Googling David Smith

A Commentary
by Carter Jefferson

I started doing research of one kind or another when I was a kid, and then it was part of my profession for a good while, and I still do it nearly all the time, whether I'm writing fiction or non-fiction or simply feeling curious.

Years ago, when I taught a freshman college course called "Introduction to Historical Writing" -- it was an alternative to English 101 -- I took every class over to the library and showed them around, never failing to gather them all at the Reference Desk and say, "This is the true fount of wisdom. These people know where everything is, and they are here to help you find whatever you need." The librarians always smiled, and some blushed, but I could tell they weren't used to such recognition.

Well, in the NYTimes, one of them, a fellow named David Smith, finally gets the treatment he obviously richly deserves. Even if you never get to the NYPL, remember--Mr. Smith is not alone. Whatever you want to know, somebody at your own town library probably can help you find out.

The last day of a year seems a fine time to pay homage to a poorly paid profession few people realize is one of those to which the world of writers owes a great debt. Drop in and thank the one you know--or get to know the one you don't.

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Read the article here ...

Mr. Smith, a bookish but boyish 54, is officially a supervising librarian in the Allen Room and the Wertheim Study at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. But a business card, printed for him as a 50th birthday gift by the author Christine B. Whelan (whom he helped with her doctoral dissertation for Oxford and who wrote “Why Smart Men Marry Smart Women”), reads “Librarian to the Stars.”