During summer reading program one year at the public library where I
worked, I was at the front desk to help out during a really busy time. A
fairly prosperous looking American woman in her 30s came in looking for
a specific title someone had recommended to her. The line was so long I
wrote down the call number for the book and gave her directions to the
shelves, thinking I could get to the next patron quickly. For a few
moments she looked at the paper I handed her and then asked what the
number was and where on the book she would find it. Thinking perhaps she
was accustomed to LCC rather than Dewey, I told her it was the Dewey
call number and was on the spine. She still did not understand what a
call number was and was unsure what a spine was. A lot of things swam
through my head to say, but luckily what came out was  -- "you haven't
been in a library in a long time, have you?" She answered, "I think this
is the first time I've ever been in a library."  I took her into the
stacks and put the book in her hand and signed her up for a library
card.

-----

J. Elaine Hardy
Library Information Specialist
Georgia Public Library Service,
A Unit of the University System of Georgia
1800 Century Place, Suite 150
Atlanta, Ga. 30345-4304
404.982-3511
404.982-3563, fax

ehardy@georgialibraries.org
www.georgialibraries.org