lesson #1: the pitfall of the narrow search

Last night, my most interesting reference-desk question came from a student of Dr. Shannon Rich (who I know only by reputation and picture, as she was one of the faculty members we interviewed for our much-delayed / now cancelled image campaign at work) ... this student needed two article citations to turn in the next day for a research project they're doing all semester long. The student's topic, as she described it to me, was investigating the distractionary qualities of cell phones in college classrooms. Sounds plausible, right? Except she had been searching EBSCO "for hours" and couldn't find anything. Latoria (the student assistant on duty last night) and I got to work looking ourselves, and I spent most of the evening answering random questions from this student as she attempted to find a couple of articles. Eventually, I had the presence of mind to suggest ERIC, which yielded several articles that will work for her.

I found many things interesting about this particular student. First, the librarian on duty was teaching, so I got unmediated access to the reference process and that was REALLY COOL. It presented an actual learning moment for me, in terms of conducting a "reference interview" all on my own and figuring out how to help this person best. Also, it gave me a chance to struggle a bit, which -- when it happens without interference -- is always how I learn best. Plus, since it was pretty quiet at the library last night, I got to spend quite a bit of time with this person in little chunks spread over the evening. That was nice as well.

In the end, she left with four or five potential articles and I finished up with a very good sense of satisfaction AND an article I kept for myself relating to how IM usage among students living in dorms with high-speed internet access correlates to their academic performance. (Not surprisingly, my initial glance through the abstract and article suggests that as IM usage goes up, academic performance goes down.)

The librarian on duty, Greg, and I also had a chance to talk before the evening was out, and I shared the student's topic with him. He immediately started talking about the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project report he'd seen about search engine usage. We spent some time cruising their Web site and found some fascinating stuff, including the search engine users report, a report about usage of IM, and some info about usage of the Internet by Americans in their daily life. I just LOVE the Pew Trusts and all they do. And, their offices are maybe two blocks from my old COF stomping grounds. I think Pew should hire me. Seriously. Can you think of a better place for me? :)