Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Super Librarian!

Sometimes the questions are strange, and sometimes the questions are incomprehensible, and sometimes the questions are vague - but when I can come up with the correct solution, I feel like Super Librarian!

In larger libraries, they have specially trained staff for reference work, but in a small library like ours, you take your chances.  As it works out, we each have areas where we are most familiar - Marilyn knows children's literature, Joyce knows non-fiction titles, and most of the fiction questions come to me.  Here are a couple reference mysteries I've solved lately:

Patron:  I want a new book I saw in the bookstore the other day, but I can't remember the title.
Me:  Do you know the author's name?
Patron:  No.
Me:  Ok, can you tell me what the story is about?
Patron:  No
Me:  Do you remember what the cover looked like?
Patron:  No, but the author's picture was on the back and he was wearing a cowboy hat.
Me:  Oh, that would be James Lee Burke.
Patron:  That's it!

Patron2: I want a certain book, but I can't remember the title.
Me: Do you know the author's name?
Patron2: It's Ely something.
Me:  Could it be "Night" by Elie Weisel?
Patron2:  That's it! 
Patron2's Husband:  I told you someone here would know!

Matching someone up with just the book they're looking for is one of the best parts of being a librarian.  Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  Faster than a card catalog...
More powerful than a speeding computer....  Able to leap to conclusions with a single clue...  

4 comments:

  1. It's like Name That Tune - The Librarian Version!!!

    I did that once in a bookstore, but only because the sales clerk asked me if she could help me with anything. So I asked her if they had that non-fiction book with obituaries. Uh, duh. That would be called The Economist BOOK OF OBITUARIES. I didn't feel so stupid though when it turned out they didn't have it in stock. Too bad. Andy would have loved it as a X-Mas gift. He's weird. He likes to read obituaries.

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  2. My theory is that librarians become librarians because they love books and reading. They become lovable people after a few years of dealing with all the people's questions you've described. (The ones who don't become lovable leave the business.) I absolutely Love librarians with a capital L. They are the most interesting people in town and, if you get them talking, have the best stories to tell.

    Molly: Andy is not weird, although he may be quirky. Reading obituaries is very cool. It means he's reading biographies - the Reader's Digest version.

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  3. This was very funny...people near cease to amaze me, and some librarians are indeed like detectives...LOL

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  4. Wow! I'm very very impressed! They are not giving you much to work with!!! You know your stuff! (I'm sure they don't really appreciate how amazing you are though!)

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