Kitsy Babcock, Library Assistant — Joan Sargent

Auburn-haired Kitsy Babcock, seventeen and a freshman at the University where her father and mother first met, was faced with a dilemma. Either she must get a job or she would have to transfer to a smaller college. For Kitsy's already high tuition had just been raised.

It was impossible to get anything at the university library -- they already had a waiting list a mile long -- and at the only bookstore in town where there was an opening, they needed a boy. Her last chance was the city library, and when Kitsy first saw Mrs. Bayne, head of personnel, she felt that she was lost. Perhaps it was because Mrs. Bayne liked girls who didn't pretend to know more than they did -- or perhaps it was because dark-haired Don Mitchell, who made posters for the library took Kitsy under his wing when he found her waiting outside and escorted her to Mrs. Bayne's office…but whatever it was, Kitsy was hired part-time as a library page.

And no girl could have been prouder of her first job. Even Mr. Gorman, the irascible old night watchman, couldn't dampen Kitsy's spirits. But Mr. Gorman had tried the patience of most of the librarians too far, and one night, when he barred the entrance to a South American singer on the library program -- almost causing an international situations -- Mr. Gorman got the axe. Mr. Jones, Mr. Gorman's successor, bore a startling resemblance to one of the library “regulars,” a man who had attracted Kitsy's attention for the odd reason that he was so very nondescript.

For the safety of the Hernandez family records, it was unfortunate that “Mr. Jones” should have become watchman. And for Kitsy's sake, it was unfortunate that John Quartermain, last of the Hernandez family and the curator of its records, should have liked her as well as his helper.

John Quartermain is only one of the fascinating and unusual people whom Kitsy meets in her work at the library. On Author's Night, she gets to know many well-known authors, and on any day she talks with one of her “regulars,” Mrs. Frazier, a dear old lady who is now destitute but whose husband's people once owned a big hunk of Florida.

Kitsy's work at the library is both interesting and rewarding. And when she is promoted to library assistant -- and knows that she can finish at her beloved university -- her cup indeed runneth over.