What Adrienne Thinks About That

I've noticed that whether or not I'm near a computer significantly impacts how helpful the general public thinks I can be to them...

I just discovered your wonderful blog. You confirm my long-held suspicion that, contrary to reputation, librarians are the zaniest folks on the planet. Thanks for making my day!

The best part of that comment is that could as easily be whispered from one kid to another or it could be from a mother to a child who is trying to encourage the kid to talk to people.

Sarah, True, but I do love wowing people with my ability to find things *without* the computer. That's how I learned to do reference and reader's advisory, and it's still my preferred mode of operation. I only use the computer when I think it will make the job faster/easier.

Val, Thanks for visiting! It's true that the profession seems to attract eccentric people, way more than the general public realizes.

Jeffrey, True. In this case, it was a girl of about ten whispering to her younger brother encouraging him to ask a question, as he was feeling shy. It was the sort of interaction that makes me so enjoy working with children. Of course, I'm afraid I would be equally amused if the girl had been like, "What's your problem? Ask the librarian! Leave me alone!" I wouldn't have let on that this amused me, however. I've gotten pretty good at keeping a straight face when I'm supposed to.

I like to watch TV with my computer on my lap so when I'm wondering things like, "how the hell old is Mick Jagger anyway?" or "Where is bloody blazes is that country we're bombing?" I know right away. I have no idea how I watched TV without a computer present.

At work, I like to hear someone float a question then find them the answer before they complete the thought. It's my own little challenge to myself, which impresses no one but me and deeply annoys everyone else.

I don't want to contemplate a world without mayonaise or computers. Or bacon. Or actually any of the ingredients of a BLT.

Most things in life remind me of a Saturday Night Live skit from one time or another, 'cause I'm THAT much of an SNL Nerd, and this reminds me of this old skit with Ana Gesteyer and Will Ferrell in which they are peppy anchor people, giving the news. Suddenly, the teleprompter breaks, and they go all ape-like... and civilization as they knew it erodes before our very eyes and they start grunting and go positively barbarian. It's very funny.

To be clear, I don't think THAT would happen to you without a computer, but that old skit still came to mind.

Chuck, Sometimes patrons get kind of annoyed when we find them stuff. It doesn't happen all that often, but sometimes they really only come and ask us for help because they want to confirm that the item isn't there and so we disappoint their expectations when we find it. Unfortunately, it's hard to tell that until you hand them the item, at which point instead of smiling and saying thank you, they do something more like make a flat face and say "oh."

Jules, My mom is like that with the Simpsons.

I've never seen that particular skit. I'll have to find it--sounds funny.

Can you and your computer tell me where my favorite black t-shirt is? I can't find it, can't figure out how I could have lost it, and it's making me very cranky.

Am not!

Eisha, "Reply hazy. Try again."

Momster, You so are. ;)