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  Ok, as long as we are sharing stories, I'll get my nerve up to tell one on
myself.  I had moved to Memphis several years ago to start a job as
children's librarian at Memphis Public Library.  I was working at the
Poplar-White Station branch, which was a large branch in a busy commerical
area.  My desk was the first one people saw when they entered the door, so
they usually came to me first and I had to direct them to where they really
needed to go.

One day, a girl of about 11 and her younger brother approached my desk and
said they needed a book on muscadine.  I, having lived in the South a very
short time and having never HEARD of a muscadine, said, "Sure!  I'll help
you!"  Now, you know the last thing a librarian wants to do is resort to
using the card catalog - I mean we know our collections, right?  And we KNOW
that Dewey Decimal system!!  So, I headed off to the shelves to look for
what, in my mind, was spelled muskodyne and went straight to the 567's and
began looking in the dinosaur books!  I looked for single volumes,
brontosaurus, tyrannosaurus, but no muskodyne, so I began looking through
indexes of thicker books, thinking it was probably one of the lesser know
varieties.  Finally, after several minutes of waiting patiently, the little
girl cleared her throat and politely and tactfully said, "Um, I think it's a
grape!  My mother wants to make some jelly."

"Oh-ho!"  I laughed!  And headed off to the 641's and found muscadine
recipes right away!  Well, I must say, I laughed harder than she did.  But
now, whenever anyone asks me what someone else might think of as a
ridiculous reference question, I don't laugh, because I've "been there, done
that!"

Another time I spent probably 15 minutes looking for a poem for a girl named
"In a garden", when what she really wanted was "Enoch Arden."
           Suby Wallace
           Library/Media Center
           Nettleton Intermediate Center
                 (5-6 grades)
           3801 Vera
           Jonesboro, AR 72401

           501-932-5650
           e-mail:
           swallace@nic.crsc.k12.ar.us
              or
           swallace @nettleton.crsc.k12.ar.us


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