seen from Canada
seen from Germany
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from France
seen from Malaysia
seen from Germany
seen from China
seen from Germany
seen from Netherlands
seen from Türkiye
seen from Netherlands
seen from Ireland
seen from United States
seen from Belgium
seen from Lebanon
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Poland
Many, But How
Patron: “Can I ask a dumb question?”
Me: “Of course! There are no dumb questions!”
Patron: “All right…what does ‘multi’ mean?”
Me: “Oh, it means multiple. So a multi-use tool has multiple different uses.”
Patron: “Right. But how many exactly? Does it mean one or two or three, or what?”
Me: “Well, it means more than one.”
Patron: “But in numbers how many is it?”
Embassies, Calling All
A patron approached me at the desk.
Patron: “I’m looking for the U.S. Embassy in the U.S.” Me: “Do you mean the U.S. Embassy in another country?” Patron: “No, no! There must be one here. I need the address and phone number so I can call them.” Me: “Well, the State Department may be the agency to call. But I can help you look for another country’s embassy in Washington D.C.” Patron: “Okay, I’m looking for China, Japan, Africa…” Me: “Which country in Africa?” Patron: “Africa.” Me [turns computer screen] “Here is a list of the countries in Africa. Is there one you were looking for?” Patron: “Ganya.” Me: “Ghana? I can find that.”
Patron: “I also need the embassy of Alaska.” Me: “Alaska is part of the United States, so we have the same government. Alaska is a U.S. state.” Patron [writes that down] “Oh it is! How nice. Good for them.” Me: “What was the next country on your list?”
Request, Pest
Reference question of the day: “Can you come and get a raccoon out of my house?”
Countries, Cultures and
The following is a conversation I had with a middle-schooler and her mom.
Mom: “So my daughter needs a multicultural book for her school project.”
Me: “Okay, what culture?”
Mom: “Multi-cultural.”
Me: “Hmm. Okay...” [turns to middle schooler] “Name a country you would like to visit.”
Daughter: “Hawaii!”
Me: “Well, that’s a state in the USA which is a country. Name a country other than the USA you want to visit.”
Daughter: “EUROPE!”
Me: “Europe is a continent which is a group of countries. How about Germany…or Spain…or Ita-”
Daughter: “ITALY!”
Me: “Great! I’ll look up some books on Italy for you.”
She walked away and never came back to check out any books.
Recommendations, Book
I was shelving some books when a six-year-old girl came up to me and asked:
“Do you have any books about how to make boys cry?"
Fiction, Mature
Patron: “What decides what is separated into mature fiction and regular fiction?”
Me [in my head]: Umm...we have mature fiction? Is that what the kids call erotica these days? Me [out loud]: “Can you show me what you mean?”
He pointed to the “M FICTION” on the call number label of a book.
Me: “Oh! ‘M’ stands for Mystery in this case, not ‘Mature.’”
Troubles, Treadmill
Me [answering phone]: “Reference Desk, may I help you?”
Woman: “Hi, I would like to know about treadmills.”
Me: “Are you looking to purchase a treadmill, or looking for more information about them?”
Woman: “Well I need to know if an electric treadmill has to be plugged in to work.”
Me: “Yes, if your treadmill runs on electricity, it must be plugged in to work properly.”
Woman: “That’s what I was afraid of.” *click*
Chocolate, Love in the Time of
Patron: “Do you have a book by someone named Márquez? I think it’s pretty famous and had a movie made about it: Love in the Time of Chocolate?
Me: “I think you’re looking for Love in the Time of Cholera.”
Patron: “Are you sure? That sounds really depressing.”
