Observed

Mr. Kett was one of my grad school professors.  Nineteenth-century American intellectual history.

I get the sense however, that he didn’t single out my bunch for special punishment.  I bet every one of his classes went on Mr. Kett’s Scavenger Hunt.

Armed with a list of 20 or so arcane questions (“How many teenage women in North Dakota entered college in 1897?”), Mr. Kett just sent us to Alderman Library, assuring us that it held answers to all we wanted to know.

It did.

I’m still grateful for that exercise.  It gave me or refined my problem-solving and critical-thinking skills at a more advanced level.  And, it got me over any fear I would ever have of any library or library system.

I mention this because I am constantly amazed at the lack of resourcefulness I see in so many people.  Young.  Old.  Man.  Woman.  Whatever.  Very few of us seem to be able to find answers to the most obvious stuff.  It seems as though we’ve lost  (or never had) the willingness to look.

If that’s you, I can only hope you find a Joe Kett along your path.

HINT:  Start with the simple stuff.  After you Google and still can’t find the whatever, call the reference librarian at your college or main branch.  They’re usually bored out of their minds and, by nature, tend to be Helpers.  Then, there’s Mr. Phonebook.  I know he’s an endangered species.  Try him anyway.  And, let me know how it works for you.