Darien Library
  1. If you IM the library on a Friday afternoon you may be forced to experience my humor jokes.

    If you IM the library on a Friday afternoon you may be forced to experience my humor jokes.

  2. Found while weeding through our old reference folders: a ready-reference list of drug terminology dated May 1985.

    Found while weeding through our old reference folders: a ready-reference list of drug terminology dated May 1985.

  3. Easily my easiest reference question today.

    Easily my easiest reference question today.

  4. Best reference question of the week: Sally was greeted by two women this afternoon who brought her a fruit and wanted to know what it was called. (See above. They only brought one, though.) She did not know, but did some quick searching and found it, amazingly! Here is the answer: it is a jiló, and grows much like eggplant, according to WorldCrops. It is native to Africa; slaves took it with them to Brazil, and both cultures now have several ways to cook it. If you have some and would like to cook it, this Food52 Q&A will help you out. We look forward to more patrons bringing vegetable and fruit conundrums to us.

    Best reference question of the week:

    Sally was greeted by two women this afternoon who brought her a fruit and wanted to know what it was called. (See above. They only brought one, though.) She did not know, but did some quick searching and found it, amazingly!

    Here is the answer: it is a jiló, and grows much like eggplant, according to WorldCrops. It is native to Africa; slaves took it with them to Brazil, and both cultures now have several ways to cook it. If you have some and would like to cook it, this Food52 Q&A will help you out.

    We look forward to more patrons bringing vegetable and fruit conundrums to us.

  5. Today we received a call from a man in Chicago who had recently reunited with some elementary school buddies. The subject of their conversation turned to the final results of a match between the Darien North Little League All-Stars and the Roxbury-Riverbank Team that occurred on July 18, 1975. Tensions ran high, bets were placed, and our caller tore his parents’ house apart to figure out once and for all the final score of that game. After very little success in locating the newspaper clipping, our caller reached out to Sally, our Head of Knowledge and Learning Services. Within minutes, she had the clipping with the final score. We’re still waiting to here who is the winner of the bet. Librarians to the rescue!

    Today we received a call from a man in Chicago who had recently reunited with some elementary school buddies. The subject of their conversation turned to the final results of a match between the Darien North Little League All-Stars and the Roxbury-Riverbank Team that occurred on July 18, 1975. Tensions ran high, bets were placed, and our caller tore his parents’ house apart to figure out once and for all the final score of that game.

    After very little success in locating the newspaper clipping, our caller reached out to Sally, our Head of Knowledge and Learning Services. Within minutes, she had the clipping with the final score. We’re still waiting to here who is the winner of the bet. Librarians to the rescue!

  6. How to solve impossible problems: Daniel Russell’s awesome Google search techniques →

    This just changed my librarian life. BRB sending to our entire reference department.

  7. libraryadvocates: How to Determine If A Controversial Statement Is Scientifically True Extra Credit: Visit Your Local Library and Consult Librarians and Reference Materials You’ve done your homework, looked up some studies, read both sides of an argument, and you’re still not sure what to believe, or if there’s enough information to believe anything. That’s great—you’re still hungry for information, and there’s one place left to get it: your local library. Photo by Manchester City Library. If you catch yourself unable to download a specific study, or the study is so old (or too new!) that it’s not available, or you just want help getting to the bottom of an issue, visit your library’s reference desk. Often, public libraries—and especially university libraries—have free access to scholarly journals and their archives so you can download, print, and read full-text articles you wouldn’t be able to get at home. Even many university libraries only require student ID if you’re going to check something out, so they’re a great resource for everyone. “Most university librarians will happily provide you a copy of a paper if you or someone you know is enrolled in the university,” McRaney adds. If you are going to chat up your local reference librarian, see what they think of the topic, and if they can do some digging on your behalf. Most often, they can do some research for you and present you with findings to read through, or they can at least help guide you to authoritative sources on the topic.

    libraryadvocates:

    How to Determine If A Controversial Statement Is Scientifically True

    Extra Credit: Visit Your Local Library and Consult Librarians and Reference Materials

    You’ve done your homework, looked up some studies, read both sides of an argument, and you’re still not sure what to believe, or if there’s enough information to believe anything. That’s great—you’re still hungry for information, and there’s one place left to get it: your local library. Photo by Manchester City Library.

    If you catch yourself unable to download a specific study, or the study is so old (or too new!) that it’s not available, or you just want help getting to the bottom of an issue, visit your library’s reference desk. Often, public libraries—and especially university libraries—have free access to scholarly journals and their archives so you can download, print, and read full-text articles you wouldn’t be able to get at home. Even many university libraries only require student ID if you’re going to check something out, so they’re a great resource for everyone.

    “Most university librarians will happily provide you a copy of a paper if you or someone you know is enrolled in the university,” McRaney adds. If you are going to chat up your local reference librarian, see what they think of the topic, and if they can do some digging on your behalf. Most often, they can do some research for you and present you with findings to read through, or they can at least help guide you to authoritative sources on the topic.

  8. 'Guinness World Records' Movie: 9 Other Reference Books We'd Like To See Adapted →

    For the Wikipedia film:

    The Pitch: Stranger Than Fiction meets Draw Something

    Tagline: “How can 6 billion people be wrong?”

    The Story: A new experiment in moviemaking in which the plot changes constantly, as the script is rewritten live by people on the internet. Co-starring Lady Gaga, Ryan Gosling and an infinite number of cats.