This conversation between the distinguished art historian, Professor Sir Ernst Gombrich, and Krzysztof Z. Cieszkowski of the Tate Gallery Library, took place in Professor Gombrich’s home late in 1990. Professor Gombrich recalls making use of a number of libraries, and offers some thoughts — from an art historian’s point of view — on librarians, who, it is suggested, tend to make too much of professional skills at the expense of knowledge.