Customer Service for Libraries

How does a library compete for the attention of readers (or students, faculty, etc.)? After reading some articles on the business side of customer relations management, I want to offer ideas for libraries that may change how we deal with our publics. While we don’t compete for the customer’s money, we do compete for resources of the school, public or other entity that pays our bills. We are competing in a marketplace for ideas, minds, and resources.

1. What does customer-centric approach mean for libraries? How does the change in retail expectations affect what people expect from libraries?

Consumers have grown more skeptical over the past few years when spending their money. This should be good for libraries because libraries offer resources that the customer does not directly pay for. In a marketplace that customers feel mislead, the library is a place to get reliable and diverse information on every subject.

The Internet has raised expectations for the gathering of information. People are impatient and want instant answers even when the best answers take lots of careful investigation. Librarians can only point readers in the right direction and hopefully student learn from their classes the value of careful and systematic research. As customers learn from businesses how to solve or experience something, library users need to find value from library services. Libraries help readers solve problems, seek information and seek recreational sources. As other sources of these services bombard them, they may ask “Why use the library? Why finance the library?”

In a customer-centric library the librarians and staff are always asking themselves “How does this affect the user experience?” From the back office purchasing and cataloging to the direct reader interaction at the reference desk, circulation desk and everywhere in between everything must relate to the “customer experience.” Attention must be paid to the rooms, the signs and the electronic impressions made on the library users and stakeholders. For example if the physical features of the library don’t fit the needs, the features need changing.

2. What are the mistakes that organizations make when trying to appeal to library users?

Some of these mistakes happen so often that we don’t realize they are having a negative effect on the public. In the business world a company may claim they are number one in their field or they have the largest selection, or have X years experience in the business. Do you remember the ads that Avis Car Rental used to make, “We try harder?” This was supposed to indicate that they knew they were number two in car rental and they constantly want customers to know they were trying to be better. [fn 1]  When a business brags about being number one they are addressing the company perspective (the firm, the salespeople, and the marketing department). The claim is about their attributes, not what the customers are interested in.

What are library “customers” interested in? First you have to investigate who is your public. Some of the answers you will know from your years of experience; some answers will take investigate. For example the library needs computer work stations. The nature of these stations and the number required are a matter to investigate. A library needs a suitable collection. To build the collection the librarians need to know what is available and match that to the needs of the public. The library needs multiple kinds of physical space. The exact needs must be investigated.

Customers, like library users, are interested in the value they get from the organization. In a retail store the customer wants selection, service, attractive prices, and attractive physical settings. This is not much different from what readers need – a collection that fills their information needs and wants, reference services to help to find materials, instruction to learn more about the library and information services, and attractive, functional rooms to do their reading, studying or what ever else they want to do in the library.

3. What kinds of unique value could a library promise? How will a philosophy of adding value translate to the way we do business?

In business adding value is both an emotional, personal benefit to the customer and an economic exchange. Customers exchange money for the service or product and get some kind of benefit. The company promises a positive outcome when you do business with them. Too often in both education and in libraries the positive outcome is removed in time and place from the delivery of the service. When dealing with the total customer experience, we have to tell the readers (our customers) the value they get from using our services. We have to show the community the benefits so that users and non-users perceive the benefits. In previous times this meant advertising of events and public service announcements. Today this means getting a big electronic footprint including a web site and a Facebook page. Use Facebook, Twitter and other social media to build the library image and let people know about the library and its service. This is not a hard sell message.

For example I sometimes place information about new books or a message connecting this day in history to the library collection on our Facebook pages.

Think about the total library experience. Do something to encourage people to come again and again. Don’t make a promise about being number one; make sure that you have a defined mission and you do everything in your power to enhance the total customer experience. I know this is hard when you have no control over the copier or room size, but pick something you do have control over and make everyone aware of what you can do.

4. How can the library have a service platform that is consistent with a promise to add value? How can you deliver what you promise?

This is an attitude that takes institutional fortitude. No matter how much a librarian wants to do what s/he can do to deliver great services and have an excellent collection, if the funding source is not great enough, the job will not be done. If you want to offer classes, you need the teaching staff. If you want a great collection you need to purchase, catalog and store the materials. You have to figure out the value you are adding to the public or student experience and build on both the perception and the behind the scene support to make an ordinary place in a great library.

If you can’t get the institutional support you need, change your promise. Make your mission clear so that you can deliver. It is better to promise small and deliver what you promise than not deliver what you promise. Transform every contact into an opportunity to acquire not only a satisfied customer, but an advocate. At some point satisfied readers will tell others about the library and perhaps those who approve the finances will be impressed.

5. How can libraries embrace a customer-centric approach and notice results?

First the library must carefully craft a mission statement and philosophy that establishes what is the core library business. Second find and allocate resources to accomplish this mission. Third empower people to accomplish the mission. Let staff experiment to find out what works best. Give staff the tool, training and resources to accomplish the mission and help the library users.

Next the library must have a plan for examining user expectations, keep current with technology, and train for the next level of information service. Training must be an integral part of the schedule. Some staff time needs to be devoted to R&D or long term scholarship and study.
Communications between users, library staff, and stakeholders needs to be developed. Communications must take many forms – in persons, at meetings, phone, and via electronic media.

Front line staff people need to be in charge of innovation. Innovation needs to part the way we do business. Innovation includes such areas as displays, marketing, instruction, materials to help use the collections, signs, and programs. The culture has to support risk taking and inventing new ways for successful and meaningful growth. Reach out and make library use partners in innovation. Just as new books and articles are objects of innovations, we have to find the best tools for acquiring, curating, cataloging, organizing and circulating information. We not only here for our patrons, they are our business.

Businesses have changed their physical features such as wider aisles, brighter lights and more appealing store organization. This will not work in libraries because book stacks are not merchandise shelves. .Libraries do need multiple kinds of space and seating.

6. This customer-centric approach sound hard especially when there is administration push-back. How can libraries start the process?

Some activities don’t cost money. Start small and make incremental changes. Think about your library users in every area of library operations and think ways to improve their library experience. Think of how you can offer library services in the best possible way and make sure to make your promises into reality.

Summary:

Changing a corporate culture is not easy.  The customer is not always right and sometimes what the customer wants interferes with the wants and needs of other customers.  The administration must be dedicated to helping the people who use the library and making the culture customer-centric.The rest is commentary.

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Notes

1.  For more information see Avis’ web site: http://www.avis.com.cy/We_try_harder.html.  “We try harder” was adopted in 1962.  It was designed as an indicator that their corporate philosophy was changing.  It was not an advertising gimmick.  This way of doing business increased market share from 11% in 1962 to 35% in 1966.   See also “Advertising: Trying Harder“ in Time Magazine, June 24, 1964. http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,939058,00.html

Artzneybüech -- a 16th Century Medical Book

Cataloging a manuscript is always a particular challenge. As a unique item each manuscript must be cataloged without help from an existing record. Several weeks ago a leather bound item with a metal clasp (one clasp was missing) was placed in my queue for cataloging. I thought it was a printed book because I didn’t think anyone could write script that precisely. It is book of medicines and recipes from the 16th century written in German handwriting. I checked all the usual sources—WorldCat, NUC pre-1956 imprints and even an bibliography of 16th Century German imprints, but found no matches or clues.

German spelling and handwriting was not standardized until the 20th century. This book is hard to read because I can’t interpret the script. I took it to the rare book librarian for help. She said this was a manuscript because no one could set type like that. We showed it to several German speakers and they could not read it. No listing of German manuscript has this item listed.

Title is: Artzneybüech (A physician’s book). Note the modern German spelling would be: Artzneibuch.  The large red words are legible and I can read them. The smaller black text is unreadable.











Here is a list of ingredients followed by directions.

I was unable to find any later printed copies of this text.

If anyone can help with more information I would appreciate it. Text in the upper left reads: Ein güeter wündtranct (A good wound dressing)

I was curious about the value of this item. It is written on vellum. In the 16th century vellum cost about 120 times paper. Vellum then as now was mainly used for special legal or religious documents or for artwork. The raw materials needed to write a copy of this book today would cost about $1200. I saw similar items from the 16th century offered for sale between $6000 and $50,000.

Working on identifying this item was fascinating because I had to learn about the history of German language and writing in the 16th century, however it was frustrating because I do not yet have the final answers.

When Library Catalogs, Discovery Tools and Google Fail

As librarians we think the catalog, databases and discovery tools should lead to the articles or other library materials that we seek especially for a known item search. I found a case when the cataloger or indexer did everything right, yet the article was still difficult to find.

When I was preparing to review  the book, Nathan Birnbaum and Jewish Modernity [1] I found  on page 138 a section titled “The Ahad Ha’am Affair” that was even more fascinating than other parts of the Birnbaum story. Birnbaum was an almost forgotten figure in the history of Zionism. The book’s author, Jess Olson, tells the story of how he first heard of Birnbaum when taking a course in Yiddish linguistics in Oxford. I knew of Ahad Ha'am  and his thought, but never knew about his ideological dispute with Theodor Herzl.   None of my studies in Zionism or Jewish history seem to have mentioned Birnbaum.[2]

In brief  – Ahad Ha’am (Asher Ginsberg’s pen name) and Theodor Herzl were rivals in the struggle for the soul of the Zionist movement. Ahad Ha’am believed in spiritual and cultural Zionism that is a state that would be a source for growth, development and eternity of Jewish culture. Herzl was a political Zionist that is he believed a Jewish state would solve the “Jewish question.” Looking back on the history of the movement and what eventually happened, they both turned out to be right. Israel today is a product of both streams of thought.

In 1902 Herzl’s utopian novel, Altneuland (Old-New Land) was published and stirred controversy between Ahad Ha’am and Herzl.  Even to supporters of Herzl the novel was problematic for its optimism and western (read Germanic) slant on the Palestinian society. I wanted to find the article that Ahad Ha’am wrote about Altneuland.   Professor Olson did not give an exact citation.  He said it was published in late 1902 in Hebrew in Ha-Shiloah where Ahad Ha’am was the editor and in German translation in April 1903 in Ost und West.  In a footnote Olson says the text can be found on the page: http://benyehuda.org/ginzberg/Gnz063.html‎. I wanted to find the original in HaShiloah.

Now that I know the answer, the time consuming steps of the search seem like a waste of time. Searching for the exact citation and article proved difficult. I will try to explain the step and why they did or didn’t work. Searching for a known item search should be a straightforward library search. I knew the author’s name and the approximate date. First I tried searching the library databases. None of the databases cover the publication or the years 1902-1904. I wanted to try Book Review Digest, but it started publication after 1902. I found an index of book reviews in scholarly literature that covered the period, but there was no entry. When I found the article I knew the reason these indexes would never work. The publication was not considered scholarly and the article would not be recognized as a book review by an indexer.

Since library databases would help I thought I could find another book that told the story and that author would have the exact citation. I had to learn a little more about Herzl and Ahad Ha’am to be able to continue the search. In Gershon Winer’s The Founding Fathers of Israel, [3] he profiles both Herzl and Ahad Ha’am. Winer does not deal with the ideological struggle between the Zionist streams of thought.

I went back a few years to Alex Bein’s 1940 biography of Herzl.[4] Chapter 12 is titled, “Altneuland” and describes in detail the saga. However, Bein had no footnotes. Bein describes how Herzl decided on the title. Herzl describes in his diary the thought process occurred to him on August 30, 1899. It was connected to the concept of an old and new land and the Altneuschul [5] of Prague. The chapter talks about the cultural questions that Ahad Ha’am raises, but got me no closer to a citation.

Thirty-five years later Amos Elon writes another biography of Herzl.[6] His retelling of the saga is in chapter 15 starting on page 347. Elon mentions on page 350 Ahad Ha’am’s criticism and his attack in HaShiloah, which Ahad Ha’am edited. Elon has no footnotes or citations. Shlomo Avineri in The Making of Modern Zionism, [7] talked about the utopian concepts in Altneuland such as social structure of co-operations and mutual benefit. All young men and women are required to give two years of national service, not for military purposes because there will be peace with the non-Jews. Avineri makes no comment about the controversy surrounding the novel and have no footnotes.

Since library books and searches were not helping I turned to Google Scholar. I searched for articles with “herzl” and “ahad ha’am” in them. Eventually I found an article by Yossi Goldstein in the journal, Jewish History. [8] This is a whole article about the Ahad Ha’am Herzl dispute and the second footnote had the citation that I needed, “Ahad Ha’am, “Yalkut Katan”, Ha-shiloach 10 (1902) [Hebrew], pp. 566–578.” Footnote three had Max Nordau response to Ahad Ha’am Max Nordau, ““Achad Ha’am über Altneuland”, Die Welt, 13.3.1903” With this citation I returned to
library searching for a copy that I could read.

The University of Illinois Chicago is a co-operating member of the Hathi Trust. After many searching I found an electronic copy of the December 1902 article that contained Ahad Ha’am criticism. I immediately saw why a search of authors and titles was fruitless. Ahad Ha’am was the editor of the publication and he wrote a monthly editorial without a byline. The title was always, “Yalkut Katan” meaning “A small collection.” The December column did not even start out with the criticism of Herzl. An indexer could easily misinterpret the article and record the incorrect bibliographic information. I was also led to the German translation of the article which appears in the April 1903 issue of Ost und West starting on column 227.

The UIC collection did not have the 1903 volume of Ost und West in paper or electronic format. They had other volumes, but this one was not in the collection scanned by Hathi Trust. I searched WorldCat and found that an electronic copy existed. Searching “Ost und West” got too many hits and none were correct. After many searches I found the full title of the publication was: Neue jüdische Monatshefte : Zeitschrift für Politik, Wirtschaft und Literatur in Ost und West . I used iShare (a group of Illinois libraries with a shared catalog) and found an electronic copy in the Morris Library of Southern Illinois University. It was in a system called Compact Memory, which has many German Jewish publications available in electronic format. The searching is only in German. I was able to find both Die Welt for the Nordau article and the issue of Ost und West with the Ahad Ha’am article.

With the German article in hand and the Hebrew original I could better understand what Ahad Ha’am wrote. Some of his Hebrew words were borrowed from German and not in the Hebrew dictionaries. For example he used the word, “Tscharter” in Hebrew. It means “charter.”

The article also appears page 412 in Kol Kitve (Collected Works) Ahad Ha'am.

Last Thursday I attended a webinar on library discovery tools. This search is an example of how discovery tools could help. Had I been able to enter what I thought were keywords and the discovery tool could work across all language, perhaps I could have found the article faster? But this is still a case when one has to understand the subject of a search before getting the answer. In the course of the search I had to learn more about the personalities involved and their ideology. I learned about how periodicals and how they were the mass media of the time. Arguments were expressed in publications. Today these exchanges would take place using electronic media and speed of exchange would be hours, not months. I also learned the road to finding answers contains many paths and requires many kinds of search tools.

This was all an interesting exercise and knowing all this I returned to Olson's footnote and then I understood it.  Had I understood his note in the beginning I would not have  needed all the searching.

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Notes

[1]  Olson, Jess.  Nathan Birnbaum and Jewish Modernity : Architect of Zionism, Yiddishism, and Orthodoxy. Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2013. Dr. Olsen is a Yeshiva University history professor. 

[2] In 1975 I read the Origins of Zionism by David Vital.  Birnbaum is predominately mentioned.

[3]  Winer, Gershom.  The Founding Fathers of Israel. New York, Block Publishing Company, 1971.  Dr. Winer was one of my teachers in 1970-71.  Much of what I knew about the history of early Zionists was learning in his class. After reading about Nathan Birnbaum, I find Winer gives Herzl more credit for changing the course of Jewish history than he is due.  None of his source notes helped my search.

[4] Full reference: Bein, Alex. Theodore Herzl : a biography.  Translated from the German by Maurice Samuel.  Philadelphia, Jewish Publication Society of America, 1940 (c1941).  JPS spells “Theodore” with an “e’ while other sources spell it as “Theodor.”

  

[5] Despite the controversy or because of it two reminders from the book are still with us.  When Nahum Sokolow translated the book into Hebrew he used the title Tel Aviv. “Tel” as in an ancient archeological mound and “Aviv” meaning spring as a sign of the new.  When the first Jewish city was founded in 1909 it was called Tel Aviv.  The second reminder is the quote, “Wenn ihr wollt, ist es kein Märchen (Herzl wrote in German).  “if you will it, it is no dream” or in Hebrew “’im terzu ain zo agadah.”  אִם תִּרְצוּ, אֵין זוֹ אַגָדַה

[6]  Elon, Amos. Herzl. New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975.

[7]  Avineri, Shlomo.  The making of modern Zionism : the intellectual origins of the Jewish state.  New York, Basic Books, 1981.

[8] Goldstein, Yossi, “Eastern Jews vs. Western Jews: the Ahad Ha’am–Herzl dispute

and its cultural and social implications” in Jewish History (2010) 24: 355–377.

Library Behavior

When I teach students to be librarians or train new librarians I tell them we are in public service and part of job to smile, be welcoming, and offer to help. We are there to help the students, not present stumbling blocks to their effort to learn. Sometimes library users need to be reminded that their behavior is negatively affecting others in the library. Sometime we need to remind librarians and library staff of why we are here. The stereotypical librarian behavior is the asking people to be quiet. This is done because people come to the library and expect a quiet place to learn, read or do research.

Last week a friend, who is a librarian for a k-8 school, (I’ll call her Librarian C) attended a conference with several teachers from her school at Harvard University. Every summer Harvard runs conferences for educators, librarians, and scholars attracting the eager learners and giving them access to the top brains from Harvard. Attendees come back invigorated. Harvard is very protective of its brand and name. Harvard indoctrinates graduates into special place in the academic world. Attendees of conferences only get a taste of the Harvard Crimson. (I am not a Harvard graduate, but I once visited the campus with my family. My children declined to even apply.)


Many of the sessions that Librarian C attended met at the School of Education’s Gutman Library (http://www.gse.harvard.edu/library/about/index.html) .

As you can see in the picture the entrance has two doors. One is intended for those going in and the other for exiting. There are no signs to indicate this. Harvard Libraries has doorkeepers to check people coming in or going out. One morning of the conference Librarian C and her colleagues entered the door and the doorkeeper said, “You just entered the out door.” The doorkeeper made of these people who were professionals from many schools, go out the door and return via the entrance door. Librarian C went to the doorkeeper and said that she was a librarian and your behavior gives librarians a bad name. The doorkeeper said that she was only doing what they told her was her job.

 I can understand if traffic patterns are established for optimal entrance and exit speed, one should follow them. From the description given by Librarian C it did not seem this was a case to make more efficient movement. When I was in elementary school the stairs had monitors to help movement and make the staircases safe and efficient. Children who did not follow the rules were forced to go back downstairs and come up again. Rarely did children need reminding a second time. The Gutman Library doorkeeper was incorrectly interpreting the rules. The purpose of rules is to insure optimal library operations, not demean your public.

 The main research library at Harvard is of Widener Library, which also houses the library administration. Librarian C wanted to go visit. Widener like other Harvard Libraries restricts entrance to Harvard affiliates and other special classes such as visiting scholars and alumni. This restriction is quite common for private universities. Since they allow faculty from other universities to enter upon proper identification, I would have no trouble entering. Librarian C is a school librarian and she forgot her school ID. At the door they asked if her school library had a website with her name listed. They looked up the web site and this became her ID. However, her teacher-colleague was denied entrance and Librarian C couldn’t enter the stacks.

 Contrast this professional visit with the patrons who visited my community college library last Friday. For the first hour it was so quiet the buzz of the light fixtures and the clicking of the keyboards could be heard. Later some parents brought their infants to the library. Theoretically this allowed as long as the babies do make too much noise. “Too much” is open to interpretation. The babies were not crying, but they were making baby talk sounds. Because the population of the school we have to be more tolerant than private universities. I did go over to the infants to make sure they were ok, but eventually I had to ask them to leave because of excessive noise. As soon as I walked over the mothers realized why I was there and I did not have to say much. One baby was cute and even offered me her sticky hand to shake. I politely said that I don’t shake sticky hands. One baby made noise in the hall and this was just as bad. The stone floor and brick walls of the hall reverberate and amplify the sound and it comes back into the library louder than when sound is muffled by the library carpet and furniture. I wonder why parents would bring children to the library and not bring them something to do. What’s a poor baby who can’t read supposed to do in a library? None of the babies had any toys to play with and I didn’t have any to lend them.

Sometimes I wish that I had the power that some patrons think I should have. I patron who self identified as non-student wanted me to help her with her Facebook password. She called across the room for me to go to her station. I informed her that this behavior was disrespectful and she should have come to the reference desk. She pointed to her four inch wooden platform shoes and complained that she couldn’t walk that far. Hmm she walked into the library. Why would someone buy shoes that are so hard to walk in? She had the computer screen from Facebook for password recovery. I pointed where she had to enter her e-mail address and let Facebook send her the recover instructions. The patron said that she could not remember her email password either. (I thought, if I could tell her the password, the system would be very insecure.)

Another library user wanted help attaching a file to an email. I have never used Yahoo email, but I found the clip icon that indicated attach a file. He clicked on it and a browser window opened with the files. He wanted me to tell him which file to attach because he forgot the name. The file was a picture and I couldn’t read his mind. I showed him how to view thumbnails of the pictures. Not knowing the file name I suggested that he should write down the name. He found the file and it had a two letter name, which he dutifully wrote down, returned to the email client and was able to attach it. Now he wanted help to send it to his friend and wanted me to tell him the address. I draw the line at knowing private email addresses.

A faculty member came with a question really was within my power to answer. He wanted to be able to access the library databases from home. I checked his account and needed to edit some parts to make sure that he had access. I gave him directions for logging in his account and I hope that helps him. It’s all in a day’s work. Sometimes we help and sometimes we’re expected to have knowledge beyond human abilities. We just keep smiling and look for the positive side of human behavior. 

Spelling of Humus

In the recipe for black bean burgers I added hummus which is a paste made mainly from chickpeas and sesame seeds.  My brother did not like the way I spelled “humus” in the article.  The word is from the  Arabic . حمّص  ḥummuṣ) meaning "chickpeas," and the complete name of the prepared spread in Arabic is حمّص بطحينة ḥummuṣ bi ṭaḥīna, which means "chickpeas with tahini".  The word has passed into Hebrew  as spelled חומוס (ḥumus)  (i.e. ḥet-shuruk-mem-shuruk-sameḥ)  A shuruk is a vowel letter and that looks like a vav with a dot in the middle. There is no dagesh (dot) in the mem which means it is not doubled in sound. The syllable divides between the first shuruk and the mem.

Using the systematic Romanization table from Library of Congress for Hebrew the word should be spelled, “humus.”[1]  The accent is on the first syllable, following the common practice of the Hebrew accent on the penultimate syllable.  The first syllable is open and the vowel is long making the “u” long.  In academic publications, the “h” would have a dot underneath to indicate the /kh/ sound and differentiate it from the /h/ sound.  Transliterations from Hebrew and Arabic are not always the same as systematic transliteration.  On American food labels the usually spelling is “hummus.”  In British English and in Israeli usage "houmous" is the standard spelling.  Other spellings include hummus, hummous, hommos, humos, hommus and hoummos.  It hurts my ears when I hear the word with a short “u,” since that sound is incorrect.  Since most Americans also cannot pronounce the /kh/ sound, I am little more forgiving.

Below are some sample labels.

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[1] See Alacalay, Reuvan. The complete Hebrew-English dictionary.  Hartford, Connecticut, 1965.  page 727.

Black Bean Burgers

I enjoy a challenge especially when it comes from a fellow librarian.  Sometime we discuss food because we all have exacting requirements.  I keep kosher, JL eats vegetarian (including milk and eggs), DE eats a strict vegan diet, and DW eats lots of meat and has no idea what this all means. Since I eat mostly vegetarian, I am always looking for new taste ideas.  One colleague suggested   trying black bean burgers.  Since he didn't know the exact recipe, I looked on line and found some ideas.

Here is approximately what I did.  I did not precisely measure all the spices.

1/2 cup dry black beans
1 cup or more water
Soak the beans in the water for at least 3 hours, then drain and wash. The beans will expand to about twice their original size.

1 small onion
1 carrot
chop the onion, carrot and beans.

1 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 cup matzah meal
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon hot sauce
dash of cumin
2 teaspoons hummus
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
water as needed

Mix in a bowl. You could change the spices to suit your taste.  These amounts are for a mild result. Add water as needed to get a smooth mix.  Let sit in the refrigerator for several hours to allow the flavors to mix.

Shape into patties and bake (350 degrees) at least 30 minutes.  If not brown enough, fry for 1-2 minutes per side. Above is a picture with the burger on a homemade roll with some of the ingredients.

Top the burger with ketchup, hummus or whatever else you want. Sorry to my vegan friends, I had to add an egg, but you could try a substitute.  Since the beans were not pre-cooked, the burger is crunchy.  If you use beans from a can they will be softer.

Enjoy and keep the ideas flowing. [fn 1]




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Notes:

1. Many physicians and health care providers say that a plant based diet is better for cardiovascular health. 

Week of June 21, 2013 in Reference

This week in Reference June 21, 2013

Last week I got an example of the importance of name authority. A student wanted to check out a book and her bar code wouldn’t pull up her record. I entered her name and found a name. Since the record was from 2007 I asked her if she still lived on Long Street. She replied, no that is the other person with the same name. They had the same middle initial and year of birth. She said that she has never met that persona but has been confused with her before. The name was not even what I thought was a common one. I entered her record with a full middle name and date of birth to make sure they are not confused.

I was at the doctor’s office this week and they kept asking for my name and date of birth. I finally asked why. It was to differentiate people with the same name. That is also an example of good name authority. If we were cataloging a book date of birth (and death if known) are used to differentiate authors.

In checking the catalog I found a record with a main author entry and an added entry with the same name, but different years. Initially I thought something was wrong with the entry. When I retrieved the book I found one author was the father and the other his son. We don’t record the “Jr.” in the name entry. However, in the rules for transcribing title pages in RDA we would record “Jr.” if present on the title page.

A staff member of the college wanted to read the latest issues of Time and Newsweek. I said we get Time, but Newsweek [fn 1]is no longer appearing in print. She replied, “But you used to get it.” “Yes that was before if stopped the print edition.” She replied, “Where is the current issue of Time?” I pointed her to the periodicals area and she had a hard time figuring out how to get there. She walked in the exact opposite direction. I guess she didn’t have the time to read that day.

A student in a history class wanted information on “hematology” (also referred to as Kemitism) Since I never heard of this term I used a Google search to learn more. It is a pagan revival of the ancient Egyptian religion. I found a web site, The Khemit School of Ancient Mysticism: http://khemitology.com/ with information on the Khemit School. They say that Egyptology does not cover everything about this ancient religion. I searched our catalog and WorldCat , but did not find any books on the topic. I looked for information in reference books and articles, but found nothing. I had to give up finding library sources. The only materials available are for sale on Khemit web sites. The student was ok with the lack of information. He will have to choose another topic to write about.

Another week at the reference desk and I’m always looking for stories, searches, and ideas to share.

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Notes:

1. The story of Newsweek and it financial woes and change to an all digital format is in the Wikipedia article found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsweek . Newsweek sells issues and subscriptions for the digital version.