November 10th, 2012 Brian Herzog
Sometimes, patrons know they're going to ask an unusual question, and they savor it. This patron had about a two minute preamble when he walked up to the desk - but he could have just lead with the punch line:
Can you tell me where the library bought the couch up in the Children's Room? It's the most comfortable couch I've ever sat in and I want to get one for my house.
This is the couch* in question:
And yes, it is quite comfortable, but the most comfortable? Hmm. During his story, he said he's been looking for a couch for awhile, has visited 20+ furniture stores, and all the couches seem to fall into two categories: not good enough quality, or way too expensive.
He has kids, and he figured that library furniture must be built to last. He was surprised how comfortable it was, and I guess that was it - he liked it, was sick of shopping, and was just done. I bet if I would have taken a check, he would have left with it that day.
But unfortunately, this happened on a Saturday - I didn't know the answer, and the woman who would wasn't back in again until Monday. So I took the patron's name and number and told him we'd call Monday.
When I checked with our office manager, it turns out the couch was from Demco, and cost about $1,200 (looks like our fabric is "cayenne"). So there you go - library as showroom.
People think that saying "I like working in a library because every day is different" is a cliche - but no, it's not. I never dreamed I would be asked this question, but almost anything can be answered. And I really hope this patron buys one for his house - for some reason, that would delight me to no end.
*This is probably more of a loveseat, but it sounds weird to me to refer to something in the Children's Room as a loveseat. My grandma, however, would have called this a davenport.
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November 3rd, 2012 Brian Herzog
My coworkers know I'm always on the lookout for unusual reference questions. I was sitting at the desk with a coworker yesterday, when she answered the phone - of course, I could only hear her side of the conversation, but it was enough:
[ring ring]
Coworker: Reference desk, can I help you?
[...]
Coworker: [turns towards me] You're looking for a version of the movie Casablanca that stars Bugs Bunny, but you don't know the title? Sure, let me check.
[she searches online for casablanca bugs bunny]
Okay, that version is called "Carrotblanca" and [searches our catalog] it looks like we have it, on a DVD called "The essential Bugs Bunny."
She put the DVD on hold for the patron, and everyone was happy. Especially me - patron gets what he wants, and I think "a version of the movie Casablanca that stars Bugs Bunny" is absurdly funny.
Interesting post-script: when I looked up the DVD record while writing this post, I noticed that "The essential Bugs Bunny" also includes Hare and loathing in Las Vegas - now that is something I've got to see.
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October 30th, 2012 Brian Herzog
I'm in Ohio this week* visiting family, and couldn't help but notice all the bright pink VOTE LIBRARY signs dotting the lawns in Huron, Ohio:
It got me curious, so I looked into what the library was asking for. Funding increases are certainly nothing new to the library world, but I thought the Huron Library has put together a good levy campaign. They've got info on their website as well as a dedicated website for the issue. Both have a nice embedded video explaining how the library will use the money to benefit the community - and my favorite part is that they break it down to the personal level:
The owner of a home with a market value of $100,000 currently pays $25 per year for library services. The 1.25 mills will cost that same homeowner approximately $39 per year - a total increase of $14 per year. For less than the cost of two hardcover books, or two DVDs, per year, quality library service to the community can be preserved. [emphasis added]
Because there are so many people right now who are against any tax increases at all ever no matter what ever ever, it's important to focus on the value of tax money - and do it in easily digestible language. For people in a community with a strong library, $14 is not much of an increase - and it's certainly easier to understand on a personal level than an increase of .45 mill.
Judging from the number of signs I saw around town, the Huron Library has a lot of community support for this levy - good luck, HPL!
*I had planned to just stay for an extended weekend, but Hurricane Sandy conveniently cut off any return route from Ohio to Massachusetts, so my five day stay became eight days of playing with nieces and nephews and helping my parents (besides, my library was without power for a couple days so they never missed me anyway). I hope everyone else affected by the storm fared well.
Tags: budget, funding, hpl, huron, increase, levy, libraries, Library, oh, ohio, public, sign, vote, voting
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October 27th, 2012 Brian Herzog
You know serendipity can be a subtle but major influence on how people find things in libraries? Here's a situation where serendipity backfired.
A patron came up to the desk and asked if we had any books on how family members can cope with someone who has a drug and alcohol addiction. I brought her to a catalog workstation and did a simple book search for "alcohol addiction" - the second result was:
Oops.
The patron didn't comment on it, and I quickly pressed on to find useful resources for her. I have no idea what her situation was, but still, I felt like an ass. Oh well.
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October 24th, 2012 Brian Herzog
Have you ever heard about something, liked the idea, and just accepted as fact that because you've heard about it, everyone else must have too, and then a couple years later happened to mention it in a room full of people like it's common knowledge only to have everyone look at you with blank stares? I get this a lot.
Most recently, it happened with the Human Library Project - you know, the idea in the news a couple years ago where libraries had collections of people you could check out - police officer, politician, Buddhist, lesbian, etc - and sit and talk with them to learn about their life experience.
I personally loved this idea, because it's a way to meet types of people you may never meet in your life's normal routine. Of course, I don't think the project every took itself to be grander than it was - I mean, you're only talking to one person, so of course you can't automatically generalize to everyone of that person's "type." The human books aren't stereotypes, so it's not like you're learning what life is like for all black men, but you do find out what life is like for this black man - which might be more than you knew before, and that's a good thing.
Anyway, like I said, I loved this idea when I first heard about it, and tucked it away. I happened to mention it during a meeting a couple weeks ago, and everyone in the room thought I was making it up. So I started asking around over the course of that week, and no one I talked to had heard of it. So, here you go, world - consider yourself officially informed. You are welcome.
I thought I'd also take this opportunity to mention a few other non-traditional things you can check out of libraries. Earlier this year, there was a PLA session on non-traditional collections, such as circulating ereaders, guitars, and running a seed library.
The iLibrarian blog is also a great resource for these types of ideas. Recent posts there include:
Seeing things like this makes me happy I work in libraries, but sad that I can't work in all the libraries. I mean, I've always thought it was cool that some libraries circulate cooking pans and artwork, and just last week we referred a patron to the Library of Congress' Talking Books program. But how much fun would it be to check out farmland or to offer a Maker Station?
Pretty fun, is my answer. I get excited by potential, which is why I never despair over the future of libraries - we've got potential coming out of our buns.
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October 20th, 2012 Brian Herzog
This was the entirety of a call that came in Wednesday afternoon this week:
[ring ring]
Me: Reference desk, can I help you?
Patron: Yeah can can...can you tell me what...what's on green tonight Green Lantern...Lantern...I mean Green...you know...the other one...Green Lantern...Green...Arrow...Arrow Green...Green Arrow yeah Green Arrow no... Lantern Green...Green...um...it's not Green Lantern, it's not Green Arrow...um...HORNET Green Hornet can you tell me what's on Green Hornet tonight oh wait it's Wednesday nevermind [click]
We have a patron who frequently calls to find out which episodes of his shows are going to be on that day. He usually ends up watching them all anyway, regardless of the episode, but he just wants to know in advance.
In this case, I think he had just woken up from a nap, and only eventually realized his show wasn't on that night.
In general, my favorite "what's on TV" resource is Zap2It.com, because it usually provides better descriptions of "local programming" than TVGuide.com. Although for some of this patron's shows, we have to go right to the MeTV Channel's website for schedule and descriptions.
This patron calls with this question so much that I've bookmarked both of these websites at all the reference computers. It kind of makes me laugh that we have ready reference resources devoted to just one patron, but it certainly is worth it.
Tags: green hornet, guide, libraries, Library, public, Random, Reference Question, schedule, show, shows, television, tv
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