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Re: Friday Funnies - strange researchers revisted.



I have a researcher arrive 20 minutes before closing.  He informs
me that he has been here before, names the collection, and says
there's "football" materials in the collection.   That's true.   I
have to retrieve the box and folder which take a few minutes.
I leave him, look out a few minutes later, and he is sitting at the
reference table, calmly, quietly, hands folded (like waiting for the
waiter to bring the dessert menu!).

I go out and ask if there's a problem.  These are not the football
materials he wants; he wants the football statistics from 1920
through 1950.   I explain that according to the inventory this
collection only covers through 1930.   I ask what led him to ask
for these materials.

He then states that he was a senior in high school here in 1953
and the program at the game had a long list of top scorers, historic
details, etc., all compiled by the person (whose collection he asked
for first).   Eventually I explain to him that we don't have anything
like this that I can find, did not get such a thing from the gentleman
or his relatives, and the best place to find these is probably the
daily newspaper.

Guess I forgot to ask if "is this really the collection you need?"
What got me was the "hands folded on the table" patiently waiting
for someone to come...someday.

Dean


Dean DeBolt
University Librarian
Special Collections and West Florida Archives
John C. Pace Library
University of West Florida
11000 University Parkway
Pensacola, FL  32514-5750
Tele:  850-474-2213;   Fax:  850-474-3338

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