Chuck,
Hope you get your AC fixed soon.
Some of your points sound very familiar!
Meanwhile, here are a couple more that happened to me. Some of the ones that drive me buggiest are the ones where people are trying to sort out if I'm the person who can help them:
Am I the Reference Desk? Do I look like a piece of furniture?
Do I work here? A couple of weeks ago someone asked me that as I was shifting some microfilm into a new cabinet. And for once I actually said, "No, I'm just doing this for fun." But I smiled as I said it, and quickly followed it with "What can I help you with?" so I don't think he took it as anything but a joke.
And another thing:
what is a Notary Republic? Is that like a Democratic Republic? Is there a Notary Democracy somewhere, too? Or even a Notary Monarchy?
Lois Aleta Fundis,
Reference and Gov't. Documents Librarian
Mary H. Weir Public Library,
Weirton, WV 26062
fundisl0weirton.lib.wv.us
304-797-8510 (fax -8526)
"Carpe librum!"
I have enjoyed this discussion immensely, and it has brought to mind a few of my humorous moments:
I once retrieved a document on microfiche for a patron, only to have him slam it on the table and say, "I'm not going to read that! Its too SMALL!"
A lady was looking for a book she had used earlier to update her resume. She said the title had something to do with dinosaurs. (I first thought of business books with titles like "Swimming with the Sharks.") After further questioning, the light finally dawned. She had used the Thesaurus!
And Texas librarians will enjoy this: I had a lady ask if we had the "Vernon's Anointed Civil Statutes." (I was sorry to tell her that our state's laws are merely ANNOTATED, not anointed!)
And then there are the income tax questions — I've been asked for the "WD-1040's" and the "Package X files."
Isn't it great to be a librarian?!
Charlotte Bagh
Documents Librarian
Dallas Public Library
At bit late responding to this one but my favorite is :
"Do you keep your bound peridoctals in the basement?"
This makes me think of some small dinosaurs with their little front arms bound in chains and attached to the stacks for public viewing. And yes, we do keep many of our bound periodicals in the basement.
Melody Kelly
Associate Dean
University of North Texas Libraries
I love this thread! This happened to me years ago, not too long after I became a librarian.
I was sitting at the reference desk when the phone rang. I answered it the way I always do: Documents/Microforms Dept., May I help you?
A college student sounding male voice said: Are you one of those government (brief pause as he's trying to think of the right word) suppositories?
I'm sitting there with a big grin on my face and biting my lip to keep from laughing as I think of what to say, when I hear hysterical laughter coming from the phone, but at a distance, like someone on the other side of the room. Then I heard the guy who called me say: Oh, s**t, (and I could hear the embarrassment in his voice as he realized what he said) and he hung up the phone. I have no idea if he ever called back or got his question answered. I hope he did. I'm just glad it happened as a phone question.
Deborah Yerkes
Documents/Microforms Dept.
Thomas Cooper Library
Univ. of South Carolina
yerkesd@gwm.sc.edu
"Doing research on the Web is like using a library assembled piecemeal by pack rats and
vandalized nightly." Roger Ebert
I wish I had a nickel for every time in the last thirty years someone approached me with "Where is 'Eric'? I was told to consult him."
Bill Olbrich
Govt Pubs
Olin Library
Washington University
Box 1061
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130
voice (314)935-4021 FAX (314) 935-4045
e-mail olbrich@library.wustl.edu
And I once had a British gentleman approach me sheepishly to ask, "What's a nickel?"
Jack McGeachy
NCSU Libraries
Back when we were moving to our first automated library system, I overheard one information technology person ask another: "Who is Elsie and why do we have to pay so much attention to her?" [L.C.]
Carolyn Kohler, Head Government Publications Dept.
The University of Iowa Libraries
100 Main Library Iowa City, IA 52242-1420
email: carolyn-kohler@uiowa.edu
I can't resist mentioning a few of my favorites from the other side of the desk. One coworker was always talking about what reports he needed to finish up "this physical year." Another offered me helium peroxide for my paper cut. Another would shake her head philosophically and say, "Yes, it's a doggy dog world". Guess we're all just people!
From: McCormack-Dunfee, Barbara J.
Barbara.McCormack-Dunfee@sdsmt.edu
My all time classic was when a young woman about to be married asked me at the reference desk for information on a song of gratitude for daughters that she had heard was sung by Morris Shovelear. She wanted it sung at her wedding. After a few minutes of digging, I pointed her to Thank Heaven for Little Girls by Maurice Chevalier.
djjohnson@bumail.bradley.edu Bradley University, Peoria, IL, USA
I once had a young Congressional staffer who had written out what she needed on scrap paper- "biographical information on Lewis Pasture" I miss the small-town public library days of my youth, when people would bring in dead snakes for identification.
Jennifer Manning
Congressional Research Service
OK you got to me. My all time favorite is the student who walked in and wanted "Everything you have on civil rights!" After a great deal of work it finally became clear that he needed a copy of "The Bill of Rights."
Mary Prophet
Denison University Library
Another misunderstood title:
A patron came and asked if we had the "Harmonious Traffic Schedule". I asked him if it had anything to do with imports and customs. Sure enough, he was delighted when I showed him the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States!
Erhard Konerding
Documents Librarian
Wesleyan University Library
252 Church Street
Middletown, CT 06459
ekonerding@wesleyan.edu
On the government repository/suppository/depository confusion...
One of our library administrators was misquoted in a small local newspaper. In a statement to the reporter for an otherwise very good article on the diminishing access to government information, he claims he did NOT say the following:
"We are a suppository of information," he said. "Our collection primarily supports students and faculty, but we are open to the public as well."
Marcia Meister
UC Davis Library
Oy, this may go on for a while.
Just this week a student told me he was going to write a report on the International Whaling Commotion. Why not?
And a million years ago in a public library a woman asked for the Power of Positive Thinking by Phyllis Shafer. Did she mean the book by Norman Vincent Peale? Absolutely not.
Finally I got it. The Power of a Positive Woman By Phyllis Schafly.
And while i have never had anyone ask for the secret part of the Constitution I have had people come in with scribbled references to the secret section of the US Code that allows you to mail letters without stamps.
Rob Lopresti "Desperate times call for desperate analogies." -John Diamond
Wilson Library
Western Washington U rob.lopresti@wwu.edu
Bellingham, WA http://www.library.wwu.edu/cbl/rob/rob.htm
I could never forget this one:
An American high school student asked (in English) for a definition of a word. The librarian said: Let me show you the Oxford English Dictionary. The student said: But I don't speak English. Well, I suppose if the librarian had referred to the American Heritage Dictionary the student would not have made such a statement!!
Betty Chan
Head, Government Documents
Drake Memorial Library
SUNY College at Brockport
NY 14420
