Plagued by reference questions…
I haven’t worked at a reference desk for almost ten years, but I still get reference questions.
I’m convinced that Librarians and Library Workers have some sort of radiant askability that compels people to ask us stuff. Like this confused gentleman here:
I’m looking for photos of ‘The Avengers’…
Alas, my friend, it’s Librarian Avengers, not Avengers Librarian. I could sell you some photos of our cats, if it’ll help. They, too, wear catsuits.
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October 17th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
I agree with you about the “radiant askability” – I recall that someone asked me where the university hospital was on my first (maybe second) day in Ann Arbor. (The scary thing is that I knew the answer.)
October 17th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
My favorite are the patrons, who happen to know my home number, calling me at the house to ask if I can get phone numbers for them.
October 18th, 2006 at 9:28 am
Once I called a patron about a book. I asked his roommate for him, not saying who I was, and still I heard his roommate yell “there’s a librarian on the phone for you.”
October 18th, 2006 at 4:23 pm
Amen to the “radiant askability” factor! I have been in bookstores (or even the supermarket, of all places) and people will ask me where things are. My friends tell me that I just look like I know everything.
October 18th, 2006 at 4:24 pm
“Radiant askability” is a nice description!
I cannot set foot out of the door or people are asking me for directions … I think I suffer from radiant askability combined with an air of trustworthiness. :-)
October 21st, 2006 at 11:52 pm
It’s that damn look of helpfulness that is permanently affixed along our eyebrow region. That raised sort of “may I help you?” forehead scrunch. An overdeveloped facial muscle.
And we tend to look fairly non-threatening.
Unfortunately, the last questioning soul was too late in spying my triple bar nunchucks tucked into my bookbag.
November 18th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
I’ve always referred to it as the ‘Ask Me’ Aura. People ask me stuff in the grocery store too. Not only where items are, but how to choose a good one and what’s a good way to prepare it. :-)