Longtime reference librarian checks out

During her 35 years at Flathead County library, Rita Kraus has been around volumes of romance and adventure stories. Now it's time for her to live her own.

Kraus was 18 when her affiliation with the library began. On June 8, 1970, she began a work-study program there in conjunction with her education at Montana State University. She worked every summer at the library until she had a degree in English.

She went to work full-time at the library during 1974. Then, she saved all her annual leave and used it during the course of several years to attend graduate school at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she earned her master's degree in library science.

She'd hoped to stay in Seattle for a library job at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper, but family responsibilities called her back.

She stayed.

Through three carpets and eight different administrations, including two stints as co-director herself, Kraus became a fixture at the library.

"The rewarding part was helping people who would come back years later and say, 'You found this for me and that for me,'" she said. Sometimes, they'd add, "'I came back and you're still here.'"

Kraus was mostly a reference librarian.

"We had skills to offer that not everybody could do" when they were researching information, she said.

The Internet changed all that.

Now, information is a mouse-click away for anyone to find.

Kraus said her role has become guiding people through the Internet to information that's reliable. Not all of it is, she said, and "that's where the skills come in."

The Internet changed her life in a more profound way than how she helps library patrons, though.

Seven years ago, Kraus logged on to a computer chat service while at home.

"My friends were meeting people from all over the world," she said.

She wrote a profile, describing herself as a 46 -year-old woman who loves music and animals. She started talking with people far outside the boundaries of Flathead County.

One night, a man sent her a message, saying he also likes music and animals. A steady correspondence grew between Kraus and Larry Allen, a firefighter at a naval base in California.

"We started finding out we have all these things in common … We would just talk and talk and talk," she said.

Seven months later, they met in person in Las Vegas.

"We were both very, very nervous," she said. They got along as well face-to-face as they did behind a standard computer font.

"If I could have written bid specs

for a guy, this would be the guy," she said.

"We began talking about what-ifs," Kraus said.

By then, she had 23 or 24 years of work at the library that qualified for the retirement she could take after 30 years. Allen was at the same point in his career.

Their relationship continued long-distance for seven years.

"I think the fact that we hung in there for seven years gives us credibility," she said.

In February, they decided to marry, and Kraus began the process of changing her life.

"I'm not very adventurous," she said. She sticks to the same menu items every time she goes to a restaurant, she said.

But she was struck by the saying, "This is your life. It's not a dress rehearsal." She took it to heart.

She retired from the library that had been her second home since she was a teenager. She hung up her gung-ho volunteering for the musical community in the valley. She packed up the contents of the house she's loved living in.

She planned to leave Saturday to start her new life with Allen. They'll marry later in Reno, with their families around them. Maybe Kraus will volunteer at the library in her new town or maybe she'll do some online indexing, she said.

"Everybody is happy for me. I'm going to miss everybody," she said, but the Internet that introduced her to Allen also will help her stay in touch with the friends she's leaving.

She's taking with her a scrapbook that a co-worker at the library gave her so she won't forget all those years and all those people.

"It's been a privilege to serve everybody here for all these years. I hope I've been able to find some answers when they needed them."

Now, like a good reference librarian, she's found her own answers and she's ready to apply them.

"It's very exciting. It's like a dream come true," Kraus said.