So tonight I'm going to force myself to NOT use google. Or the internet. I just finished my assignment for my reference class in which we had to answer 30 questions using BOTH the internet AND a traditional library resource - online or in print. We had to find an actual answer using both methods even though we might have known the answer already. I had a really hard time with this assignment because I just wanted to google everything. I realized I'm very rusty answering reference questions and if librarians allow themselves to rely too much ON the internet, the art of reference will be lost.
Last week the internet connection went down and I had to go hunting for the Dewey index book. I know where sports and foreign languages are and where resume books are but I'm rusty on the rest. My library career started as a page (had to get a job I could walk to in highschool and the public library was closest -- I wasn't lazy, mind you, just smart). Back then, I could tell you where any type of book was shelved in Dewey and I could recite the alphabet backwards just as easily as forward. I could shelve a cart of books in 15 minutes flat. But now....man my mind is filled with kids schedules and how many pairs of clean socks are left and what's for dinner tomorrow night. I couldn't tell you the difference between 618 and 636. I know pregnancy's in one of them. I'm re-learning though. The past 10 years have been spent in a dewey collection of papermaking processes and cooling towers so pregnancy didn't usually come up in my library. So with the internet down I had to do it the old-fashioned way and I felt so closed in like I couldn't communicate to the world - I couldn't get OUT!
So I crack my knuckles and take my first phone call. My very first question --- "What are the 12 days of Christmas gifts from my true love, as in the song?" Oh how my fingers itched for that keyboard. I actually felt a gravitational pull toward it. But, no.... I used to be really good at reference 10 years ago when I worked in a public library then. AFter 10 years away I'm rusty and I'm way too much in love with google.
So first stop -- NY Library Desk Reference.
Nothing.
You know, I don't think I've EVER found anything in that book. The 7 dwarfs aren't even in it. If anyone reading this post has ever found an actual answer in that book I want to know about it.
So I hit the library catalog - fakebooks anymore are cataloged with a list of the songs. So I typed in "12 days of christmas." Got a hit on the first one. Found a book in Juv that has Christmas karioke for the family and there is a nice little list right there. I made a beautiful photocopy for the patron and I was done. Score 1 for 1. I'm on a roll.
Google, eat my dust.
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2 comments:
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I have found your entries quite to the point and amusing. I empathize with your feelings, having felt the same way myself until a few months ago when I decided to retire. Nothing beats the experience of a reference librarian. There is never a dull moment or a day without something exciting. Now, not everyone will agree with me, but trying to extricate from patrons what they really want was a mind excercise and a rewarding task. Good luck in your job! Enjoy it!
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