The Last Laugh

Hello my loyal readers (if you exist)! 

This week, for my last blog post entry, I will be taking a look at ‘Interesting questions we get’. This is a blog post by Michelle McLean (Connecting Libraian) and it can be found here, http://connectinglibrarian.com/2012/06/28/interesting-questions-we-get/. 

In this piece of writing Mclean talks about the many funny, awkward or just plain silly questions she has commonly heard during her time as a librarian. The kind of questions that make a million answers rush through your mind, answers that should be kept to yourself. Things like receiving a phone call and being asked “Do you have a book?”, or someone walking right past the printer (marked with a large sign) and asking where it is, or even asking “Do I really have to pay a fine?” when notified several times of the items due date and overdue status. 

These commonly asked questions which bring a sarcastic response to the tip of the tongue, every time librarians have to keep their cool and be diplomatic.

Honestly when thinking about being a librarian I don’t often think in terms of this. And I probably should have. Being able to ignore the urge to laugh and stuff may well come with practice, but I hope I can do that.

What Would I Do?

Hello once again readers! 

This time around I will be taking a look at another blog by Bobbi Newman (aka; Librarian by Day). This blog is posted under the title ‘Who do you help first?’ and is found here, http://librarianbyday.net/2009/05/14/who-do-you-help-first/. 

This particular article starts us off with a hypothetical situation: “You’re sitting at the reference desk and as someone approaches the desk the phone begins to ring and an instant messaging window pops open, who do you help first?”.  The author then talks about a few of the answers they have heard during conferences and groups. The only answer Newman deems “wrong” is “the person in front of you, they took the time and effort to come in”. Here the author explains that they try to discourage this kind of thinking in a library as all of these people have taken the effort to contact you by means they have been told are appropriate. 

What I have taken away from this blog post is not so much something that the author said or explained, but more something that they made me really think about. Right at the end of the page Newman asks us, the readers, “who would you help first?”. And I actually took a few minutes to think about it if it really were me behind that desk. I think that kind of self-reflection is important sometimes too.

So readers, what would you do?