Reference Question of the Week – 2/25/18
March 3rd, 2018I've used this exact same technique before to answer a question, but the end result of this one still made me laugh.
A patron I know asked me to put a book on hold for him. Since I know him, I didn't ask for his library card number - I just figured I'd look him up.
Unfortunately, he has a fairly common name, so there were three patrons by that name in the catalog. I didn't know his street address either, but I do know what his pickup truck looks like - so I thought I'd look up these addresses on Google Maps and see if his pickup was parked at any of them. I suspect this is how all reference librarians think.
I type in the first address and switch over to street view. What do I find? Not only was his pickup parked in the driveway, but he was in the yard cutting the grass - case closed!
Of course, you can see him better when you move around and zoom in on Google Maps, but even from the back I was positive it was him. Ha.
March 3rd, 2018 at 10:49 am
Bwahaha this is fabulous. I miss your posts!
March 3rd, 2018 at 12:44 pm
Great post, Brian. I only wish all reference librarians though t so quickly on their feet (alas, I don’t).
March 3rd, 2018 at 12:55 pm
@Jen: thank you – I miss doing reference, assistant directoring doesn’t make for nearly as entertaining blog posts.
@Micah: thank you, but really, whatever works – most of the time when I try this trick, it doesn’t really help.