I decided to write this evening’s refgrunt in haiku. Really really bad haiku. So you’ve been warned:

to recall the book
circulation desk will help
get it back for you

yes I do have some
white-out and a binder clip
you are welcome

you’re right acrobat
is choking on that file, strange
try the lab next door

Korean War news
New York Times Historical
Archives to start search

you put the microfilm
under the glass plate and thread
it through, now it loads

obscure Jewish law
book we don’t have it here but
interlibrary loan rocks

buy copy cards there
the black machines tethered to
the wall vend the cards

um, do you have a
dictionary? Yes I do!
bring it back later

this is how you print
from microfilm, no you aren’t
a bother at all

printing question, woah
I’m starting to get tired
poor librarian!

student needs business
books, but we don’t have too much
I show him WorldCat

catalog record
strangely shows no back issues
of Jama, that blows
because we have it
go to the stacks with student
note error for clean-up

study rooms, kids books
computer broken, I take a bag of
rice cakes to lost and found

really sullen kid
complains about her laptop
sorry I can’t help (not!)

And a final one in Japanese:

yoru toshokan
isogashii tsukue
mada nemutai