Kids are not learning the alphabet? really?

In a book I’ve been reading, the author mentions offhandedly that a former elementary school librarian had told him this: kids don’t know the alphabet well enough to look things up in an alphabetized reference such as a phone book. They rely on technology instead and use Google if they have to look something up.

Parents and teachers of young kids, is this true?—they don’t have a tight enough grasp of the alphabet to find things in a list or index? This is so basic. How could this skill possibly be allowed to atrophy?

Note that I’m not asking if someone is teaching it. I’m asking if students are learning it. Are the majority mastering the skill or not?