I was a reference librarian in two college libraries in the United States before making Aliyah. It was a great thrill.

I stood in a central location at a reference desk, and teachers, students, or administrative personnel approached with questions about any subject at all. They all expected me to give them an answer on the spot.

Several reference books were located near the desk, and I also had the full resources of the library at my disposal. There were no computers at that time.

It was a great thrill. I loved every minute of it. I was also successful. No matter what question was thrown at me, I knew which resource to search in order to find the answer.

I felt that this was the epitome of librarianship. This was where it was at. This is what I loved.

I did not like the job of cataloguing or classifying books quietly by myself. I did love the challenge of being able to demonstrate expertise in anything and everything.

Alas, there is no such position in Israel, and even in the United States this kind of job has all but faded away. It's very easy for administrators to eliminate the job, because there is no way to demonstrate how much it accomplishes or achieves. You can quantify the questions and answers that you give, but that's not impressive enough, apparently, when they make up their budgets. It is difficult to prove a substantial Return On Investment (ROI).

In Israel, the position never existed. Oh, yes, there are reference books in some major libraries, and a librarian in the room classifies them very neatly, but she rarely gives personalized service. Patrons who go in are on their own. They are sometimes intimidated by the librarian who distances herself from the public. She was never trained and she never had the skill to be able to help people or to offer true reference work.

Indeed, the name of the service in Israel is Bibliographic Service or even Bibliographic Room. That means that it's a room in which there are bibliographies and reference books. There is no reference librarian. There is a bibliographic librarian.

Big deal.

Well, that reference work which was my specific need, niche, and love, is related to my current counseling work. I don't work in libraries, but I'm able to provide answers to computer questions.

So, my fields of teaching, counseling, consulting, and librarianship are related and connected. In each case, I help others get the information that they need.

This is part of my vision of websites and forums. They are a focal location for information about Jewish topics.

It's also the background for my collections. They help me find information about specific fields.

Being at the focus of knowledge may be the greatest thrill that a person could have. Being able to look at things from different directions and to control knowledge, or say that knowledge can't escape from you, but that you can access it readily from any vantage point is wonderful.

It's also exciting. I can almost look forward to being able to approach the Ultimate Omniscient One, Who may allow me to access man's hidden information.

I certainly hope so. Nothing could be more exciting.