Day 3 of NaBloPoMo. Thought I’d write about questions I got today while on the reference desk. Really hope there are some … you never can tell with Sundays. I don’t think the first-year-students have anything due tomorrow, and I know the Law Review students had their papers due last Friday, so I don’t think I’ll be seeing any of them. (Just in case my boss is reading – I do have other things I’m working on if no patrons have questions!)
- 2:30. Paralegal student wanting to know about the LSA (List of C.F.R. Sections Affected). Helped her find it, and then helped her navigate it to see if a specific section had been affected earlier this year (spoiler alert – it had!).
- 3:10. Patron wondered if the library offered free PACER use to the public. We do not, but I looked up the PACER fees for her and we discussed PACER for a while. She said she thought the courthouse offered free PACER to the public (not sure she meant state or federal courthouse; am assuming federal), but that then she’d have to pay for printing. I suggested she ask the court librarian if she had the option to save documents she wanted and then email them to herself, thus avoiding the printing costs.
- 3:20. Not a patron question, but noticed that a student was walking around, Starbucks in hand, wearing fluffy slippers. Idly wondered how long she had been/was planning on being here today.
- 4:00. Went up to make some tea. Also am wearing cat-eye glasses and have my hair up in a bun-type-thing. If only I were wearing a cardigan, and shushing somebody, I’d be confirming everybody’s stereotype of a librarian in one fell swoop. (I note that it is exceedingly quiet today. Our first floor has an “open voice” policy, but it’s noiseless this afternoon).
- 4:20. Patron asked where he could find the Minnesota Statutes Annotated. That’s hardly even a real question. I can point to them without getting up.
- 4:44. Patron just asked me if public computer needed to be turned on. Me, puzzled by the question, “Is it currently on?” It wasn’t on. I turned it on. (I did not count this as a reference interaction.)
- 5:52. I seriously think nobody else is going to ask me any questions. In the meanwhile, one of the things I’m doing is trying to create a schedule for the conference that I’m going to attend later on this month. The conference website is not interactive (I can’t create a personalized schedule based on the sessions I want to attend), and it’s hard to navigate. Furthermore, there’s about 5 sessions that I want to attend for each time slot. Trying to decide how to rank my choices – sessions that will be helpful to me in creating my own courses, vs. sessions that will help me assist our professors in designing their courses.
- 7:00. 4:44 was my last patron. So, kind of a dead Sunday. You never can tell how it’s going to be.
jkbeitz 