Give them a fish, or teach them to fish?

Now that I work mainly with children answering reference questions I have a different perspective on the whole thing. Many times when answering questions for adults you can tell, they don’t want a long explanation about what you are doing and why you are doing it, they just want what you think is the best answer to their question based on the information they have given you. I know this is aggravating for many librarians because to a point only the patron can choose what the best answer is or maybe you are standing there looking through every book you can think of that might contain a picture of a bicycle wheel off the frame, while the patron is just looking over your shoulder telling you none of those pictures will work. The opposite of that seems to be true in the children’s department. Many times young patrons come to the desk and ask specifically how to find a book, not for me to show them the book. When they ask this, I try to find the least complicated explanation and give them a walk though. I wonder what kind of patrons these children will be when the move to the adult department. I also wonder if the ever evolving nature of the library confuses patrons into thinking they will never be able to find a book without the help of the librarian. Is that what we call job security?