The Periodical Fables

"The Periodical Fables" is a tongue-in-cheek look at aspects of reference work with periodicals. The setting is the Albright College Library, a chronically-underfunded institution at a primarily undergraduate school. Albright College has been busy adding new programs that place an increasing strain on the library's already modest collections. In a half-dozen vignettes, or "fables," the article tracks the daring and resourceful Albright reference crew as they try to do too much with too little in too short a time. Any resemblances between the experiences of the Albright reference librarians and those of real librarians in real libraries are entirely intentional.