Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 20, 1995                   TAG: 9509200013
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CITY DIRECTORIES ARE THE PSYCHIC SALESMAN'S SECRET

Could be they're psychic. Or they read your mail before ringing the doorbell. Or, more likely, they use a directory like the one published by R.L. Polk & Co. of Detroit, Mich.

You can think of Polk's City Directory, which turns 125 this year, as a telephone book - with the works. Regular phone directories are organized by last name, which is fine if you need to look up the address or phone number of someone whose name you already know. But the Polk book also features directories organized by street address and by telephone number, so you can find out who lives in a certain house or has a specific phone number. The book even tells you where people work.

Polk publishes about 1,100 directories covering 6,500 communities in the United States and Canada. The Roanoke directory, for example, also includes Roanoke County, Salem and Vinton.

Polk isn't the only company that makes a living by compiling community information. City Publishing Co. of Independence, Kan., publishes the Cross Reference Directory for about 100 cities in the Southeast and Northeast. Its books are a bit less detailed than the Polk directory - not listing occupations, for instance - but they still provides names based on addresses or phone numbers.

Door-to-door vacuum salesmen aren't the only people who use these directories. Polk spokeswoman Lyla Akouri says Polk's directory often is used by police departments and rescue squads needing to cross-check names and addresses and by creditors who want to verify addresses and employment.

The Roanoke Police Department keeps about eight Polk directories on hand, says Sgt. Tim Jones in the records department. Crime victims don't always give complete information when they call the police, he said, and the directories let officers match names and phone numbers to addresses. Because the directories also list occupation and employer, police use the Polk books when they have to find someone who has moved without a forwarding address, he says.

The Roanoke Rescue Squad uses the Cross Reference Directory for billing and other daily operations, says squad member Dave Hoback. The 911 system provides address information in emergencies, he said, but the directory is a good backup.

And, of course, there are the salesmen and the bill collectors.

"Bill collectors call a lot, trying to track people down," says Carla James, who works in the Roanoke City Library's reference room.

And does she help them?

"Well, if the information is in the directory, I give it to them," she says. But she won't give the collectors phone numbers for neighbors of delinquent customers, she says.

If you've lived in Roanoke for a few years, you've probably encountered the Polk troops. These "enumerators," as they're officially known, go door to door themselves, collecting information for the directory. This year, they started canvassing the Roanoke area in late July and should be done by the end of November.

Residents are not obliged to answer their questions - the information in the directories is all given voluntarily, Akouri says.

Polk then double checks the information against public records and employers' lists, just to make sure that the person on Brambleton Avenue who claims to be the Sultan of Brunei really is His Majesty and not just some imposter.

City Publishing Co. doesn't go door to door, says company president Mark Bryant. Much of its information comes from phone books and other public sources. In some cities - Roanoke isn't one of them - the company buys tax rolls or planning department data from municipal governments.

All this information carries a price. Polk directories range in price from $100 to $250; the 1995 Roanoke book cost $190. City Publishing's Roanoke directory runs about $85.

Anybody can buy the hefty directories - the Roanoke book is nearly 1,000 pages - but you aren't going to find any sales fliers stuffed in your mailbox. The directory companies won't refuse to sell you a book if you ask them, but they aren't going to go out of their way to woo you, either. They aim their marketing campaigns at businesses and public safety groups, not, as Akouri says, at "the universe of people."

If you cringe at the thought of paying that much for a glorified phone book but you'd like to use the directories - or just see what they say about you - the library keeps copies of both books in the reference room.