Whew!

Hi-ho, A Delgado the Librarian here, reporting to you LIVE from a Saturday afternoon at ACC. All is fairly quiet. I've had one reference question in an hour wherein I got to help a student with what seemed to be a textbook question but wound up helping her find pharmacy technician exam prep books, THEA prep books, and how-to-write-an essay books. Done, done, and done! Go me!

Last night was sorta wacky, in a way that quiet libraries can be wacky. I got a super interesting reference question on AskAcademic. A student needed help finding articles that showed the influence of protein supplements and resistance training on enhancing strength. The student had access to SportDiscus (ACC doesn't) but had problems finding good articles. Now that I think of it, the student may have been searching for articles by typing a question into a box instead of using keywords. This is the sad thing about virtual reference - you can't see how the student is searching for stuff. You can ask but sometimes that can only go so far. We ended up finding free full-text articles on PubMed (because our totally and incredibly awesome health sciences librarian set the filters up like a total stone-cold awesomesauce librarian so that it's relatively easy to get full-text articles instead of just abstracts).

I had an in-library question in the midst of helping Protein Resistance Combo student. I got to find books about legalizing marijuana AND articles in our ProQuest New York Times database, specifically about California and Prop 19. AND then while helping PR Combo student and Legalize Marijuana student I had another AskAcademic question. A student needed help figuring out a subject on which to write a two page paper covering the history of an industry and how it changed history or impacted daily life somehow. I gave the student some topics off the top of my head - feminine hygiene, biotechnology, child care. The student chose to write about the feminine hygiene industry (which honestly, I think is a pretty cool topic) but then I had LOADS of problems finding info. Plus, my shift ends around the time we have to close the library and I started the chat at 8:45. I ended up transferring FemHy student to the librarian staffing AskColorado. So, phew, that's the low-down on last night's reference adventures. Why, why, why, does it happen like that - nothing for 3 hours, then last hour BAM? And wouldn't you know it, there's an fantastic article in Gale Virtual Reference Library called Menstruation Related Practices and Products from Cultural History of the Body. I also should have checked Business Source Complete because it has at least two (2!) suitable subject terms "feminine hygiene products" and feminine hygiene products industry." Well, for the next student that needs to find out about the industry of tampons or pads, I'm SO ready!