I came across an article describing a recent study done at the University of Michigan Cancer Center. The study looked at the information that patients were able to find on their own compared with what they found with a librarian's help: 95 percent of the 513 Patient Education Center's visitors who participated indicated that they found new information with a librarian's help. "For 65 percent of visitors, the professional search returned information they had not obtained from other sources, and an additional 30 percent said the librarian provided some new information. Only 4 percent of users said they found all the same information on their own." Finding information about a health issue can be lifesaving, so this survey says something important about the role of information professionals in a world where everyone assumes that a Google or Wikipedia search is all they need.

While the librarians at Villa Julie don't often have to help with life or death questions, we are helping to educate healthcare professionals as well as paralegals, fledgling business professionals, and other participants in our society, our economy, and our environment. Part of what we are trying to help them learn is how to navigate the world of information, and how a trained librarian can help them to efficiently find the best resources.

Reference Librarians spend a lot of time every day of the week working with subscription databases, search engines, reference materials, and more kinds of information than can be listed here. Researching facts and finding needles in haystacks is what we do best because we are doing it constantly. The library staff behind the scenes (i.e. in the Workroom) are also constantly interacting with information resources to figure out which ones best support the curriculum here, and how to best organize and make them available so they can be found.

So, the next time you have an information need that you suspect may require more skill than typing a few search terms into Google, stop by the big blue "Ask Me" sign in the library and do just that! It's why we're here! And we love a challenge!