Kate hated asking for help.

To her, it was a like admitting failure. To ask for help was to recognize that you couldn't do something by yourself. But, Kate couldn't find the book by herself because she didn't know what book she was looking for. So she went to the front desk, where she figured she could find the librarian and ask for some help.

Or… she would just stand there patiently and hopefully he would offer help. That way she wouldn't have to admit failure so much.