Treasure Hunt

Primary Sources

Q. What is the funniest question you have received?

Betty: One time I was asked to send all of the books at the Library of Congress. You know there are over 17 million books.

Q. What are the hardest questions to answer?

Betty: The hardest questions to answer are those where not enough information is provided. For example, someone might want a speech by Roosevelt and you wonder which Roosevelt. Or the question is just too broad to be answered with an email message, for example, "What are the three causes of the Civil War?" I sometimes refer very specialized questions to an expert in the field.

Q. What are some of the common questions?

Betty: There are a lot of questions about the Civil War, genealogy, and biography.

Q. What resources do you use to answer questions?

Betty: I start with the American Memory collections, themselves. Besides the search tools, I might use the Learning Page, the Collection Finder, or Today in History to help locate an answer. There are also places in American Memory to help with technical questions. Sometimes, I use an almanac, an encyclopedia, or other reference books to help me understand the question better. I might refer the reader to these sources or to books from the bibliographies of the collections or even other web sites. Sometimes, the questions can be answered by the local public or school librarian with resources there.

Q. Do you keep a record of the questions?

Betty: There is a database of the first 1,000 questions and responses. Now, the questions are placed in email folders by topic. I hope that there will be integration between these two storage methods in the future.

Q. What was the most touching question?

Betty: One time there was a woman in Georgia who wrote to say she had just read Pioneer Story written by May Queen in American Life Histories. She went on to say that May Queen was her paternal grandmother and she had heard these stories and others about life in early New Mexico. She understood that her grandmother's story was part of a book.

It turned out that the author, Carol Abrams, wanted to interview this woman in conjunction with her book, Grandparents & Grandchildren: Shared memories.

Another time a woman wrote, "I have been viewing your collection. How wonderful it is. My husband's great grandfather was Justin (Judd) Farrington. He was a trail guide in the Adirondacks during the turn of the century. He is pictured in many of your photos. I copied these photos on my printer and sent them to Warren Farrington, who lives in the retirement home for veterans in Washington, D.C. He called me, almost in tears. This was his grandfather."

Adirondack carry, Adirondack, N.Y.

The next time you ask a question on the Learning Page, you will know that you are in good hands thanks to Betty Brown, our reference librarian.

Betty Brown received her Master of Library Science degree from the University of Maryland. She is currently a reference librarian with the Library of Congress. Betty answers questions from the Web site, assists staff with research, works on public programs, and handles technology issues.

Ask A Reference Librarian

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