Archives for Reference Question:
October 11th, 2008 Brian Herzog
This week’s question is actually one with me as the patron (well, in this case, customer). I was so impressed with the person who helped me, and how she helped me, that I thought I’d share. However, to keep her from getting into trouble, I’m going to change a few facts to protect her identity.
On the weekends lately I’ve been working on a project building boardwalks through a swampy park in Chelmsford (hey, librarians need fresh air too). I needed to rent a cordless circular saw, and in the process of calling around to local places that rent tools, I called a Lowe’s Home Improvement store. After I explained what I needed, the customer service associate I spoke with said:
I’m sorry, but that is not a tool we rent. Furthermore, it is against Lowe’s store policy for associates to suggest places like Taylor Rental at 555-555-5555, so I’m very sorry I can’t help you.
I was laughing so hard I could barely say thank you and good-bye, and I think she appreciated it. I know I did - no rules were broken, and the customer service was friendly, informative, useful, and very memorable.
Because of this good experience, I’ll definitely be shopping at that Lowe’s in the future, despite their unhelpful official store policy. Just an example of why good customer service, and caring and helpful employees, is so important.
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Posted under Reference Question, Service | 1 Comment »
October 4th, 2008 Brian Herzog
Sometimes, an innocent reference question has the potential to turn into a multi-million dollar industry.
Late one evening, a man in his early-forties came up to the desk:
Patron: I’m looking for someone to drive my kids.
Me: Um… where to?
Patron: My kids get home from school about 3 o’clock, but wife and I don’t get home from work until about 6 o’clock. Most of the activities they want to do (sports, dance lessons, piano lessons, etc.) are after school, but they can’t do them because I can’t drive them there. I’m looking for someone who can drive my kids to their activities and then bring them home afterwards. Can you give me the number of the group in town that does that?
Me: I don’t know of any group that does that specifically. I think most people use nannies or babysitters, or carpools or relatives or neighbors. But I’ll check around and email you what I find.
After a little more talking, I learned that he and his family had immigrated here from India a little over a year ago, and so didn’t have family in the area and hadn’t met many people yet. They couldn’t afford to pay a babysitter, especially since the kids were old enough to be home alone, but just not old enough to drive.
I first checked with our Childrens Librarian, as the Childrens Desk usually knows about kid- or mom- or family-related resources in the area. And I was right. She told me that the middle schools in town have buses that move kids between the various schools to get them to school-related after-school activities. Also, she said that high school kids volunteer around town after school, and that perhaps he could find one of them that could drive his children around.
I next checked our Community Information database, which is a listing of social services and non-profit organizations in the area. Most of what I found were child services for low income families or at-risk kids, but there was also a listing for the Chelmsford Mother’s Club.
This club is kind of like a support group for new and expectant mothers, so I didn’t think it would help him directly. But I linked to the Mother’s Club website from CommInfo, and found that they had put together a great resources page. I couldn’t tell if any of them could help the patron, but it was a good list to start with.
I emailed these three options to the patron, but haven’t yet heard back.
And after thinking about this question for a few days, this really does sound like a business that could make a fortune.
Tags: activities, after-school, children, drive, driving, kids, libraires, Library, public, Reference Question, ride, Service See Also
Posted under Library, Reference Question | 1 Comment »
September 27th, 2008 Brian Herzog
I really don’t like stereotyping patrons, or thinking that patrons who look a certain way will use only a certain type of information and stay away from others. But in this case, a patron breaking out of a stereotype made his reference question even funnier.
A guy in his late forties walked up to the desk. He was scruffy, wearing a flannel shirt and jeans with paint and putty smears, and looked very uncomfortable in the library. He more or less looked like a stereotypical construction worker, and lately when a skilled tradesmen comes in, he is coming to ask for help with writing a resume or with searching the internet for job ads.
So this is what I was expecting, but this guy showed me how wrong I am to stereotype:
Patron: I just bought an iPhone, and the guy at the Apple Store said that I should come here to get the manual.
Me: Oh… Well, we have books about the iPhone, but not the actual manual. Maybe we can download it from their website - so you didn’t get any manual in the box?
Patron: Yeah, it came with one, but the Apple guy told me that the best one that could be included is always missing, and I should get it at the library.
Ah. When he said “missing,” it dawned on me what the guy at the Apple Store told him about: iPhone: The Missing Manual.
I took the patron over to the 004’s and showed him the book. He looked at it skeptically, and said “this is a book; I want the manual the Apple Guy was talking about.”
I tried to reassure him that I was 99% positive this is what the salesman sent him to the library for; we don’t have product manuals, this one is called “the missing manual,” and I even pointed to the “The book that should have been in the box” slogan on the cover. The patron flipped through the pages, and eventually said, “well, even if this is the wrong thing, it looks like it’ll show me how to use it.”
After he seemed comfortable, we started walking back out towards the Reference Desk. Just then another patron, dressed exactly in exactly the same stereotypical way as the first, walked up to him. As they walked away from me up the stairs, I could overhear their conversation:
Patron 2: Did you find that book? It ain’t going to help - you can barely dial a phone, let alone use a computer.
Patron 1: Shut up - with this thing, I won’t need a computer. It does it all for me.
Perhaps in addition to our basic computer classes, we need to start a series on iPhones, iPods, and other new devices. Then again, teaching a beginner how to sign up for an email account is one thing; teaching a beginner how to use an iPhone might be more than one hour-long session.
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Posted under Books, Library, Reference Question | 2 Comments »
September 20th, 2008 Brian Herzog
I was sitting at my desk back in the reference office when a coworker came in and said she needed help with a reference question:
Me: Sure, what’s the question?
Coworker: Well, a student is researching how the Industrial Revolution was influenced by archaeology.
Me: Okay, so let’s try… wait - archaeology?
This might be the most bizarre combination of research topics I’ve ever heard a assigned to a middle school student.
My coworker had so far approached the question from the “Industrial Revolution” angle. She and the student found books on the Industrial Revolution and checked for “archeology” (and “archaeology”) in the index, but with no luck.
The first two resources I thought of were our databases (a.k.a. Online Resources) and the Encyclopedia of Science and Technology from McGraw-Hill.
In the encyclopedia, there were quite a few entires beginning with “archaeology,” including one for “Archaeological Chronology.” This one proved the most useful, as it pegged the beginning of archaeology as we know it to the 19th century, which coincides with the Industrial Revolution.
When I brought this resource over to the patron, I learned then that the teacher had excluded encyclopedias from the assignment. However, the student and his parent decided to photocopy these pages anyway, just for background material.
In the meantime, my coworker had been searching Gale’s General Reference Center database, trying various ways to combine the terms “archaeology” and “industrial revolution.” Again, there wasn’t much to be found, but she did locate a few full-text articles that would help.
We also tried searching the catalog again, this time for books on the history of archaeology instead of the Industrial Revolution. Lots of matches were returned, but they all had to do with the archaeology of history, and not the history of archaeology. That’s a frustrating combination of terms.
It turned out the student’s project was just a one-page paper, and he felt that, between the database articles, a couple Industrial Revolution books, and the information from the encyclopedia, he had enough information, so they were happy.
This is the worst way to identify a gap in a library’s collection, but at least the student who comes in next year with this assignment will find us better prepared.
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Posted under Library, Reference Question | No Comments »
August 30th, 2008 Brian Herzog
Here’s an example of what should be a simple question needing a round-about path to find the answer.
A patron came in asking for help finding movie listings. He’d heard there was a special showing at the local Showcase Cinema, called “attack of the” something, and he wanted to go. It’s part of a series the theater is doing, showing certain movies on Thursday nights for $5.
But when he was at the movie theater, the employees wouldn’t tell him what was showing on Thursdays. They said they didn’t know. So he came to the library.
Usually for quick movie listings I check Yahoo Movies, but that didn’t mention this special Thursday series. Also, all the phone numbers I could find for the theater were just their recorded show times, which likewise did not mention the special Thursday movies.
So the next step was to search the internet for “showcase lowell thursday attack.” The first listing was the flickr photo shown above, which the patron was excited to see.
The second listing was “Attack of the B Movies” Series Playing at Select National…, an article about this series. It mentioned the information came from the National Amusements website, and after clicking around their site for a bit, we found their Special Program listing, which linked to the upcoming schedule of movies.
You can also check their locations listings to find a theater near you.
It took less than ten minutes to follow this chain of links to the answer, but it shouldn’t have even taken that long. It’s disappointing that the cinema employees (and the theater’s phone recording) didn’t answer this question right away, but I am glad the patron thought to come to the library. I hadn’t heard of this movie series, and not only am I a fan of B movies, but I’ve also been asked about these twice since this first reference question.
Too bad this isn’t a drive-in.
Tags: b, b movies, libraries, Library, listings, movies, national amusements, public, Reference Question, showcase, showcase cinema See Also
Posted under Library, Reference Question | 3 Comments »
