DR Ginny – It was always my impression that most reference librarians had advanced degrees in another field, and then went back to get an MS in Library Science. Do you know if that is generally true? If so, it’s a crime that they’re not paid more.
When I was in school, the library didn’t have the funds to convert or cross-index their collection, so half the stacks/card catalogues were in Dewey, and half in LoC. A sorry state of affairs. Perhaps this has since been rectified. Or perhaps everything is digitized now.