Saturday, September 20, 2008

New directions for libraries

Apparently, these days, students believe that our library is a one stop shop. Yes, they still want books and we get many questions about campus unrelated to the library, but those are all part of our everyday routine.

I've had two interesting requests lately, and the students who asked fully expected us to provided them, no questions asked.

The first request was for ear plugs. This is not so unusual because students get a little crazy around exam time and ear plugs could be something we would have on hand. As it happens, we don't and never will. The funny part was, the student was totally shocked that we couldn't fill his request and stomped off with a very mean face. Again, students go insane during exams and cannot be responsible for their actions.

The second request was from "valley girl" type student (my university is particularly known for this, we call them Western Girls). She approached the desk and asked, "Could I buy a hair elastic?"

I replied that we don't sell hair elastics at the desk, we just have rubber bands. Well, this did not end the matter.

"Well," she says, "do you know where I can buy one?" (insert valley girl accent here)

I recommended the pharmacy and she seemed very pleased with this suggestion and she trotted off to buy some genuine hair elastics from the drug store.

I think the lesson I learned here is to be gentle with the students during exams. They really do lose their minds.

2 comments:

Jena said...

yeah, exam time is weird. I just got really forgetful--I could forget anything, anywhere. (I went crazy looking for my keys one day when I got to work during exam week and when they weren't anywhere--not at Starbuck's, not at the library counter--I ran home and found them in my door. Oy. I'd never forgotten them on the way out before (and haven't since).

Dreamybee said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog during the read-a-thon!

Also, I wanted to clarify: I DO totally think Mary Doria Russell is pantyworthy; I just wouldn't feel right about actually throwing a pair of panties at her! :)

I would feel kind of weird about having this discussion, but it sounds like it might fit right in during exam week!