Finals Frenzy - Day 1

Later this week, we will be probably be inundated with requests for books and articles and citation style guides. Today, however, students have mostly had different kinds of issues.

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Special Saturday Night Finals Frenzy Preview -- April 21, 2007

PIC : A girl just said that the photocopier ate the papers she was trying to copy.
Me: Okay, I'll have IKON come out to un-jam it.
PIC: Well...That's not really the problem.
Me: (Tilts head)
PIC: The girl said the multiple-page feeder sucked in the stack of pages she wanted to copy, charged her account, but never made the copies and never gave back the originals
Me: The copier doesn't have a feeder.
PIC: Precisely.
Me: So then how did she get the copier to suck up an entire stack of originals?
PIC: (shrugs)
Me: Oh...I...ummmm...that's pretty awesome.
PIC: Yeah, pretty much.

*******

Uhhh....Do You Also Have Books About...You Know...Stuff?

Patron: I need a book about America.
Me: What about America? It's history, it's politics, it's geography, it's culture....
Patron: Uhhh....technology?.
Me: Any specific kind of technology? Computers, cars, factories...?
Patron: No...just...technology.
Me: Well, there are 544 books in the catalog that discuss "technology" and "America." Can you think of any way how to narrow down your search at all, or would you like to just start browsing?

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Maybe a Sledgehammer Will Fix It...

Noise Coming From Somewhere Behind Me: (Slam!...grumbling noise...Slam!...grumbling noise...Slam!...grumbling noise...)

Me: (turns head to discover from whence the slamming and grumbling noise came. Espies a typical specimen of the college undergraduate male - Homo moronicus - jamming a thick stack of papers in the woefully undersized plastic stapler. Homo moronicus balls hand into fist and brings fist down on stapler...Slam!...and grumbles ans staple falls pathetically out of stapler, slightly bent but unattached to any sheets of paper.) Can I help you?

Homo moronicus: Nah, I just gotta staple this. (Brings fist down on stapler again...Slam!...this time jamming stapler. Takes stapler and, using a clever and well-planned strategy, strikes stapler on the counter a few times...smacksmacksmack!) I think this thing is broke.

Me: I see that. But actually that stapler can't handle thick stacks of paper. You'll have to use a heavy-duty stapler.

Homo moronicus: You think so? (smacksmacksmack)

Me: Yeah, I think so.

******

A Finals Frenzy Joke:

Q: How many students does it take to break a brand new stapler?
A: One. Each and every one. Repeatedly. Throughout the entire day.

Hahahahaha....*sigh*

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You'll Also Need to Reimburse Me For The Amount Of Lead You Used From That Pencil.

Patron: Do you know where I can get a paperclip?
Me: (hands patron a paperclip)
Patron: Thanks....do you want me to return it?
Me: (smirks) No, that's alright.

*******

Because We Obviously Don't Have Enough To Do

Patron: I need to make a report. Someone tried to beat me and rob me yesterday.

Other GSA: You should contact Public Safety.

Patron: But someone tried to beat and rob me yesterday. I need to make report that.

Other GSA: Yes, and you can call Public Safety to make your report.

Patron: I already talked to them and they didn't do anything. So what are you going to do.

Other GSA: Well, there's nothing the library can do. You'll have to contact Public Safety.

Patron: Well isn't this Public Safety? What does that giant question mark on the wall behind you mean?

Other GSA: It means this is the information desk for the library, and I'm telling you'll have to talk to Public Safety.

Patron: Nah, that's alright, I'm kidding. I'm just trying to embarrass the girl over there (points to girl walking away, shaking head).

Other GSA: Well alright then.

******

2nd Floor Status Report

6 p.m.

Smells like sweat and hot dogs

Second Life

Although I've heard people discussing Second Life (secondlife.com) for many months now, I've never been to the Web site/game/alternate universe. Thus far, I've shied away from Second Life for two basic reasons:

1. I don't have the Internet at home, and somehow I suspect my employers would look unkindly on my "playing" Second Life at the Reference / Info Desks
2. Considering that I have historically shown miserable skillz at navigating the highly complex and perilous 2-D worlds of Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong, I have grave doubts about my ability to navigate a free-range 3D universe like Second Life

Nevertheless, after reading articles about Second Life, I feel a strange pull to try it out, even though I can't really visualize what Second Life is and only understand every fourth word of the articles. However, today I stumbled on a slide show from an Australian librarian that gives me a slightly better understanding of Second Life. Check it out:

Flying Librarians of Oz: What's all the fuss about Second Life and what's it got to do with libraries?
http://www.slideshare.net/sirexkat/flying-librarians-of-oz-whats-all-the-fuss-about-second-life-and-whats-it-got-to-do-with-libraries

Classificaiton of Patron Encounters

I've decided during slow times I'm going to put my LIS 6210 Organization of Knowledge skills to use. I'm going to create a Classification of Patron Encounters. Or some such thing.

Why?

Because this past Monday, within a single hour, not one but two patrons approached the InfoDesk laughing -- not as they might when they have just heard a rollicking good joke, but laughing for some other reason somehow related to their impending questions. Were they laughing because they thought their question was funny? Stupid? Hopeless? Did they laugh because they weren't really sure what they wanted? Because I had a coffee stain on my shirt (always a possibility, but not so in this particular case)? Were they intimidated? Of me?

My theory is that the Laughers hadn't thoroughly thought out their questions and suffered an attack of library anxiety. Suddenly facing me at the InfoDesk, with their minds racing to put together a question, their vocal chords fill in the silence by laughing. At least, that sounds like something I would do.

The Laughers made me think of some of the other patrons who approach the desk. Many reference interactions recently seem to begin with "This is probably a stupid question, but ...". These Meta-Questioners, who question validity of their own questions, invariably end their sentence with a non-stupid question, apparently thinking that the services of the InfoDesk are typically reserved only for those studying quantum physics.

Other amusing favorites include:

• Sliders (the smooth-talkers who slide on up to the InfoDesk, flaunting their smoothness in my general direction)
• Huffers (who would like to begin the reference interview by expressing their malcontent)
• Tappers (who mistakenly think that by tapping I will register their impatience and thus ignore the two people in line in front of them)
• Hoverers (who hover around the reference desk but won't ask a question until I offer my help)
• Movers 'n' Shakers (who shout out a question without ever actually approaching the InfoDesk or waiting for the answer)
• Executives (who believe that through blunt orders and demands, I will perform more efficiently and to their liking, mere underling and peasant that I am)
• Self-Helpers (who answer their own questions)
• Ponderers (who, rather than asking a question, choose to stare at the desk until divine inspiration descends on them)

To make this a true classification, at a later date I will place these groups into a hierarchy. Care to add anything?

Bits 'n' Bobs

1) The Blended Librarian: Blending Instructional Design, Technology, and Librarianship

http://www.blendedlibrarian.org/

We briefly discussed this Web site in my Instruction Methods for Librarians class. I haven't gotten a chance to deeply explore it yet, but I've heard tell it's a good resource for anyone who might ever have to teach patrons how to find and use stuff that involves technology.

2) Black Belt Librarians: Every Librarian's Real World Guide to a Safer Workplace, Warren Graham, Pure Heart Press, 2006.

This past week I was telling my co-workers at my other library about how exciting UGL has been this semester, now that people have moved inside to escape the cold. I was explaining that the police were required at least three times on each of the past two Saturdays, and on each of these days within the first 15 minutes of working I watched someone being dragged out of the library in handcuffs. While the police seem to be spending a lot of time in the library lately, I've become somewhat desensitized and mostly find their visits a good source of entertainment. I was further explaining that as it gets colder people seem to be getting crankier and more confrontational, especially when I tell them they have to go to P/K or SEL to get a particular book.

Minutes after explaining all of this, I flipped open the November 15, 2006 issue of Library Journal and found this review on page 18:

"There was a time when talking too loud or returning a book late were the worst library offenses. Times have changed, with recent shootings, stabbings, kidnappings, rapes, and even a car purposely driven through a library wall with lethal intent. Since security isn't covered in MLS programs, librarians must seek professional help, and the expert they turn to most often is Warren Graham.

Graham has spent 25 years in security, including 17 at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, NC, before retiring in 2006 to establish Warren Graham Training and Consulting. He regularly travels across the country to all varieties of libraries providing security training; his book Black Belt Librarians (Pure Heart Pr.) details his methods. Graham told LJ that he gets "a great sense of fulfillment helping libraries control their environment."

Communication is key
If there's a single golden rule, Graham said, it's to "never think about confronting the patron. It's all about communication. If you think, for example, 'The patron is doing something that is against the library rules so now I need to confront him about it,' you'll tense up mentally and physically. You'll be working against your own viscosity. Most patrons will comply if you ask them the right way, and that is what I train staff to do."

Library location rather than size is a more important factor in security, and even facilities serving their patrons well aren't immune to confrontations. Says Graham, "It amazed me during my 17-year tenure at the library in Charlotte that although the level of service provided to the patron continuously improved (with Internet access, for example), the stress level of the patron gradually increased. All libraries share the challenge of communicating with the stressed-out patron in the most effective manner."

Geriatric fisticuffs
Graham has seen a lot in his career, as his book attests, and he shared a favorite war story: "On 9/11, just a couple of hours after the Trade Center attacks, I was called to the reference area to break up a fight between a 78-year-old and a 68-year-old. One had bitten the other on the shoulder, and when I arrived they were still swinging at each other--swinging very slowly, but with bad intentions."

I had two thoughts while reading this article: 1) This should be required reading for every librarian, especially for those of us lucky enough to work in Club UGL in the winter, and 2) I've yet to see a fistfight at UGL. I have seen the prelude to what might have become a possible beating/shooting (one of the police visits during the past two Saturdays that did not lead to an arrest -- all turned out well, however, thanks to the successful intervention of our gatekeeper, monitors, and police officers). I have seen Girl A chastise Girl B after Girl B borrowed the scissors to cut the end of her "cigarette," thus causing a strange combination of tobacco and tiny white crystals to snow down on the counter in front of me. But I have yet to see a fistfight. Especially a geriatric fistfight.

Somehow I feel strangely cheated.

3) Reference Triage
Sometime during the move I misplaced (read: lost) my copy of the GSA handbook, and we don't seem to have a copy at the desk. Could someone refresh my memory as to what preference, if any, we give to patrons when we have a whole herd of them crowded around the desk and someone on the phone? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this? Occationally a line will build up when I'm hunting the catalog for a particularly wily book or teaching a patron how to use the databases. I try to perform reference triage by answering directional questions right away, and making the others wait. However, this means that the flow of my conversation with the patron at the desk is constantly interrupted, and the people in line get tired and go away (sometimes after only a minute or so). Does anyone have a better method of handling all this?