Farewell, old Mentor

[mizarchivist]

Allen Smith, the man who taught me my first lessons in reference librarianship, died a few weeks ago. He was snarky, emphatic, and was a man of many talents. I have just been reading through a wiki of A Smith quotes, and this one was worth sharing:

"Criticizing the Britannica was something like stomping on an apple pie."

The man loved print resources. I walked away from his class with not a whole lot of retainable knowledge, other than don't trust everything you see online and document where you find your answer!
Also:

"Show me a town that denies funding to a library, and I'll show you a librarian who stays in the office. Show me a town that funds its library, and I'll show you a librarian who takes donuts down to the police department. Who goes down to the city hall and goes into offices asking if they need anything. Who goes to community meetings to schmooze and shake hands. You have to be proactive. It might come as a shock to some of you, but a large part the success of that library is your personality and the way you treat people."

Comments

[dreda.livejournal.com]

Oh! Oh, no. He will be dearly missed.

(He gave me extra credit on an exam for knowing to search for Cymri/Cymru in a Welsh-subject Dialog question. ;)

[mizarchivist]

You earned that extra credit, for sure. Just the sort of thing he'd appreciate, too.

[hippie1025.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. I hadn't heard. I will miss him - he was an amazing teacher. I took him not only for reference, but oral history as well. We had immense mutual respect for each other, and that's a rare thing in this world.

Hmm..I know I put some quote down in my various notebooks. I shall have to unearth them.