Not only was I mistaken for a librarian by a public-library patron this afternoon; I also answered that patron’s question to her satisfaction, a question that the patron asked knowing that I was not a librarian.
[I’m still not a librarian.]
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Semi-mistaken identity
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In the 1970s I was writing my dissertation in the basement of the University of Louisville library where I was teaching. It was a Saturday and a little girl asked me where they kept the large orange books, because she was looking for a particular tall orange book. I told her if she knew the title or the author she could look it up in the card catalog, and then explained the Dewey Decimal system. She pointed and said, "oh, there it is!"
That has happened to me, too. It could just be a side effect of hanging out in libraries, but I have this feeling it has more to do with the gray hair... (I also get approached in grocery stores--'What's a shallot?'--because 'You look like you cook.' Yessiree bobtail! 'Ask Me Anything' is tattooed on my forehead. Apparently.
But what was the question? Or does it not make sense out of context?
George, Elaine, thanks for telling your stories. Matt, the question concerned videos v. DVDs.
Students trying to find classrooms early in the semester sometimes ask “Do you work here?” Why, yes, I do.
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