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This evening near the end of my shift there was a kid asking for books on Serena Williams. Only one in the building according to the catalogue, a biography, so I showed her over to that and she accepted it, but she asked if there were anything at a more junior level she could use. Had a look with her at the sports book in junior non-fiction but of course there was a scant single volume on tennis, likely too old to even mention Serena, or more than briefly.
She seemed a bit distressed - speech due on Wednesday which she'd only found out about today. Told her I'd go take another look in the catalogue for anything at another library which could be placed on hold, but that there was only a slim chance it would arrive tomorrow and much more likely in a week. As it happens, everything else that turned up was aimed at an adult level too. So I let her know, and gave a quick tip on how to use the reference list on Wikipedia to find sources to check out which may help her. Hoping she gets through that okay.
That and some other queries today (e.g. someone's kid needed biographical info on three scientists, any scientists) had me thinking there is still a place in libraries for encyclopaedias and similar reference material. Great starting places for topic introductions and overviews on many subjects.
She seemed a bit distressed - speech due on Wednesday which she'd only found out about today. Told her I'd go take another look in the catalogue for anything at another library which could be placed on hold, but that there was only a slim chance it would arrive tomorrow and much more likely in a week. As it happens, everything else that turned up was aimed at an adult level too. So I let her know, and gave a quick tip on how to use the reference list on Wikipedia to find sources to check out which may help her. Hoping she gets through that okay.
That and some other queries today (e.g. someone's kid needed biographical info on three scientists, any scientists) had me thinking there is still a place in libraries for encyclopaedias and similar reference material. Great starting places for topic introductions and overviews on many subjects.
