A patron called in looking for a book. This happens sometimes.
{} indicate the evolution of the name as I heard it.
Patron: “It’s by, um, {Grazinsky}, you know – the new one.”
That narrows it down, thank you.
Me: “Can you tell me the title?”
Patron: “Oh, no; I can’t do that. It’s by {Brazinsky}; he was on TV recently.”
Oh, okay then.
Me: “Can you spell the author’s name for me?”
Patron: “Oh, I don’t know… He was the Secretary of State for Jimmy Carter. It’s a new book.”
Me: “Hold on; let me do a search-”
[internet search for "secretary of state jimmy carter"
Directed to a Wikipedia article, CTRL+F to find "secretary" on the page.
The only Secretary of State listed is Cyrus Vance, but I manage to misread the Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev as possibly the name the patron was looking for.
(The actual answer was on the page, too, but unfortunately I missed that on the first pass.)]
Me: “Is it Leonid Brezhnev?”
Patron: “No, it’s {Brezinsky}. He had a Polish first name.”
Unfortunately, I suck at telling ethnicity from names, faces, and even geographical locations, so that’s not going to narrow it down for me.
Me: “Well, Leonid Brezhnev is the closest name I’m seeing, here… But he died in 1982 and you said the author was on TV recently, so that’s probably not it. I’m not seeing any other Secretary of State. If you can’t tell me the title or spell the author’s name…”
Patron: “It’s a new book. I think his name is… B-R-E-Z-I-N-S-K-I”
Me: “Let me try another search.”
[Nothing comes up in the catalog for that name.
New internet search for "secretary of state brezinski"
- first result: Wikipedia page for Zbigniew Brzezinski]
Me: “Okay, I’m going to mangle this name, but is it [mangles name]? He was the United States National Security Advisor to Carter.”
Patron: “Yes! That’s it.”
Having found the name, the title is readily turned up in the catalog as the most recently published book by that author:
Strategic vision : America and the crisis of global power (2012)
Conclusion: (despite a weird conversation about materials having to be returned in a set period of time) WIN
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Tags: books, brzezinski, patrons, reference, spelling
January 26, 2012 at 7:30 pm |
Why is it so hard for people to get some simple details down before they ask vague questions?
January 26, 2012 at 8:22 pm |
I’ll be honest – the vagueness both annoys and pleasantly challenges me. Sometimes people can’t help but vague it up, but it’s all the more impressive to be able to find the right answer based on hardly any real information at all.
I think of it as telepathy practice. :p
January 26, 2012 at 11:54 pm |
I totally get the telepathy part. Back when I worked at Jewel, I was really good at translating weird descriptions (sometimes in broken English) into what the person wanted. My greatest feat happened when I came upon an Osco person struggling to help a woman on the grocery side. I asked if I could help, and the customer said something like, “I’m looking for those things, I can’t remember what they’re called, but they go by the sink.” I said, “Oh, I don’t know what they’re called either, but come with me.” As I led her off to the HandiWipes, the Osco lady just watched, dumbstruck, as we walked away.