This is the time of year when it is time to unpack your blankets, the leaves begin to turn, the stores start putting up their christmas decorations, and when a very large number of freshmen start to work on their research projects!

I taught 3 classes yesterday, which is basically my limit. After one class I learned that I need to be a little more assertive with students when they are doing individual research. I try to make the rounds of the classroom and check in with everyone several times. And sometimes when I ask them if they need help and they say “I’m doing ok, I’ve found some articles”, I usually don’t tend to press the issue because I’ve got a whole classroom to get to. But I found out after my last class yesterday from the professor that there were a couple of students that needed some extra help, but I didn’t know it at the time. This is why very limited psychic abilities might be useful for a reference/instruction librarian because then I would be able to sense when “I’m OK!” really means “I’m not ok, but I don’t want to ask you for help right now!” and then maybe I could do something about that.