Reference Questions, 2/28/2011

Here I am at the reference desk on the last day of February. This month has flown by. The 8:00 a.m. shifts here at the reference desk are typically slow. Let's see if that trend holds true today.

1. Having trouble printing; printer was offline
2. Having trouble printing; wouldn't finish calculating so she could print

Printing problems everywhere. Maybe someday we will have a print server that works properly.

Reference Questions, 2/24/2011

We have a job open here at the library, and it just posted today. I've been told we've already gotten chats about it. I myself have also been asked about it. I am sure we are going to get a lot of applications for it. They received 147 applications for the position I was hired for. Crazy. On another side note, i was asked to present a session on Prezi at a conference in October. Yay me! Anywho, it's ref desk time!

1. Looking for course reserves

I got one question during the entire shift. Yawn.

Reference Questions, 2/23/2011

I just cannot get away from this desk. It feels like I am on it a lot more than usual. I'm scheduled to be on it every day this week.

1. (Chat) Looking for the journal Theory, Culture & Society
2. (Chat) Wanted to know how to cite an NGC; I asked what an NGC is and they never answered
3. Wanted to rent some colored markers; we do not have any markers at the desk
4. (Phone) A professor was having trouble saving a PDF file she had accessed from ERIC; I accessed the article on the ref desk computer and saved it with no trouble; I emailed her the article since she was have problems with it and she said she was going to get her computer checked out by DoIT
5. Student was looking for research articles on guns and crime

 Well, I'll be back at 5 for more reference desking joy.

1. Having trouble printing a PDF; she wasn't using the PDF printing option, she was using the browsers printing option 
2. Having trouble printing; document was outside of the margins and the Word doc would not allow us to change the margins; she cut and pasted the document into a new document and fixed it that way
3. (Chat) Question about how to cite a book chapter in APA

This was a slow shift and for some reason we had it double staffed. We may want to re-think this strategy. I heard the shift before was busy, but then again I wonder.

Reference Questions, 2/22/2011

The library is buzzing tonight. The mid-term is approaching. You can just feel the stress in the air.

1. Needed help finding some books on the 5th floor
2. Looking for the children's books
3. Student asked me to fill out a survey for his marketing class
4. Wanted to use his own paper to print a resume
5. Looking for his lost cell phone
6. (Email) Having trouble pulling up full text articles in CINAHL
7. Looking for the Core A Handbook
8. Looking for books on interior design and dining rooms
9. Student brought up a notebook that was left on the scanner
10. Student came up looking for her notebook she left on the scanner
11. Scanner wasn't working; it wasn't turned on
12. Wanted to download a coupon printer to the computer she was using and it wouldn't let her
13. Had question about how to scan multiple pages into one file
14. Was having trouble printing; Word froze and she hadn't saved her work. When are students going to learn?!
15. Looking for books on pathophysiology and the heart
16. Wanted to know how to print on both sides of the paper
17. Question about printing on both sides of the paper with a PDF
18. Looking for the book Thoughts & Feelings: Taking Control of Your Moods and Your Life

This was a busy two hours on the desk. It wasn't overwhelming though, just steady.

Reference Questions, 2/21/2011

Another 8:00 a.m. shift at the reference desk. These shifts are usually very quiet.

1. Looking for books on plant and animal life cycles
2. Printer BW2 was offline
3. (Phone) Faculty member wanting a list of all resources in the library that pertain to China. I will be working on this after my shift.
4. Wanted to know where the sorority study binders are kept

Fun times always. I'll be back at 12:00 p.m.

Here we are again, this time for the lunch shift. The library looks fairly full. let's see what happens.

1. Wanted instructions on how to print from a laptop
2. Looking for the photocopier
3. Needed a public login

Well, those were two slow shifts. Well, that's all my reference time for today. Yay for class prep time (and lunch)! :)

Reference Questions, 2/16/2011

I'm here at the reference desk for the first of three hours today. That doesn't include the one hour of chat monitoring I will be doing this afternoon from my desk. Let's do this.

1. Wanted to know how to put money onto his RU Express account
2. Having trouble printing out of WebCT
3. (Email) Was looking for a translated transcript of an interview that Channel 9 France conducted on 2/10/11 with Nicolas Sarkozy. I tried several different ways and was not able to locate it. It may be that the transcript of the interview has not yet been published since it was done so recently.

It was a very slow two hours with one difficult question. I'm not sure if that student will ever be able to locate what she is looking for.

Now for the third hour of the day.

1. (Chat) Looking for the length of a movie; found it themselves before I could even look for it
2. Having trouble printing from WebCT; what's new
3. BW2 was offline
4. Looking for a CD-ROM, said she talked to a man about it 10 minutes earlier, I told her she must have spoken with someone at the front desk, so she decided to go ask there about it to see if someone pulled it for her
5. Looking for sources on children and occupational therapy
6. Looking for the photocopier
7. (Email) I spent most of my shift working on this one; a group of nursing students were looking for EBP reports on the homeless, medication compliance or stress or a combination of the three.

Since I was working on that email for most of my shift, it went by very quickly. A quick desk shift is always a welcome change.

Reference Question, 2/15/2011

I'm back on the reference desk for a late Tuesday night shift. I had a lovely 3 day weekend, and I'm now ready to tackle some reference questions. The library is very full tonight, so let's see what happens.

1. Looking for a staple remover
2. Had a question about scanning
3. Wanted to know where to pick up her ILL book
4. Looking for sources on the history of canoeing
5. Wanted to know where her paper would print out
6. Wanted to know if when he prints in color if he could print on blue paper
7. Wanted to know where her paper was going to print
8. Wanted to borrow a pencil
9. Wanted to know how to print in color

For the library being as full as it was, it was a slow night.

Reference Questions, 2/9/2011

Here I am back on the reference desk after last night's hurricane of a shift. I hope this shift is calmer. At least it's only for one hour, instead of last night's four.

1. Looking for a fax machine; we do not have on that the students can use
2. Looking for books on Afghanistan, wanted to know which databases would be good to search for Afghanistan and what journals would be good for it
3. Wanted to know where he could print something out

It was nice to have a slow shift after last night's whirlwind.

Reference Questions, 2/8/11

I'm on the desk for four hours tonight instead of two. My Tuesday night co-worker is feeling under the weather so after she teaches her six o'clock class, she's leaving. Oh, how I hope this is an uneventful night.

1. Looking for the journal Speculum, the Dictionary of the Middle Ages and the Papers of Woodrow Wilson, and he also wanted to know how to ILL something
2. Wanted to know how to print in color
3. Wanted to know if there was another copier he could use, the one in the hall doesn't like him; I suggested he try scanning it
4. Wanted to know how much photocopying is and if there was a photocopier on each floor
5. Looking for the Papers of Woodrow Wilson
6. Wanted to know why his computer wasn't logging in; it had been on the welcome screen for 5-10 minutes
7. (Phone) 25 minute call; a patron was looking for articles on alzheimer's and coffee/caffeine; he had called earlier and whoever was on the desk couldn't help him and had him call back; I want to thank that person wholeheartedly
8. (Chat) Looking for books on Darfur, wanted to know which databases would be good to search for Darfur and what journals would be good for it
9. Was having trouble printing; Word was not recognizing that printers were installed on the computer
10. Wanted to know if they had to find the library that a book was in to ILL it
11. Wanted to borrrow a pen
12. Looking for the Radford collection
13. Looking for the journal Speculum, the Dictionary of the Middle Ages and the Papers of Woodrow Wilson
14. (Phone message) One of the student workers is sick and is not coming in tonight
15. Looking for books on problem solving
16. Needed a public login
17. Looking for a long white envelope; I gave him one; I'm so nice
18. Looking for the journal Speculum
19. (Chat) Looking for peer reviewed article on grief camp, children and their effectiveness
20. Looking for a scanner
21. Looking for headphones
22. Looking for the journal Speculum
23. (Chat) Looking for the journal Speculum
24. (Chat) Looking for scholarly articles on plagiarism
25. Having trouble with the copier
26. Needed help searching Opposing Viewpoints
27. Wanted to know if the Davis computer lab is open
28. Looking for a copier
29. Had a question about Radford dissertations on microfilm; didn't know what microfilm was and once she found out lost interest

Well, it happened. The perfect storm, reference desk style. I was on the phone when a chat popped up, a student walked up to the desk and another phone call came in. It's nights like these that make me wish I was only solely an instruction librarian. This shift reminded me of my days at Jackson. Things did calm down a little bit after 8:00 p.m. Thank God. I don't know if I could have kept that pace up. It still was an insanely busy night. Of course it was, I was by myself! :)

Reference Questions, 2/7/11

Well, I'm back on the reference desk after yesterday's long shift. I'm sure this shift will be more lively than last night, it is the lunch shift after all.

1. Wanted to know how to read a call number and then use it to find the book
2. Looking for What Uncle Sam Really Wants by Noam Chomsky; it is on reserve
3. Needed help finding a book in the stacks
4. Needed help finding a book in the stacks
5. Needed help finding a book in the stacks
6. Looking for the journal Speculum in print
7. Looking for the reserves and headphones

This was a very steady shift. I got the about the same amount of questions in one hour today as I did yesterday in seven hours. The students seemed to be having lots of problems finding books today.

I'm now back for the 5:00 p.m. shift. I hope it's better than the two classes I had earlier today. I don't know that I've ever seen more disengaged students. Oh well, let's see what this shift brings.

1. Wanted to know where the children's books are located
2. (Chat) Drive-by chatting
3. (Chat) Person left before I could transfer chat to my backup; I had a student come up to the desk as soon as I answered it
4. Student looking for books, databases, journals, government and UN websites on the Sudan and Darfur
5. Looking for the book Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
6. Looking for a stapler

It was nice to have a calm shift after two less than fun classes.

Reference Questions, 2/6/11

It's Super Bowl Sunday and I am here for an all afternoon and evening shift at the reference desk. I expect a slow day is ahead, but I could be wrong.

1. (Email) Wanted to know if a certain article was available online; it wasn't but I sent here the link to the ILL LibGuide
2. Wanted to borrow a pen
3. Looking for newspaper/editorials on guns and college campuses
4. Wanted to borrow a pen
5. Wanted to know how to sign up for Tuesday's APA Survivor workshop
6. Wanted to know how to use the hole puncher
7. Printed something from a computer on the 5th floor and was looking for her print out; there are no printers on the 5th floor, so I didn't know where it could have printed out
8. Student was having trouble with the wireless on his laptop; I told him he'd have to talk with the tech people in Walker about that
9. Computer had no printers; by some strange miracle the student was able to add one

I did not get a single question after 7:00 p.m. This was a long shift. Seven hours is too long to be at a reference desk, especially on a day as slow as today.

Reference Questions, 2/4/11

I am not a fan of having to be on the reference desk following two back-to-back classes. Oh well, that's what happened today. I taught two straight Core 102 classes (one at 8 a.m. and one at 9 a.m.), and now here I am on the reference desk. Can you say marathon?

1. Student came by and said BW2 was out of toner; so I had to replace it
2. Had to go tell some students that Classroom A is a silent area, and they need to move to Classroom B if they want to do group work
3. Wanted to know which printer to use to print in color

It was a very slow shift. This may be due to the fact that it is Friday, and who wants to go to the library on Friday?

Reference Questions, 2/2/11

It's lunch at the reference desk. I just finished a great MGNT 250 class, and now I am so hot. I do not know what it is about teaching that makes me sweat. I guess part of it is the stress, and another part is the fact that I walk around the entire time I'm teaching. At least it's good exercise. Now for more exciting stories from the reference desk.

1. (Chat) Looking for communication research articles
2. Wanted to know how he could print in color
3. (Phone) Looking for the Roanoke Times from 1960; we only go back to 1976
4. (Chat) Looking for a meta-analysis in one article; I didn't understand what they meant and they didn't understand what they were asking for. Eventually decided to email their professor for clarification
5. Looking for articles from the Academy of Management Journal
6.  Looking for articles and books on distance education

It was a steady shift that saw several real reference questions. Wow.

Reference Questions, 2/1/2011

I'm here at the reference desk again. I have a cup of mint green tea within reach and I ready to answer some questions. Bring it on.

1. Needed help finding articles on hemophilia
2. (Chat) Had DOI and needed to know how to find the article
3. Looking for The Patriot on DVD
4. Needed more help finding articles on hemophilia
5. Looking for the scanner
6. Needed help using the scanner
7. Wanted to know how much it costs to make copies
8. Looking for her color printout

The shift got off to a slow start. I did not get a single questions until quarter til seven. Things picked up a little after that, and shocker of all shockers, I did NOT get a single printing problem question.