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Re: Awkward encounter
Those bloody waterbottles - we're forever taking them off our readers (old fogie grumblings about youth of today being permanently attached to their water like babies to their milk thoughtfully snipped)
Is there a more modern edition of the work in question ? You could possibly have steered him to that, pointing out the original is part of the "last resort" collection and that a definite legitimate reason, which cannot be satisfied by looking at a modern edition is needed to see it....
Tim Lovell-Smith
Manuscripts and Archives Section
ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY
http://tapuhi.natlib.govt.nz
>>> "Skreslet, Paula" <PSkreslet@UNION-PSCE.EDU> 26/09/01 04:09:17 >>>
Well, I don't think I handled that reference encounter very well. A young
guy (not one of our students) with a big bottle of water appeared today in
the Archives. (There are signs all over the Library saying "No food or
drink allowed".)
He wanted to see a rare and fragile 1749 edition of the life of David
Brainerd. I asked him to fill in a patron card, and under "Purpose in using
the Archives" he wrote "just looking!" First, I asked him to take his water
bottle outside. Then I gave him some cotton gloves and the unwrapped book,
but I must have seemed upset, because he asked me what he'd done wrong. He
did not fit our normal criteria for use of our controlled-access collection,
and didn't display what I considered to be sufficient respect for the
materials. That water bottle really ticked me off! I felt torn between the
"gatekeeper" role and the "service to patrons" role.
What should I have said? Was I being unfair to him? I tried to be pleasant
and polite, and I let him use the book, but according to our rules, I should
have said no. I couldn't do it. (sigh)
Paula Skreslet
Reference/Archives
William Smith Morton Library
Union-PSCE
Richmond, VA
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