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Reference Question of the Week – 11/15/09

   November 21st, 2009

CoywolfThis almost doesn't count as a reference question, because it wasn't on library time and it wasn't even a question someone asked me personally.

But, it is an example of how libraries could use twitter to answer questions from people in the community (and why it's more important to follow/friend your patrons rather than other libraries).

I woke up one morning this week and saw this tweet from @briansawyer

Is it possible that I just stared down a coyote in the middle of the street less than a mile from my house?

I had recently gone to a lecture sponsored by the Westford Conservation Trust, on how what people think are coyotes in this area are actually coywolves. So I responded to Brian with

@briansawyer Yes, but it was probably a coywolf. WCT just had a speaker about them http://bit.ly/wwMkx (<--pdf) and http://bit.ly/srnS1

My links go to the WCT's newsletter [pdf] with an article about the speaker, and also the speaker's website with lots of information about coywolves.

A little while later he tweeted again with a link to his video blog:

I've learned that my encounter on this morning's run was most likely with a coywolf http://bit.ly/UEjli

In the video, I'm the "fellow Westford resident" he mentions at 2:14 - yay

I feel bad that the additional information didn't help reduce Brian's trepidation towards the animals, but based on the experience and facts, perhaps it's justified.

Also: it's holiday time again, so I'll be in Ohio all of Thanksgiving week. Instead of blogging, I'll be playing with my nieces and nephews. I've got a big stack of audio books for the drive, and I'll be back the week of Dec. 1st - see you then.




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