What is the real question?
Posted by: Barbara Bibel
We have all had patrons who are reluctant to tell us what they really want to know. They begin with a vague question such as, “Do you have anything about diseases?” When you begin a reference interview, they get impatient or even hostile, so you explain that you are asking because you want to find them the best information about their topic. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. People may be embarrassed to ask for information about some subjects. Sometimes they want to protect thefabulous new invention that is the key to fame and fortune. Working with these people can be a challenge. The person who wants to find the DVD based on the book by his favorite author, whose name he has forgotten, provides a detailed plot summary, but it is not familiar. The he tells you that he thinks the author’s name begins with D. You ask if the book is fiction, explain the difference between fiction and non-fiction when he looks puzzled, and learn that it is fiction. Then you lead him to the fiction stacks and let him browse. A few minutes later he comes back waving the book and smiling. You were lucky this time. The patron who wants information about diseases won’t answer any questions, so you show him a medical encyclopedia. He comes back, throws it at you and says, “Aw hell, just give me a book about Scientology.” It’s all in a day’s work. A former colleague, now happily retired often resorted to asking, “What’s your real question?” when nothing else worked. That sometimes led to success. What is your strategy for dealing with difficult questions?
