The reference interview process can be simple or can involve a lot of interrogation, creative rephrasing, fighting down your own assumptions, massive intuitive leaps, and harrowing navigation of the myriad ways we can misunderstand each other.
Minor example:
A patron walks up and asks for a book titled “lock and key”. Doesn’t know the author, but the cover was blue. (We joke about it, but that really is a common ‘identifying’ factor offered up by patrons. And at least half the time, the book isn’t blue.)
Having recently classified the latest volume in the graphic novel series and recalling it as having a bluish cover, I ask the patron if the title is spelled “L-O-C-K-E and K-E-Y”. ‘Yes,’ the patron replies. ‘Easy!’ I think. ::shake head sadly::
I explain to the patron that the only title by that spelling is a graphic novel and I pull up images of the covers of the series, asking if the patron recognizes any of these. Eventually, the patron tells me it’s not a graphic novel we’re looking for.
Next up – ask again: ‘Are you sure it’s spelled with an ‘e’?' The patron is now less sure; in fact, the patron would now like to look for a different book: Between Here and Forever.
We don’t own that one, but it’s listed in most collections as a Young Adult novel. Revisiting the initial search with what really should’ve been the K-I-S-S beginning to the search, I spell the title without the ‘e’. There are three different authors for works titled Lock and Key, but one of them is Sarah Dessen, a popular Young Adult author. I pull up the cover on Amazon and the patron identifies the book as the one that we were looking for. Hooray!
Our copy is checked out, though. :/
Conclusion: WIN enough.
Tags: covers, reference interviews, sarah dessen
