Reference Questions, 3/17/10

St. Patrick's Day at the ref desk. I have on my green and I'm ready to answer questions and accept any job proposals. :)

1. Looking for a dictionary
2. Looking for books on the CIA for a research paper
3. Looking for the reference section
4. (Phone) Needed help accessing an article in PsycInfo
5. Needed guest log in
6. Needed to use guest print card to print
7. Looking for sources on fast food franchises
8. Had a question about Amtrak from Greensboro to Raleigh
9. Looking for the book drop
10. Looking for the Foust Building
11. Needed to use guest print card to print
12. Looking for the book Voices from the Storm: The People of New Orleans on Hurricane Katrina and Its Aftermath by Lola Vollen and Chris Ying
13. Needed help accessing PsycInfo
14. Looking for sources for a research paper about gender similarities or differences in academic achievement
15. Looking for Sophocles Oedipus Rex
16. Nursing student looking for articles on art therapy for children, couldn't find anything in CINAHL so I suggested looking in PsycINFO
17. God bless the nursing students. They always have interesting searches. The one that I suggested PsycINFO to needs evidence based articles and PsycINFO does have an option for that on the search page. So I suggested using evidence based as a search term. I'm sure she'll be back up to the desk again shortly.
18. Someone looking for Lynda
19. Question about the ref computers
20. Looking for sources on acculturation
21. Needed research help on an education topic
22. Looking for a book in the closed stacks
23. Needed guest log in, but said they weren't doing research so I couldn't give them one
24. Looking for the book The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson
25. Student from #21 had another question about education research
26. Looking for his class, they were meeting in the CITI lab, I believe he was an hour late

A normal shift which is always nice. Now off to finish up a presentation and eat some veg sushi, I hope. :)

Reference Questions, 3/3/10

The first shift of March, how lovely. Graduation approaches, just 72 days away now. I will be ordering my cap and gown today. It brings a tear to my eye.

1. A student was looking for articles on discrimination and Pepsi Co. She had found one through Google, but it wanted her to pay for it. I showed her some databases that she could use instead of Google.
2. Needed to get on the guest computers
3. Wanted to borrow some tape
4. Looking for a book on text and fonts
5. (Chat) A student wanted to know if we had discontinued access to Britanica Online. Unfortunately we have. I was not happy about this either.
6. A student wanted to know if she could check out CDs from the Music Library. (She thought only music students could check out from there.) She also needed to know where it was located.
7. The student from #4 was back. The book I sent her to find was not what she was looking for. So I helped her find another one. Hopefully this one works out better.
8. A student had a question about reserving collaboratories.
9. A student needed help searching PubMed for diabetes and carpal tunnel syndrome.
10. A student was looking for the book Captives as commodities: the transatlantic slave trade by Lisa A. Lindsay. He was very happy that the library had it and he said I was awesome. Always nice to hear.
11. A student was looking for a textbook. It was on reserve. I love how students think we have a room that houses every single textbook used on this campus.
12. Looking for the ILL office
13. Looking for the ILL office
14. A friend of the library had a question about checking out new books.
15. A student needed the library hours sheet.
16. (Chat) A student was having trouble with one of the computers in a collaboratory on the 6th floor. We sent ERIT up to help them.
17. Looking for the ILL office
18. Looking for Stephen Dew's office

Reference Questions, 2/24/10

It's snowing here today. Hopefully evening classes will be canceled. Can I be that lucky? 79 days to graduation.

1. A student (probably a basketball player he was taller than my husband and was wearing a UNCG warm up suit) was looking for his lost keys. I sent him to lost and found at the circ desk.
2. Looking for the Stone Building.
3. Looking for CQ's Politics in America 2010.
4. Looking for books on digital media.
5. A research assistant for a professor was looking for the Oxford Miscellany. I tried everything I knew, and then referred her to Mary. I'm sure Mary will be more help than I was.
6. A student wanted to know what distinguished a reference book from a regular book.
7. Help with printing.
   
8. Two students needed microfilm for Sports Illustrated.
9. (Chat) A student wanted to know if we had ebook copies of Indian wars in North Carolina, 1663-1763 and Indian massacre and Tuscarora war, 17ll-'13. We didn't.
10. Needed to make color copies of a magazine for an art class.
11. Looking for the book Art in America. However it is a magazine.
12. Looking for books on edible chemical dyes
13. A student was having password issues. I sent him to the SuperLab.
14. A student wanted to know how to cancel a print job.
15. (Chat) Looking for German language CDs
    
16. Looking for the TRC
17. Looking for the Current Lit section
18. Looking for books with the G call letter and for the copier
19. Question about accessing a database, L'Annee philologiques
    
20. Question about APA citations
21. Looking for a scanner

Reference Questions, 2/21/10

Sunday on the ref desk, and the library looks pretty quiet for now. Let's hope it lasts.

1. A WWSU student wanted to check something out. I sent her to the circ desk.
2. (Phone) A student was looking for journal articles and was having trouble finding them because she though the article title was the journal name. Yep.
3. Helped a patron file his weekly certification with the ESC. That was a first.
4. Oh how I love the art students. They just want to browse the art books. To the 4th floor you go. Have fun.
5. A student needed journal articles or books on dance in Costa Rica. They had to be hard copies, not electronic. Some of these professors have weird requests.
6. (Phone) Address lady needed the address to Costar Group. I was able to find this one, so she wasn't rude to me today.
7. The cell phone guy was looking for a website on Wilmington Hollywood. I found it and then he wanted me to print it off.
8. A student needed help with the microfilm machine.
9. One of the Friends of the Library needed to get on a guest computer. He then thought the computer was moving too slow and let me know about it.
10. A student needed books on China and its military and economy.
11. OK Friends of the Library wanted to email something to himself, but he doesn't know his email password. He is not the most computer savvy person on the planet and try to explain things to him is not the easiest thing. Oh I hope he leaves soon.
12. (Chat) A question about checking your Spartan Card balance.
13. Again showing the FOL guy how to find an article in journal finder.
14. A student needed to know where the PN section was in the reference dept.

I am not complaining, but this was a slow shift for a Sunday. Spring Break is less than 2 weeks away and it cannot come quick enough. On a side note, my Vampire Book Display is still a big hit. I will be adding 5 more books to it tomorrow. Yay vampires!

Reference Questions, 2/17/10

86 days til graduation, hurry please.

1. A student was looking for a play by Daivd Auburn called Proof.
2. A student was looking for scholarly articles on McCarthyism and labor unions.
3. Looking for the lost and found
4. Looking for the lost and found
5. Some people from UNCG Theatre's production of The Seagul came by and gave me a tea bag of Russian tea. It kind of made my day. :)
6. A student wanted an envelope. Ok....
7. A student needed help finding articles on underage drinking.
8. A student was looking for the 2nd floor of the library where the books and tables are.
9. Looking for the lost and found
10. (Chat) Looking for La Perfecta Casada by Fray Luis de Leon. The library didn't have it so I had to walk the person through how to ILL it.
11. Looking for a German English dictionary
12. Paper jam in the reading room printer
13. A student wanted to know what business sources we had for researching a company she is working with, the Carolina Cookie Co.
14. More printing problems in the reading room
    
15. Wanted to know how to search for articles in USA Today
16. Looking to put money on a FirstCard
17. A Guilford College student was looking for books on the Algerian War or La guerre d'Algerie.
18. A question about the free printing
19. Looking for a textbook, still?
20. A student was looking for scholarly articles and books on Satanic Ritual Abuse.

That was an interesting way to end a shift. I was able to find several sources for her, interesting indeed.

Reference Questions, 2/10/10

Another Wednesday shift has arrived. I'm still not used to these Wednesday day shifts. Every Tuesday I feel anxious when I get to school and realize I'm not wearing dress clothes. Then I remember I don't have a Tuesday shift anymore. I'm such a creature of habit.

1. A student was looking to check out a laptop. I pointed her to the circulation desk.
2. (Chat) A student was looking for books on Minoan Civilization.
3. A student was looking a free computer to print from.
4. A Guilford College student was looking for Mammon and Manon in early New Orleans : the first slave society in the deep South, 1718-1819 by Thomas N. Ingersoll.
5. A student was looking for some government docs on the Battle of Kings Mountain.
6. A student was looking for a Spanish textbook. We did not have it. :(
7. A student had a question about the bones that are kept at the circulation desk.
8. A student was looking for sources on poverty and immigration in the US.
9. A Guilford College student was looking for newspaper resources on Jack the Ripper.
10. The guy looking for free cell phones was back. He is having a really hard time accepting that cell phone companies will not give you free phones and free minutes with no obligation from you!
11. (Chat) A question about checking out books.
12. A student was looking for the Petty Science Building.
13. A question about the location of the nearest bathroom.
14. (Phone) A student was looking for a study guide for the PSB Exam. We did not have any.
15. Looking for a pencil sharpener.
16. Looking for the CITI lab.
17. A student wanted to know if you could check out magazines.
18. Looking for the CITI lab.
19. A student was looking for a SUDOC, but had written the number down incorrectly and couldn't remember the search terms he had used to find it in the first place.
20. (Chat) A student was having some trouble accessing the full text of a couple articles on EBSCO SOCIndex.
21. Someone came by and picked up a form that Marc had left for them.
22. A lady was looking for Tim Bucknall's office.
23. A student was looking for an article from a journal called Radical America. We do not have access to it, and he did not have time to ILL it.
24. A student was looking for articles on Marcus Garvey.
25. Looking for the bathroom.

Another shift closer to graduation. :) The vampire book display seems to be a hit too. I had to add 5 more books to it today. :0)

Reference Questions, 2/7/10

Super Bowl Sunday, and here I am on the desk. When I volunteered of this shift I did not realize what day it was. Oh well, I'll be home in time to catch most of it.

1. A patron wanted to know where he could get a free cell phone with free minutes. He saw something about it on TV. I told him it sounded like a scam. He insisted that he had a friend that had one. I suggested he email his friend.
2. A student had a question about APA citations and citation software.
3. (Chat) A question about library hours.
4. A patron needed a guest username and password for one of the guest computers.
5. A student wanted to know if the card station in the Atrium was working. Hope so since ours is down.
6. A question about library hours.
7. A student needed help with PubMed. She was looking for articles on childhood obesity and physical activity.
8. A student was looking for the Almanac of American Politics and CQ's Politics in America.
9. (Phone) Address lady, she is ALWAYS so pleasant, was looking for the corporate address to Trader Joe's. I told her that I was on their website and was having trouble finding the physical address. She said thank you and hung up before I could say anything else. At least it was a short conversation.
10. The ref printer was out of paper.
11. A question about library hours.
12. A high school student and her dad wanted to know how to find specific books here in the library.
13. A student was looking for a biography of Woodrow Wilson that was written by his stepson. I could not find anything on it.
14. A patron needed a guest username and password for one of the guest computers.

Slow shift, but not surprising it is Super Bowl Sunday. Most people are attending parties, not working on papers. :)