A Link and Some Library Talk

Sometimes, a site comes to one's attention that answers questions few think to ask. I know I have not gotten even one question on this topic in my 23 plus years as a public librarian, but if I do, I now have a place to go for the answers: Ian's Shoelace Site.

Busy hour on reference desk doing phone work. Mondays are always the busiest for calls. Most of the folks were great — I even got blessed by a grateful reader — and were even understanding when I had to put them on hold. One patrons was having trouble hearing me (despite sucking down water to keep my sore throat lubricated, I was losing my voice after 45 minutes of calls), so I apologized and in a louder though squeakier voice told her "Sorry, but I have a sore throat." She said, "That's all right. I'm hard of hearing." Then we shared a laugh. I love phone calls like that.

Ditto the woman who called who shares a name with a big-name author. At the end of the call, I asked if she got teased about it. She said, oh yeah, and told me she even resembles the author and people were always asking her if she was the author. I told her next time to just give her autograph. Another laugh was shared.

Which more than made up for the woman who spent 10 minutes bending my ear, not letting me finish one search for her before starting on something else and not listening to what I was saying, and generally digging in like a pit bull about things I told her she was mistaken about re: our service. Calls like that are draining. Calls like the others are invigorating.