An Investigation of Database Use Experience by Public Library Reference Staff
I Believe in Asking Why
As my mother would tell you, as a child, I perfected "The Why Game.” For anyone unaware, “The Why Game” has simple rules: one person makes a statement, and the other repeatedly asks “Why?” Some of the questions I asked were easy for her to answer: “Why can’t I drive the car?” Some are a little harder. “Why do bears sleep all winter?” Eventually, we got to the point where she could not answer them at all. “Why are the planets named that way?” and “Why are school buses yellow?” led to the answer of “I don’t know why, maybe you should look it up.” So, I did. I looked on Google and Wikipedia, and on the hard ones, I looked at the library. For a while, I got my answers and learned why the planets are named after ancient gods and why yellow is considered the most visible color, but nothing has a 100% success rate. Eventually, questions were asked that never had answers, though that does not mean I did not look. I looked and found nothing, so I learned how to make my own answers, or I looked and found answers that led to more questions. Through all of these “Why?” questions, Google was always on the computer, the bookshelves were always full, and the librarians were always available.
As an adult, my whys have gotten harder than younger me ever could have imagined, but I still believe in asking. The American Library Association believes that one of the driving values for library staff is being a public good, stating that:
“Libraries are an essential public good and are fundamental institutions in democratic societies. Library workers provide the highest service levels to create informed, connected, educated, and empowered communities.” (American Library Association, 2024)
By providing services to create informed communities, library staff can continue to make space for so many people like me to continue asking “Why?” and empower them to instill change when they do not like the answer. The fun of “The Why Game” is that you can play forever; every answer yields a new “Why?” We do not have to love the answers to our questions for them to be correct, but that also does not mean we stop asking. Libraries exist to empower people to keep asking “Why?” even when the answer is hard to swallow. Libraries exist because somewhere along the way, those “Why?” questions turn into “How?” “How can I help my community?” “How can I learn more?” “How can I do more?” In those answers, we see neighborhoods grow, we see public goods occur, and we see ourselves do things we never knew possible. There is always power in asking and growth in continuing to question. We constantly have something new to learn, and because of that, I believe in asking “Why?”
References:
American Library Association. (2024, January). Core values of librarianship. Retrieved from American Library Association website: https://www.ala.org/advocacy/advocacy/intfreedom/corevalues