Max and others,

     Thank you for providing some smiles on an overcast and chilly day.
I'm always amused by the people, students and adults alike, who come up to
the desk and ask for clippings for whatever story they're looking for that
appeared in the local newspaper. I guess they assume that we clip
everything so that whenever someone asks, we just go back to a great big
file and retrieve it. We do help them find the articles they're looking
for, but they're always dismayed that it requires some effort on their
part. Some other amusing questions I've had is a teenager asking me how to
spell the name "Al", and an adult quite innocently asking me a year or two
ago, "What is the Internet?" Thanks again!

Stephen Headley

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU]On Behalf Of Max Shenk
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004 2:17 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Time to lighten up!

O.K., serialisters... I had something happen today which I wanted to
share, and I thought it'd be a good chance for everyone to lighten up
and post their Amazing But True Patron stories.

Mine is:

I work at a community college library periodicals desk. This morning, a
student came to the desk and asked if she could see "The Harvard
Journal."

"We don't have a title called The Harvard Journal," I said. "Do you
need the Harvard Business Review? Harvard Educational Review? Harvard
Health Letter?" I sent her back over to the reference desk to get more
information, assuming that she'd come back with a citation from the
indices.

Five minutes later she comes back again: "I need Current
Controversies."

"We don't have anything called Current Controversies... there's a title
called Issues And Controversies, but it's shelved in the reference
section."

She goes back to the reference desk...

Five minutes later, she comes back a third time...

"I need Harvard Education Review."

"What issue?"

"Uhhh... fall... 2000-something."

She went over to the reference desk a FOURTH time and this time didn't
return. I assume she found what she was looking for online.

Will she be able to grasp the concept of "Do you want fries with that?"
is my question.

Your turn.

Max Shenk
Periodicals Assistant
Brendlinger Library
Montgomery County Community College
Blue Bell, PA  19422