Tuesday, June 11, 2013

What's in a name???

A patron recently came in and asked for help finding a book. She said that the title was written by "Woodruff Lee." But she couldn't find it. So, I went to help her. I'm usually pretty good at this, so I figured I would put my hands right on it. After a cursory look I couldn't find Lee's book. The patron wasn't sure if there were 'numbers' associated with it or not. But it was suppose to be in the New Large Print, also one in regular print. So I sat on the floor where I could read the spines more easily and went through every single new non-fiction book shelved. It wasn't there.

I went to the circulation desk and searched through all the carts waiting to be shelved. Not there. She said it was okay, she had plenty to read. She headed off for children's and I headed for a computer. I decided that I should look it up, like I should have done in the first place. Sure enough I found her book listed just as she quoted to me "Woodruff, Lee." AH! the Comma!!! It's amazing what a difference punctuation makes. I went back through my searches. Sure enough I found the regular print book, in the W's right where it was suppose to be.

I pulled it off the cart, and headed for children's. I didn't find her. So, I took it to the circulation desk for a courtesy hold till the patron checked out. I described her to the clerk.

She had just checked out and left!

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