Comments on: Reference Question of the Week – 2/8/09 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2009/02/14/reference-question-of-the-week-2809/ or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk Mon, 20 May 2013 14:05:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Brian Herzog http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2009/02/14/reference-question-of-the-week-2809/#comment-847 Brian Herzog Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:07:37 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=569#comment-847 @Kath: Honestly, I myself am not sold on roving reference – at least, not for my library.

@Sarah: English seems fluid enough that it’s never really standardized, just accepted – although Oxford and Merrian-Webster might disagree. In the meantime, Urban Dictionary and Wikipedia usually allow consensus by democracy to chose a winner(s). Or, it’s decided by the print media and everyone else just goes with it. I, however, prefer to make up my own words.

]]> By: Sarah http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2009/02/14/reference-question-of-the-week-2809/#comment-846 Sarah Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:33:38 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=569#comment-846 This post made me smile, Brian. Thanks for sharing the humorous element to Roving Reference.

Where I live we call them “localvores“, which raises the question: When a new/slang word is being developed, at what point does the spelling and definition become standardized?

]]> By: Kath http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2009/02/14/reference-question-of-the-week-2809/#comment-845 Kath Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:58:21 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=569#comment-845 We tried it, pre-iPhone admittedly, and it was violently resisted by the staff. We bought four at $2000 a piece. They lost one. They dropped another in water. The final two sat in cupboards until we went to retrieve them.

I would LOVE to implement iPhones in our libraries however we just can’t afford that kind of wastage.

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