[Publib] best reference question ever

[Deb Sommer]

There are so many questions that stick in my mind.

Do you have any books about Michelangelo?  I said I'm sure we do and
proceeded to the subject card catalog (yeah - this was card catalog days).
I went to the M's and the patron said "I looked in the A's for Michael
Angelo and didn't see anything."

Egg on my face for this one - I thought the patron said they wanted
information on the parmoda triangle.  I'm really lousy at geometry and was
thinking I should send them to the Science library where the math stuff was
but I did ask "Is this related to geometry?"  The patron looked confused and
proceeded to tell me about boats and ships getting lost in the parmoda
triangle.  

My all time favorite and then I'll shut up. This was when I was an academic
library I was at the undergraduate library reference desk late one night
when the phone rang.  The male voice on the other end asked "How long does
sperm live?"  I launched into a reference interview that had my co-worker
rolling on the floor.  I said "Where is the sperm in question?  Is it inside
a body? What's the temperature of the sperm? Frozen or not? . . . ."  I
don't recall what else I asked but as you would guess it was a fraternity
prank but I did try to make it a "teaching" moment.

Deb

Deborah A. Sommer, MLS
Director
Metropolis Public Library
317 Metropolis Street
Metropolis, IL  62960
618-524-4312
dsommer at shawls.lib.il.us
www.metropolis.lib.il.us