research librarian ettiquette?

Sharp10r

I need to verify a quote of a specific edition of a book. Is that a reasonable expectation to call a research librarian of a library that has that edition or am I going outside of what they do?

RUNN1NGMAN

I imagine that if it isn't something they do, they will tell you so. In my experience, research librarians live for that sort of thing. Even better would be if you had no idea where the quote came from

Steev

I'd have no problem doing that if I got such a call. It's similar to people calling up and asking for the dictionary definition of a particular word, which I've done a few times in the past.

Sharp10r

Thanks. One library had a librarian who wasn't willing to leave her desk "I'm the only one here at the moment." So I called another one and she scanned and e-mailed me the page! (The quote was not there, so I e-mailed the author in hopes that it's a simple typo).

SteevL: How do I utilize a research librarian? What sorts of things do you do? So far I've done all my own digging in libraries and journal indexes- tell me how to use research librarians to get better research if you can.

Steev

Sharp10r wrote: »

Thanks. One library had a librarian who wasn't willing to leave her desk "I'm the only one here at the moment." So I called another one and she scanned and e-mailed me the page! (The quote was not there, so I e-mailed the author in hopes that it's a simple typo).

SteevL: How do I utilize a research librarian? What sorts of things do you do? So far I've done all my own digging in libraries and journal indexes- tell me how to use research librarians to get better research if you can.

Well, I'm just a librarian at a public library; I don't think I can really answer about all the stuff a research librarian does. Generally what I do at my place is...well, tech support, because I know the most about computers among my coworkers. But when I am not doing that, it's usually more about educating people on how to use the library resources.

Usually when a person approaches my desk, they'll ask a general question like "Where's your travel section?" Sure, I could tell them they want to look in the 914-919 section, but we're supposed to ask them stuff like "Is there something specific you're looking for there?" From there I'll find out they're actually doing a research paper on a specific country and they think the travel section is the best place to go. That's when I tell them they can find better information from some other section, and usually also show them how to use our databases to find even more info. I guess that's a good example of what I do.

Does your library offer a service like interlibrary loan? I find a lot of my patrons are unaware of it, but those who do discover it are quite happy. It allows us to get books from other libraries across the country. We rarely charge for it, but a lot of other places do.

That's pretty cool that the librarian scanned and emailed the page; we don't have that functionality at my library (yet).

Hope this helps!