With this issue, & User Services Quarterly (RUSQ) begins its fiftieth year of publication. In November of 1960, the first copy of what was then known RQ (sometimes referred to Reference Quarterly) appeared as an eight-page newsletter. (1) Since that time, the content and the presentation has expanded to its present format. Throughout its history RQ, and later RUSQ, the journal has been essential to the forward progress of both the theory and the practice of reference librarianship, in the broadest sense of the phrase. While looking ahead is an important part of our work, an anniversary like this also reminds us that we should occasionally look back at where we are coming from. It is crucial that we not lose the best of our past we move, increasingly rapidly, into a future that at times seems quite uncertain for libraries and librarians. The first volume of RQ was published from the fall of 1960 through summer of 1961. It was at the end of that summer that the library profession lost one of its luminaries, whose commitment to books and reading are still a model for readers' advisors today. By the time of her death, Helen Haines had been forgotten by many in the field of librarianship, but her influence on libraries and on librarians remains an important one, and one that still speaks to the profession in the early twenty-first century. As readers' advisors are facing challenges ranging from budget cuts to rapidly expanding format choices to censorship, Haines's work in collection development and intellectual freedom offers insight into how we can make choices that support both our readers and our profession. Haines began her work in the library profession in 1892, when she joined the staff at R.R. Bowker, working first a secretary and then assistant editor on a variety of publications, most importantly Library Journal. Initially working under the supervision of Charles Cutter, Haines became the journal's managing editor in 1896. At the same time, she also assumed duties recorder for the American Library Association (ALA), with the responsibility of preparing the proceedings of the ALA. Haines was then appointed to the ALA Council, and there she worked with both Cutter and with Melville Dewey In 1906, Haines was elected second vice president of ALA, however, a bout of tuberculosis left Haines unable to continue at Bowker or ALA, and she resigned both positions. (2) At her resignation, Haines was awarded a yearly pension from Andrew Carnegie, in recognition of her effective personal work done in the library field. (3) Following a period of recuperation, Haines moved to Southern California, where she had a sister who was working at the State Library of California. (4) During her recovery, Haines read widely, laying the foundation for much of her later work. By 1910, she was sufficiently recovered to begin work a book reviewer for the Pasadena News. In 1914, Haines began to teach at the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL), offering training classes on book selection and other related topics. Between 1914 and 1931, Haines taught courses for LAPL, the School of Librarianship of the University of California, and the School of Library Service of Columbia University. (5) Haines's wide reading and work in collection development culminated in the 1935 publication of Living With Books: The Art of Book Selection, which became a standard text in library schools across the country. Many librarians welcomed Haines's work for its focus on the literary aspects of librarianship and focus on the reader--two areas that were being challenged by the rising interest in information systems and new technological developments. In the 1930s, Haines expanded her work on book selection to include a vigorous opposition to censorship of books in libraries and schools. In 1940, Haines was instrumental in the establishment of the California Library Association's intellectual freedom committee, and served the committee's first chair. …