At age 60, Ian became a California State employee. Dr. Kevin Starr, the State Librarian, appointed him Roving Minstrel (officially, California State Music Librarian) in his own chautauqua, traveling every other month to rural libraries in order to give entertaining and educational lecture-concerts on the subject of popular music. Regina accompanied him, as did Rollo (their dog). He very much enjoyed these trips: seeing the California he loves so much, meeting new people, making discoveries. He introduced so many families to American Popular Song highlighting that the books and recordings are available in the libraries.