Yes, you can have some scissors.

Your class isn’t meeting in the library today. I know this, because your instructor e-mailed me yesterday, and I haven’t been able to schedule the class yet. Maybe in a couple weeks, you will be meeting in the library.

Scissors guy needs help blowing up an image on the copier.

My co-worker comes over to show me a delightful drawing her child has done of the grim reaper, complete with a scythe and the motto “R.I.P” printed on top of the page. I praise her child’s excellent grasp of death symbolism. I hope when I have a kid, he or she will make cool drawings of Death.

A book mysteriously has no call number in the library catalog. I’m not sure if we don’t have the book or if this is just a glitch in the catalog. I find the call number from the Marc record and tell her to come back if the book isn’t on the shelves.

Art book are there, and dvds will be over there.

Fun with microsoft word viewer locking up.

Book with no call number girl is back – It wasn’t on the shelves so we start looking to see if it is available in our library consortium. She’s a grad student, and she’s already visiting other libraries if they’re along the way of her commute. All the nearby places that have the book already have the book checked out. I point out one copy that’s available from a school in another state, and she says she’ll request it later if she can’t find a copy from one of her classmates

“What is the name of that database for book reviews?”
I don’t think we have a database just for book reviews, but were you looking for reviews in a newspaper or something more academic?
“More scholarly, you can put in the name of a book or article and see what people were writing about it.”
Oh, was it a citation database? Like Arts and Humanities Citation Index?
“Yes, that’s the one!”

I explain how to print.

Some freshmen students come to the desk asking how to search in Medline. It seems like they haven’t done much research before, so I make a little detour and show them Health Reference Center and suggest they use that as a starting point, while they are still thinking about narrowing down their topic. Then I show them how to search Medline.

I walk someone back to the reference collection, and we find his Chinese dictionary.

They need group study space – I tell them the locations of all the group study areas, and point out they can also work and talk in the library cafe.

We have the atlases right over there.

I explain how to print.

You can return your books at the circulation desk.

Scissors.
Paperclip.

I fill out the release form for an atlas for someone who needs a color copy of a map.

“Do you have headphones?” We do, but they aren’t very nice (note to self, ask dept if we can buy nicer headphones).

I walk a first-time library user over to the stacks and we find his books.

You can put a recall on that book and have the circulation desk trace those other books.

That book should be over there.

Wireless isn’t working?

“Is this video on reserve for my class?” Yes it is, and it is available right now.

Here is a kleenex for you.

Color map person brings the atlas back, and it is snatched up right away by someone else who needs an atlas. I think there’s a major geography test tomorrow. Or everyone loves atlases!

“Where are the walls painted green in the library?” I am confused, as I can’t think of a specific place where the walls are painted green. Everyplace I go, the walls are off-white. “Were you looking for a particular area or room?” He’ll walk around the library until he finds the green walls.

Call for media dept.

“Where are the “U” call numbers?” My brain seizes up but eventually I remember the alphabet. Those books are over there.

“Do you have this text book here?” Yes, it looks like it is on reserve.

One of the staff here has a daughter with a sudden research paper assignment requiring different types of newspaper sources. She grabs some citation handouts and I suggest that she tell her daughter about Lexis Nexis.