or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk


Reference Question of the Week – 1/24/16

   January 31st, 2016 Brian Herzog

Unfortunately, there's been numerous times I could have easily done the same thing at the library.This was posted on Boing Boing a couple weeks ago, but I thought people might find this funny:
Actual conversations with rude or odd customers at a used book store.

Some are rude to the point of being mean, which of course is not something that would happen in a library - at least, not something library staff would say out load. Here's a couple of my favorites:

(phone call)

I found a book "---" on your web site. It was written by my Uncle. I was wondering why it is so expensive? ($50)

It was inscribed and signed by him.

Why should I have to pay for his autograph? He's my Uncle, not yours!

(sigh... and no, she didn't buy it)

 


 

(Older gentleman calls)

I see you have a book titled "---" listed on your web site for $200

Ok

I am the author.

Ok

That book originally sold for under $20

Ok

How can you justify that?

Justify what?

Charging so much!

That's what it's worth. Look it up on Bookfinder

You will make more on the book than I did

I guess I should feel bad about that! If it makes you feel better, you could adjust for inflation (30 years)

I just doesn't seem right

It's the free market at work. You shouldn't have written such a good book

I will take that as a compliment

It was

(I should add, I paid a lot more for the book than it sold for... originally. The customer I sold it to will probably donate it to his favorite charity and the cycle will continue. Makes me wonder how many profits there are in these things...)

 


 

(Customer fills out search card: 16 Chapels)

(me) Oh, you're after books on European Churches?

No, just books about the 16 Chapels.

16 Chapels?

Yea, you know the one with the big painting on the ceiling.
We will let you know what we find (once we stop convulsing).

 

Any time I see something like this in book stores, I can't help but hear them in the voice of Bernard Black - and then end up watching that entire series again.



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Reference Question of the Week – 9/13/15

   September 19th, 2015 Brian Herzog

jerkSince the public library serves the entire community, we see patrons on both ends of every spectrum. Last week there was a nice litte girl, and this week I encountered these two people:

Patron 1
On Monday , five girl scouts came in to help with a project. And because girl scouts are shorter than me, part of the project required a ladder. After we were all finished and I was cleaning up, I was walking through the Reference Area to return the ladder to the back room - now, keep in mind, I am carrying a ladder at this point - when I was stopped by a patron who asked,

Do you work here? Are you busy right now? Can you help me with the computer?

I looked at the ladder, looked back to the patron, and said sure. So I carried the ladder over to his workstation, held onto it with one had while I pointed at the screen showing them where to click with the other, and then proceeded on my way back to the office to return the ladder.

Patron 2
Then the next day, a patron called in to have her account's PIN reset. As she was reading her barcode to me, I could hear a cell phone start ringing in the background. She hurriedly finished reading her number, said "can you wait just a minute," and then I could hear her answer her cell phone.

You might ask, "Brian, what did you do while you were waiting for that patron to finish her cell phone call?" Well, I started typing this blog post.

Her other call only took a minute, and when she came back I reset her PIN for her, made sure she could log in, and both of us happily hung up. I've seen stores with a "if you're using your cell phone in line we will serve the customers behind you until you're finished" sign at the cash register, and I've even been helping someone at the desk when their phone would ring and they'd go somewhere else to take the call, but I've never been asked to wait while helping someone. I suppose it's no different than call waiting, but I was still annoyed.



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