At least he was asking for a book that he previously used in your library. Most of my questions were from people who read the books years ago (and didn't borrow it from my library), wanted to read it again, and wanted ME to tell them what book it was based on no information other than the color of the cover.
Since being a librarian doesn't give me the ability to see what that person may have been reading in the distant past, I was, alas, unable to help them. But I was (privately) amused 🙂 And since we're sharing, here's my all-time favorite reference question, a request we received in the mail (yes, that long ago) from a college student who had to write a 3-5 page paper for a class, and wanted me to send her "everything you have on the Holocaust, and also include everything you have on Jewish history." After I got done laughing, I replied and explained that these are very large topics and sent her a short bibliography of sources she could check locally. Margo ________________________________ From: Emily Bergman <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, November 4, 2020 12:25 PM To: Margo Gutstein <[email protected]> Cc: Hasafran <[email protected]> Subject: ex: Re: [ha-Safran] ex: Fw: The Librarian When I worked in a museum library, the Chief Curator came in and said he needed the brown book on Indians. Of course, I found it. It's my best story of this kind. Emily Emily Bergman [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> On Tue, Nov 3, 2020 at 1:21 PM Margo Gutstein via Hasafran <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: I can't tell you how many times over the years I've been asked a question that goes something like this: "I'm hoping you can help me find a book. I read it a while ago, and it was about a boy [or a man or a woman, or something equally generic]. I can't remember the title or the author or the publisher, but the cover was green... " It's happened often enough that I've considered adding a field to our catalog for "Color of cover"! Thank you for sharing a great laugh, Lisa! Margo -- Margo Gutstein Archivist Simon Wiesenthal Center [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> ________________________________ From: Hasafran <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> on behalf of Lisa Silverman via Hasafran <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: Friday, October 30, 2020 1:42 PM To: Hasafran <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: ex: [ha-Safran] Fw: The Librarian I couldn't resist sharing this short, funny video from a British humor show sketch about librarians! ________________________________ Lisa ________________________________ -- CAUTION: This is an external email: is it safe? __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran CAUTION: This is an external email: is it safe?
__ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list [email protected] https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
