A Life-Saving Librarian

The snow was coming down so hard we couldn't see more than an inch in front of our noses. We were totally lost and didn't know which way to go. We were beginning to get scared and looked to him for guidance.........No, wait. That was Jack London's "Call of the Wild".

Bullets were flying everywhere as we landed on the beach. My comrades were dropping around me like flies. It seemed all was lost and I was ready to give up, when he showed up and showed me the way out of this mess, saving my life.......No, no. That was the beginning of "Saving Private Ryan".

We were in the library at UCF, starring blankly at our computer screens, downloading article after article, fighting indecision over whether it was a practioner's point-of-view or a researcher's researchable study. And just when we thought we had finally discovered what we were looking for, we couldn't access it. Why God? Why have you forsaken me in my greatest hour of need? You know I'm going insane. And then he was there to help.............Yes, Yes! This is the scene, the true and real life-threatening scenario of our experience.

My classmates and I were in the library this week trying to put together the literature review for our thesis. Our slave-driving captain, Dr. Dixon, was pushing us to our limits with, "Well, do YOU think that is what you're looking for?" responses to our begging requests for help.

All this thinking for ourselves at higher levels can challenge any grad student. And that night I felt like we were in a blinding blizzard, a blasphemous battle on the beach. It was all too much, too much, until.......

Richard Gause, UCF's Reference and Government Document Librarian Specialist. Evidently a wizard on loan from a faraway magical place, in less than 30 seconds this man was able to access a document I had spent thirty minutes on trying to do the same.

"How did you do that?", I meekly muttered.

"Twenty-two years of experience", came his humble reply.

Thank you Mr. Gause. For myself and all my classmates who quickly began to ask for you to save them after they saw you save me, your talents and knowledge are greatly appreciated. You saved an entire platoon. You deserve a medal.

And I'm joking about Dr. Dixon. Not about the the intense challenge to think for ourselves at the highest levels of thought. But she really did help us, and even has changed the way many of us teach. She deserves a medal too. We're probably one of the more rambunctious group of scholars to come through the Lockheed Martin Academy.