February 16th, 2008 Brian Herzog
Not every reference question I am asked is one that I can answer. This is one of those.
Perhaps the very nature of a small public library prevents librarians like me from being experts in any given field - since we have to respond to questions on any possible topic, it helps to know a little about a lot of areas rather than a lot about a single area. Specialists work in academic and large public libraries, and generalists end up in smaller libraries.
But that’s not to say that a librarian won’t know quite a bit about an area they are interested in. Coworkers of mine could easily specialize in linguistics, pop culture, cooking and modern fiction. Hiking, conspiracy theories, knitting and dystopian novels are some of the particular holes I’ve dug for myself.
At least, those are all the excuses I can think of for my behavior with this reference question.
A patron sends the following email to our reference desk:
To: Chelmsford Library Reference
Subject: Corporate Tax Rate
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am living in Kuwait and for study purpose I have a 2 US Corporate tax related questions.
A US-Based Company (Domestic Company) have its operations in Foreign Country what tax is levied on this company?
If this domestic company is acquired by a foreign company (and domestic company is still operating in another foreign country)….what will be tax rate implied for that foreign country?
Hope You answer my question
Here’s why I answered this question the way I did:
- Although we help anyone who comes in, calls, or emails us, we do give priority to local patrons. He didn’t say he was a local resident who just happened to be abroad, and I didn’t see his name in our catalog. I honestly have no idea how he found our email address from Kuwait, and that makes me suspicious and reluctant to spend a lot of time on this
- He did mention that he is there for study, and I’m always hesitant with students: the line between helping them do their work and doing their work for them is often blurry. I try to err on the side of less help to start with, but keep checking in to see if they are on the right track
- This is a tax question (and a very specific one), and we have a policy against giving tax advice. Especially with such a specific question, unless you get an answer from a specialist, it’s hard to know how much to trust the answer
So, with all that in mind, my reply back to him is below. I knew I wasn’t giving him an answer, but I wanted to at least direct him to some resources that might lead him to an answer:
To: [patron]
Subject: Re: Corporate Tax Rate
I’m sorry, but specific tax questions are beyond our expertise here, and also violates our policy against giving tax advice. I did try looking into your request, and found the Internal Revenue Service’s International Business page (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/international/), which may lead to the answers you seek.
The IRS also has an office in Philadelphia, PA, USA, that focuses on international issues. Their contact information is listed on http://www.irs.gov/localcontacts/article/0,,id=101292,00.html
In addition, the IRS has technical support for its website, which should aide you in locating the information on their website that will answer your questions: http://www.irs.gov/help/article/0,,id=97185,00.html
Another potential resource for you to contact is the United States Embassy in Kuwait (http://kuwait.usembassy.gov/), which may have an office to help with your questions, or be able to direct you to the government agency that can answer them.
I’m sorry we are not able to answer your questions directly, but I hope some of the above information might help you. If there is anything else we can do, please let us know. Thank you, and take care.
Brian Herzog
Head of Reference
Chelmsford Public Library
This feels like such a cop out, and I feel bad I couldn’t come up with a real answer, but this seems like the kind of question someone could spend days researching and still find nothing. The patron did reply with a very polite and gracious thank-you message, but I haven’t heard back if he found what he was looking for.
If anyone knows of resource that can answer this, I would appreciate hearing about it.
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Posted under Library, Reference Question, Service | 4 Comments »
January 15th, 2008 Brian Herzog
I believe this sign was seen hanging in an antique store:
Wouldn’t this be a good way for libraries to both allow cell phone use in the library and encourage patrons to interact with librarians (in a way that is convenient for the patron)?
Or we could go the supermarkets route and install “help phones” in the stacks, so patrons who can’t find their items don’t have to go looking for staff, too. Hmm.
cell phones, customer service, libraries, library, phone support, public, reference 2.0, roving reference
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Posted under Library, Service | No Comments »
April 28th, 2007 Brian Herzog
This is only marginally a reference question, but I thought it was funny. And as with most things in my life, it requires a bit of a setup…
Our internet connection went down on a recent Friday at 5pm. On Saturday, since our Assistant Director in charge of computery stuff was on vacation for the week, I called comcast.
Eventually I spoke with a very nice tech support person. He had me check stuff and try things, none of which worked. He concluded the problem was on their end, and would send out a service guy. But, since the next day was Sunday, and the Monday was a holiday, it was unlikely the guy would get there before Tuesday.
Of course, we were open full regular hours Saturday and Sunday. Very disappointed patrons kept coming to the desk to ask what the problem was, and when it would be fixed. People even repeatedly called throughout each day, asking if “we had turned the internet back on yet.”
But one patron stood out from the crowd. He’s a high-functioning special needs guy who comes in pretty regularly. We don’t require signups to use the public computers, but he always comes to the desk and asks permission anyway. When I told him Saturday that internet access was unavailable, he stood and thought for a moment.
He then asked where the computer books were, and I showed him. He looked at the shelf for awhile, selected one book, and then sat for about an hour reading it. Later he came up to the desk, looking kind of deflated, and holding the book out to me.
It was The Internet for Dummies, and he said “I thought maybe I could fix your internet, but this book doesn’t tell me how.”
I thanked him, and told him it was okay, because we had someone on their way. That made him felt better, and he said he come back in a couple days.
He was the only patron who didn’t first think how their day was ruined because the library was keeping the internet from them. It took me be surprise because, as a librarian, I am continually asking what the library can do for the patron, and not what the patron can do for the library. This was a refreshing and unexpected reversal.
internet, internet access, internet down, libraries, library, public libraries, public library
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Posted under Library, Reference Question, Service | 3 Comments »
April 26th, 2007 Brian Herzog
The photo here is a little sign taped to the cash register at a Dunkin Donuts in Chelmsford, MA. It is positioned so that the cashier will see it and remember those simple rules to good customer service.
As I waited for my bacon-and-egg on a plain bagel (no cheese), I pondered these customer service guidelines. They seemed to fit the library world, too - “Listen” and “Solve,” definitely, and “Thank” should be part of every interaction.
But “Apologize;” this one struck me as odd. I mean, yes, quite a few of my daily patron interactions involve apologizing - “I’m sorry, the book you want it check out,” “I’m sorry, all of the computers are being used right now,” “I’m sorry, I don’t know why our catalog does that,” etc…
Should it be an indicator that something is wrong when you prepare to apologize or compensate for shortcomings of your work environment? If these are known problems, doesn’t it make more sense to look for solutions? In the case of unavailable books, of course I always ask if the patron would like to request it from another library.
But when it comes to the catalog, I am sick of apologizing for it. That soapbox is so crowded that there’s little new I can add - except to say that people in my library have started looking very seriously at Evergreen. And best of all, rather than being skeptical about open source, they’re excited about the possibilities.
It’ll be a long process before we switch to a different catalog search interface, but the day I can stop apologizing for our catalog will be a happy day. And if the interface is user-friendly enough and patrons can easily request checked-out books themselves, then maybe we can cross “Apologize” off of the little “L.A.S.T.” lists entirely.
apologizing, customer service, evergreen, libraries, library, public libraries, public library
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April 2nd, 2007 Brian Herzog
This email was sent to all the staff at my library yesterday, for an April Fools joke - it met with mixed results:
Announcing a New Reference Program
In order to reach out to teenagers who use the internet more than the library, the Reference Department is launching a new program designed to appeal to these kids.
Since kids are online so much, this new program is geared to reach kids where they spend time. Instead of the Reference Desk, we will use accounts on MySpace and Facebook, and launch a new blog with podcasts and YouTube videos. This will show the kids that the library is as hip and cool as they are, which will make them more comfortable in asking us questions.
We also came up with a hip and cool name and image for the program, based around the look and language of teens today. To show that we’re funky-fresh, the program will be called “RephrenZ” (the teen’s phonetical spelling of “reference).
A core service of this program will be a new 24/7 chat/IM reference service. The Friends of the Library have graciously given the library funds to purchase five new laptop computers, one for each member of the Reference Staff.
To be able to answer chat and IM reference questions day or night, all Reference Staff will be required to carry their laptops with them at all times, and answer chat questions during their regular desk shifts as well as while they are at home. The Friends are also buying two extra laptops, so other staff can volunteer to answer chat reference questions from home.
The blog and chat login and everything else will be centered in our new website. For more information, please visit Da Rephrenz webpage at http://www.chelmsfordlibrary.org/rephrenz
Are you ready to Git Yo Reph On?!?
Brian
git yo reph on, libraries, library, public libraries, public library, rephrenz
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Posted under Library, Programs, Random, Service | 2 Comments »
