Reference Questions, 3/23/2011

I've already taught two classes today and I am tired. It warm outside and it's hot in the library. Reference goes on.

1. Having trouble getting a computer to boot-up
2. Wanted to know if Classroom A would be closed all day
3. Looking for the bathroom
4. (Chat) Wanted to know how to search the catalog
5. Was having trouble opening a PowerPoint file off of her H drive; she was trying to open it in Word and that is what the problem was
6. Looking for The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
7. Needed help finding a book
8. Wanted to know how to put money on his RU Express account

It was a pretty steady hour. The library is again full. It's nice to know we are so popular.

Reference Questions, 3/22/2011

Oh my, it's turned warm here. Which means it's hot in the library. This means summer is all the closer. I hate summer. I dislike hot weather, and I'm not the biggest fan of warm weather. Sigh. Oh well, the reference desk goes on regardless.

1. Student looking for books of landscape paintings by Monet, Van Gogh, Corot and other French painters
2. Wanted a public login
3. Wanted to know where the catalog is
4. Wanted to know where the stairs are located
5. Wanted to know where to check out DVDs
6. Didn't have enough money in her printing account to print, but wanted to know if she could still print; also needed help with one-sided printing
7. Wanted to know if there was any way to put coins onto your RU Express card; no, machine on takes bills

It's been a slow night. Library volume is once again high though. I keep waiting on the flood gates to open.

Reference Questions, 3/21/2011

I'm back again this time for a 2 hour shift. Those are so much nicer than the 7 hour ones.

1. (Phone) Wanted to know how to get a free Prezi account. A professor had told her that as a student she could get a free account. She was in luck, because I'm the library's Prezi goddess.
2. (Email) Had a question about using ILL; I sent her the ILL LibGuide that I created
3. Wanted to borrow a highlighter
4. Was having trouble with WebCT; there is nothing I can do about that. I suggested she contact Academic Technologies
5. Needed to know how to add money to his printing account
6. Wanted to know if the classrooms were open
7. (Chat) Needed to know how to cite a dissertation they found through Google in APA; I didn't know this but in APA how you cite it depends on how you are accessing it. Interesting.
8. Needed help finding 2 different books (both were on coal mining); he had the call numbers just didn't know where to look
9. Having trouble printing single sided; also mentioned that BW3 & BW4 were both jammed. When I went and looked at them though they booth said they were fine just that the paper in tray 3 was low. I saw the exact same thing a few times last night. Gotta love the new printers.
10. Wanted to know how to print in color

 This was a steady shift with bursts of busyness. Plus, the printer problems persist. These new printers keep things exciting.

Well I forgot I had the 5-6 shift, so here I am again.

1. A professor brought a book to my attention that was falling apart. I need to go find someone who knows what to do with it. It needs to be replaced. It's the House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Talk about a slow shift. I only spoke to one person the entire time. Time to go home. Yay

Reference Questions, 3/20/2011

I had someone waiting on me when I got to the desk this afternoon. I hope that is not a sign of how this 7 hour shift is going to go.

1. A professor emeritus was looking for a resource on how to do footnotes in MLA 7th, well at least that is what he asked about first. I'm not really sure what he was after. He then went on to ask about comparing reference and works cited pages between MLA, APA and Chicago. I showed him the LibGuides we have on the three. He said I was very helpful, so at least he left happy. This was one of the most confusing reference transactions I've ever had.
2. Looking for headphones
3. Looking for an atlas of Asia
4. Looking for an atlas of North America
5. Looking for scissors
6. Looking for the APA manual
7. Looking for some tape
8. (Phone) Wanted to know how to access an e-book and how to request a book so that it is waiting for you at the Front Desk
9. Looking at book in the catalog and it said it was on the hold shelf, he wanted to know what that meant
10. Computer was telling him that there was a paper jam in BW2, but the printer was not reporting a paper jam; had him print to another printer
11. Needed company info on Dick's Sporting Goods; Business Source Complete to the rescue!
12. Student needed a certain software program to take a quiz for a class. He said it was called Lock Down, and he'd found it on a computer on the 4th floor. However he didn't want to take it upstairs he wanted to take it here on the 3rd floor, and the computers here do not have this program. Not really sure what he wants me to do about it. I love stubborn students.
13. Wanted to borrow a calculator; he was at a computer so I told him how to find the calculator ont he computer
14. Wanted to make copies of pages in a book, but wanted those copies to be double sided; I suggested she use the scanner
15. Wanted to know where to check out books
16. Wanted to know if you could print on a sheet larger than 8-1/2 x 11
17. Wanted to borrow 2 pens
18. Needed help with the scanner; wanted to know how to scan several pages into one file
19. Was having trouble finding a book; it is in Special Collections and he can't see it until tomorrow; told him he'd have to contact our archivist to see it
20. Wanted to check out a DVD, but it is on reserve, he wanted to know what that meant
21. Was having trouble pulling up PDFs in Academic Search Complete; he was in Chrome so I had he change to Firefox. Chrome sometimes has trouble pulling up PDFs in the databases
22. Needed help finding a book in the reference collection
23. Wanted to know where to check out books
24. Wanted to know how to print in color
25. Wanted to know if the copier took RU Express
26. Wanted to know if you had to pay for color print outs differently than you pay for black and white print outs
27. Looking for the journal Laryngoscope; she was looking for an article that she thought was only in print, but we have it online, so I showed her how to access it
28. Looking for some headphones
29. Looking for a few sheets of printer paper
30. (Chat) Looking for books on the leopard tortoise
31. Needed help with the copier, when I said that the Front Desk handles all copier issues they said that the Front Desk told her that I needed to help them because they [person at the Front Desk] didn't know how to "fix" the copier [biting tongue now]; I helped them use the scanner instead
32. Needed help using the scanner

The library was packed tonight. I had periods where I was fairly busy, followed by periods where I wasn't busy. The end of the semester is approaching. It will only get worse from here on out.

Reference Questions, 3/18/2011

I just finished teaching my first Shakespeare themed classes. The first one was a little rocky, but the second one went really well. I wish I could teach only Shakespeare research. Maybe someday...but until then it's reference time!

1.  Looking for Classroom B

This was a slow shift. Well, it is Friday. Maybe people were taking early lunches or getting an early start to their weekend.

Reference Questions, 3/17/2011

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone out in Libraryland! It's 11:00 a.m. on the reference desk. Do you know what your next reference question will be?

1. Looking for a stapler
2. Looking for Classroom B
3. Wanted to know how to get articles out of bound journals. (This question cracked me up. I really take for granted how much power we wield with all this knowledge we keep. ;) I should have told him that we librarians use are magic bookmark to remove them.) However I told him that he could use the copier. He then wanted to know if it took debit cards. I told him that it didn't, and that the Front Desk handled the copier questions. He went to the Front Desk and then returned to use the scanners. I'm sure he'll have more questions for me soon. Speak of the devil.
4. Needed help scanning; he was scanning each individual page as a separate file, so I showed him how to scan the article into one file
5. Scanning help again; he wasn't placing the book in the right corner of the scanner
6. Needed help printing to the Pay for Print printer
7. Wanted to know what to do with bound journals after he was finished with them
8. Wanted to borrow an eraser
9. Wanted to know if there was a way to look up your student ID number if you had forgotten it; I didn't know the answer, but I told her if there was it was probably in the MyRU portal

It was a steady shift. As the semester begins to wind down the library seems to stay pretty full. I figure we'll see an increase in "real" reference questions in the next few weeks, as students decide it's time to begin working on those final projects.

Reference Questions, 3/16/2011

Here we are for another round of reference questions. I sat on a career panel today for English graduate and undergraduate students. I told them all about the wonders of librarianship and how the skills they learn while pursuing their English degrees are perfect for library school. I am a realist (some would say pessimist) though, and I hope I didn't scare anyone away from pursuing a library degree.

1. Looking for the copier
2. Looking for One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
3. Needed help finding a book in the stacks
4. Looking for his lost cell phone; I sent him to lost and found at the Front Desk
5. Looking for book sources on Catwoman
6. Wanted to know where her paper would print out
7. Thought something was wrong with the printer because it went to sleep
8. The printer was not printing his paper; he had no money left in his printing account
9. Professor needed to get scantrons read and she said that she has always done that here downstairs; I called the dept. that used to be downstairs (Enterprise Systems) and after several minutes we finally found someone who knew what she was talking about (after calling the Walker Tech Ctr); the name of the department is Computer Operations they are in fact in the library in room 211 and they are open 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

It was a steady shift with an interesting question to cap the shift off. You do learn something new everyday.

Reference Questions, 3/15/2011

Today has been a good day so far. The class that the professor said was out of control turned out to be a good class and I found out I got into Beta Phi Mu. WooHoo! The library is packed this evening, let's see what happens.

1. Looking for a bathroom
2. Looking for a stapler
3. The stapler needed more staples
4. Needed help finding a book in the stacks
5. Wanted to know where to go to check out books
6. Looking for a group study area
7. Looking for a copier and how to use it
8. Wanted to know if the 4th floor was where you went to rent DVDs

A surprising slow shift considering how many students are in the library tonight. 

Reference Questions, 3/14/2011

Spring Break is over and this is the first week of the busy instruction season. I am teaching 8 classes this week. That will be the trend for the next 5-6 weeks. It's exciting don't ya know.

1. Needed help finding articles on migratory sea turtles and on how to cite those articles in CSE
2. Having trouble printing; had her send it to another printer
3. Having trouble printing; had him send it to another printer
4. Having trouble printing; all the printers are down (wonderful)
5. Student needed clarification on how to created a CSE style citation

All of the printers went down about 25 minutes into my shift. They simply would not print. What a wonderful start to a Monday. I have one more shift today.

I'm back for another shift on this glorious Monday. The printers are printing again. Let's hope they continue to work.

1.   Wanted to know if we have a copy of her textbook in the library; no

This was a very slow shift, and the printers worked the entire time. Yay!

Reference Questions, 3/10/2011

Spring Break at the reference desk once again. Yay me.

1. Student wanted to print from the computers at the scanners, I told her the scanner computers couldn't print, then she went back and got it to print; they had changed it recently and I had forgotten about it; not really sure why she came to the desk in the first place
2. Professor came to the desk and was upset that the APA LibGuide is not exactly like the APA Manual. I explained to her that this is a simplified version for undergraduates and that it states that in the guide. She said that graduate students do not read that and do not know that.

Tomorrow is the last day of Spring Break, and I have yet another shift. I'll be glad when we stop staffing the desk during times the students are not here.

Reference Questions, 3/9/2011

I am here on the reference desk for a two hour shift during Spring Break. There's no one int he library except us librarians. Why am I at the desk again?

1. Wanted a public login

I was surprised I got one question in two hours. :)