I agree that we should be allowed to have a little fun once in a while.
I found some interesting opinions here on this subjuct of "dumb questions",
but the thing is, it started out as a light hearted sharing of experiences
from one collegue to another. I have enjoyed the examples and all I can say
is, Lighten Up!
Kerry Prindiville
Fresno County Law Library
Fresno, California
----------
> Laura--
>
> Your post gave me food for thought.
>
> I strongly agree that no question is dumb, (assuming the reader seriously
> wants the information s/he is requesting). In fact, I often use your exact
> words with my readers, and I mean what I am saying.
>
> Requests that have appeared really inane on the surface have made me
> realize that I needed to organize information differently. For example, a
> reader once asked if we had a telephone book of Kentucky. I had organized
> phone books by district office territory, rather than by state or city.
> Made sense to me -- I'd worked in district offices for 4 years before I
> went to library school. This question made me realize that it would be
> better to arrange them by state.
>
> In both my personal and professional lives, I have prefaced MY information
> requests with the "dumb question" remark, so I think I can see the issue
> from both sides. I DO feel dumb when I have to ask a librarian something I
> should remember from library school but don't. I'd never thought about it
> before, but I normally use the "d.q." preface as a signal showing that I'm
> not just asking something off the top of my head.
>
> When I read Anne's request for examples, I wasn't paying attention to her
> subject line. From her message, I thought she wanted the most humorous
> information requests we had received, and I responded accordingly.
>
> In retrospect, her subject line probably could have been strengthened had
> she not used the pejorative "dumb." Still, if I felt we couldn't have
> some occasional fun here sharing experiences with our peers, I'd sign off
> in a heartbeat.
>
> -Kay Collins, Chicago
>
> On Fri, 13 Mar 1998, Laura E. Olsen Dugan wrote:
> > Isn't one of the foundations of reference service and librarianship that
> > "no question is a stupid question?"
> >
> > Many times a week patrons approach me with "I have a dumb question."
> > The first thing I say in response is that "No question is a dumb
> > question."
> >
> > The Krikelis Theory of Information Seeking Behavior demonstrates that
> > people, particularly ADULTS, are often afraid or uncomfortable in
> > approaching librarians with reference and information-need based
> > questions. By dispelling the belief that a patron's question is "dumb"
> > we help them feel more comfortable in their request for assistance.
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Nov 14 2007 - 20:49:51 PST