Comments on: Reference Question of the Week – 2/27/11 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/03/05/reference-question-of-the-week-22711/ or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk Mon, 20 May 2013 23:17:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Swiss Army Librarian » Reference Question of the Week – 7/8/12 :: Brian Herzog http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/03/05/reference-question-of-the-week-22711/#comment-14049 Swiss Army Librarian » Reference Question of the Week – 7/8/12 :: Brian Herzog Sat, 14 Jul 2012 16:43:05 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/03/05/#comment-14049 [...] I've gotten reference questions from prisoners in the past, we've always just answered them like any other mailed question. But, I have noticed that they [...]

]]> By: Brian Herzog http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/03/05/reference-question-of-the-week-22711/#comment-2264 Brian Herzog Sat, 19 Mar 2011 03:28:15 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/03/05/#comment-2264 @Erin: I’m actually kind of curious about that too. I don’t know that it’s necessary, because I don’t think we can treat them any differently than any other patron. For one guy who was asking for a ton of stuff, I did call the prison to find out what their rules were about what I could send to him – and that significantly cut down on how I could answer his question. Beyond that though, I think anything that is publicly available would be okay, and hopefully the guards will keep away from them anything they shouldn’t be allow to have – but I don’t know how prisons work.

]]> By: Erin Apostolos http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/03/05/reference-question-of-the-week-22711/#comment-2260 Erin Apostolos Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:17:20 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/03/05/#comment-2260 Brian,

I helped a prison inmate in Arizona with some genealogy work from the late 1800′s. I had never really thought about a policy for dealing with reference questions from inmates specifically, but had his question been for more recent information on a person I would have been more hesitant. I wonder if there are libraries with prison inmate policies?

Erin

]]> By: Brian Herzog http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/03/05/reference-question-of-the-week-22711/#comment-2169 Brian Herzog Sun, 06 Mar 2011 01:53:09 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/03/05/#comment-2169 @Langdon: our policy says that we attempt to answer pretty much any question, but within reason. Our out is that the policy says staff can’t devote more than 15 minutes to any one question.

If a prisoner/genealogist/anyone asked something really inappropriate or difficult, mail or otherwise, we wouldn’t/couldn’t do it. But usually, the questions we get in the mail are very Chelmsford-specific, and I feel that if we don’t help them, no one else can, so I really do try to accommodate them when possible.

]]> By: Langdon http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/03/05/reference-question-of-the-week-22711/#comment-2168 Langdon Sun, 06 Mar 2011 01:30:33 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/03/05/#comment-2168 Is it your library’s policy to answer questions from anyone that sends you one through the mail? Can you decide not to answer the prisoner’s question? Is it your obligation to?

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