superb and the index lists very small villages.

Distances Between U.S. Ports- today you might use your phone but in the hard copy days such information was damn important and there were maps!

US Board of Geographic Names- with the finest of fine tooth combs these state my state books listed all geographic features. Not just cities or rivers but camps out in the middle of nowhere that no one knew existed except the Board.

and just for some icing some of the winners from my short stay in branches

PDR physicians desk reference showing actual pills for medications with side effects and such before drug companies had to put all that stuff in with the drugs

Value Line investment research dating back to the 1930's this was a must read for investors before the coming of on-line guessing. It tracked 1700 publicly traded stocks and we had to interpret symbols to folks who knew way more than we did about the stock market.

The Stateman's Yearbook- had been listing current facts on countries since 1864 Political, Economic, Cultural and social conditions everywhere in the world. In one book! 

O.E.D. or the Oxford English Dictionary the final word on the English language in print so fine they gave you a spyglass to use for examination. This magnificent work traced the creation and use of a mere 600,000 words in English.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations  in the beginning Bartletts was so ubiquitous it was just known by the first name like a family member. The place to go to answer the dreaded quotation questions.

The Kelly Blue Book  People of a certain age would know the book as just "the Blue Book" that let you know just how little your old Camry was worth.

Contemporary Authors- everything you would want to know about ink-stained wretches who created not only novels, plays, screenplays, short-stories, but journalism also.

Grangers Index to  Poetry "I liked this poem, it was something about birds and death?" With Grangers you have a good shot at an answer plus full text, a bio, and commentary. 

Grove Dictionary of Music If you don't know a largo from an allegro Groves is the place to have the mysteries of music explained beautifully.

Book Review Digest the great rescue for clueless kids with book reports due. In a very easy to use format you would be led to the thoughts of critics who could describe a 400 page book in a paragraph. 

Bullfinch's Mythology probably known by more people than most reference sources the weird world of Greek and Roman myths are explained clearly along with even more obscure tales of gods and godesses from Scandanavian, Celtic and Asian cultures.

etc.

     I salute today's reference desk stalwarts and am not saying we old timers were more effective or intelligent. The current staff of my department is very good and can answer complicated queries in minutes.We were more like peach-basket basketball players against LeBron James if you consider the tools the staff have now. Yet, we shot that two-handed set shot pretty well. Once upon a time there was a thing called a "level two question" that was handed over to SCAN who were crack librarians who dug into deeper questions. They had the luxury of quiet study that would not be interrupted by twelve more phone calls. True, many of those calls to our desk were about directions, time zones, dates of holidays and "you have a nice voice" from the LA lonelies. We had a connection with our patrons that will never be recreated I am afraid but it was the books that made us wonderful There are still people of all-ages that find the scent of a book being opened to be comforting or even erotic.