Thursday, April 22, 2010

Technology challenged

That's how he phrased it.

An eldery gentleman asked me to help him locate the call number for an author. I gave him the call number, and he set off to find the book. He returned to the desk, and told me that he wanted to copy one of the poems, but the book was too heavy.

I asked him what the title was, located a copy of the poem online, and printed it for him. He said, " I didn't know that thing could do that. You just type in what you want and then it appears?" I laughed, and told him something like that.

Eatin funny

Yesterday afternoon, for once it was quiet. To my right, I heard a noise. I looked, I saw 4 teen girls, hands quickly moving to get under the table, and mouths chewing. They looked up at me with expressions of surprise.

I said, "YES, I SAW YOU! EATING ISN'T ALLOWED IN THE LIBRARY!"

The ringleader rushed to put the candy in her tote bag. I kept peeking to see what they were up to, until they finally moved. They left their belongings in the care of their friend while they moved out of my sight.

About 10 minutes after that............

Another group of about 8 teens exited the elevator. They walked back and forth for a minute. They located the woman that they were looking for. The woman happened to be using a laptop. Well, they had the bright idea to turn the music up on the laptop and start dancing in the middle of one half of the floor.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

So, you think LIBRARIAN means all knowing?

Last Thursday evening, a patron kept circling the reference desk, while trying to smile at me.
I saw him out of the corner of my eye. I kept my eyes glued to the computer screen.
Finally, he walked up to me and asked if I was busy? I asked him if he had a question, or needed help.
THIS FOOL had the nerve to say, "I WANT YOU TO SHOW ME HOW TO DO PERCENTAGES.". I told him to go to the 4th flr and get a math book.
Yesterday, a patron approached me at the reference desk and said, "What's the difference between a author and when it says edited by?"
Today, a patron called and asked my co-worker if we have a lot of books on WWII. He told him that we do. The patron then asked, "What's the best WWII book?". My co-worker told him that he would have to come into the library, look at the collection, and determine the answer for himself.". The patron then asked why he couldn't just tell him over the telephone. My co-worker told the patron that he couldn't determine the best source, because of the size of the collection. The patron then said, "Why don't you know, you're a librarian, aren't you?"

Thursday, April 08, 2010

How does one forget a computer

Yesterday afternoon, a patron brought a Ma*Book with the charger attached to the reference desk. He said that it had been on top of one of the cabinets for quite a while. I told my co-worker to take it to security. I didn't want to be responsible for anything like that.
NO ONE came to the desk to ask about it.
How do you forget about a computer? A Ma*Book at that!