Reference Question of the Week – 4/19/09
April 25th, 2009 Brian Herzog
Since I was traveling this week, I don't have a reference question today. But a fun post over on Closed Stacks can help hone reference skills.
It lists some online quizzes for brushing up on your Dewey and LC knowledge (I got 100% on both Dewey tests, so yay for my masters degree). Really, one of my favorite parts of the job is when someone comes to the desk and says,
Do you have any books on ____________?
and I'm able to immediately say, "yes, I'll show you where those are," and take them right to that subject in the stacks.
Afterwards, I explain why I could find them and how they can use the catalog to find books too, but the initial shock and surprise patrons show when you can seemingly pull a useful book out of thin air is too good to pass up.
Some patrons think I have every book in the library memorized. I try to convince them it's not magic, just organization, but many people still think locating information is beyond them. Maybe it means we need better signage.
