By Dane Anderson

Local resident guides others through the wide world of information

Carol Maxwell knows a lot of things about a lot of things.

She knows the favorite weapon of medieval knights. She knows about the impact of climate change on plant growth, and she knows how big dinosaurs were. She knows quite a bit about Native Americans and Shakespeare. She knows about the Pennybacker Bridge, sirens, diseases, transportation statistics, advances in alternative energies, police brutality, the impact of single-sex schools on academic achievement, and much more.

Maxwell doesn’t just know these things because she was terribly attentive during school. No, she is among a new breed of superheroes in these modern times. Carol Maxwell is a research librarian.

That’s right. You read it correctly. Maxwell is a research librarian.

Amidst the vast possibilities of the Information Age, a research librarian can be a pretty good person to know. She helps mere mortals combat the fatal ennui of information overload to leap tall questions in a single bound. She gets us to the real answers. What Maxwell doesn’t know, she can find out.

“Our primary purpose is to lead people to resources, not do the research for them,” Maxwell said. “Finding the right answers from sources you can trust doesn’t have to be a long, sordid process. Spending 15 minutes with a reference librarian can save hours and hours of time at home before you put your fingers to the keyboard.”

Maxwell has worked as one of the Westbank Community Library District reference specialists for the last 10 years.

“Reference librarians have changed a lot over the years,” said Lisa Charbonnet, branch manager of Laura’s Library. “Once upon a time, they were guardians of information. It was scarce and precious and needed careful tending, lest it be lost forever. Then they became gatekeepers of information; they knew where the keys were and how to find their way through Byzantine stacks and corridors. Now, in the Information Age, they’re guides, trained to deal with information in many, many forms and to work with people to find just what they need in the most efficient way.”

Every Friday, area residents head for Maxwell’s information booth in Laura’s Library, armed with questions. Maxwell is ready and waiting.

“That’s what I love about what I do,” she said. “I never know what’s coming at me. I am never bored, and I am always learning.”

The Westbank libraries offer access to a range of electronic information resources, including the New York Times historical papers, CQ Researcher, Reference USA and a cornucopia called the TexShare databases. WCL members can access it all for free with their library card number.

“So much information is available to people from their own homes,” Maxwell said. “We are always available to teach people how to use the resources.”

Even though Maxwell is one of those people who loves to hold a real book in her hands, she likes the fact that so much information has become available electronically. But there are definite risks to avoid when navigating the Internet for information, she said. Not all the information is accurate, and not all of it is timely.

“Everyone wants information very quickly now,” she said. “Kids are more information savvy. But they think all the answers are on the Internet. They tend to go to the first top sites they find. We can help people do a better job of finding deeper information, information that’s the latest and from experts. You have to balance how quickly you need information with how much depth you need. We want people to walk away with something they can use.”

Maxwell is not only the queen of information; she is also a veritable queen of multitasking. In addition to her duties at Laura’s Library, she currently works as a librarian for the Texas Public Utility Commission, helping PUC attorneys and others within the agency find the information they need to do their jobs. She works with an information broker out of California to provide knowledge to the health industry. She is also a reference and instruction librarian for Texas State University in San Marcos and an indexer for 10 shopping sites, helping to organize products so people using search engines can find them.

All of that is in addition to her work for Tutor.com, providing virtual chat reference services to academic, public and military library patrons across the world. In her spare time, she puts out the site’s newsletter. Oh, yes – she researches freelance projects.

“I don’t get a ton of sleep,” she said. “But I like wearing a lot of information hats.”

“Carol makes such a good reference librarian because she really wants the people she’s working with to get the info they need, she goes the extra mile, and she has a memory like a steel trap,” Charbonnet said.

The mother of four Eanes school district students ranging in age from 6 – 15, Maxwell has, from time to time, home schooled her children. She volunteers on their campuses two days a week and is an assistant coach for her son’s fifth-grade basketball team.

All of Maxwell’s children grew up in Westbank libraries.

“The public library is an incredible, cool institution, especially the Westbank libraries,” she said. “I meet a ton of members of the community here. And then I see them other places – at schools, in the grocery store, in the park. I have gotten to know them. I have watched their kids grow up.”

Confident that they will remain community meeting places in the future, Maxwell doesn’t think the basic functions of libraries need to change much.

“I would like to see patrons of all ages continue to be interested in books, magazines, newspapers and online resources,” she said. “And I would like to see people interested in meeting their friends and having the opportunity to be lifelong learners by making use of library offerings. Those are the kind of things I see already in the Westbank libraries.”