Another library encounter

Earlier on Friday I was at the Information Desk. A man came over, and started off by saying that this might be a stupid question. When I hear that, I have one immediate reaction: I remember reading an Ann Landers column years ago in which she said that the only stupid question is the one that isn't asked. I agree, yet at times I do wonder. This time I got a strange sense that it might be an exception to the Landers Rule.

My wife and I need a letter typed, he began his tale. We have a laptop at home, but neither one of us knows how to type too well. The sheepish look on his face did little to stave off the sense that this was indeed an exception to the Landers Rule.

Is there anyone here who could help us? he asked.

I was incredulous. He has come into the Library looking for someone to do typing for him? Where do people get their ideas?

No, I answered. We could help you get started on Microsoft Word, if you like.

I have a Mac, he countered.

There's a Mac version of Word, I informed him. He was either nonplussed or unimpressed. You can just hunt and peck, I continued, and might have actually raised my hands and raised each index finger.

It'd take me forever, he offered.

It'll get done, I parried, continuing, I do it myself.

He was not interested in that. A beseeching look was painted on his face, and he looked like a puppy who desperately wanted to get petted.

Being a librarian, and not a caretaker, I offered little more than information to him. No, we do not do typing here.

Well, thanks anyway, he said, and left.

As his back receded from view, I wondered where the heck he got the idea that he would find a typing service at the library. And it occurred to me that his idea and his question are part of a pattern that I see: people call the library looking for information that they do not want to get themselves, have no idea how they could go about getting, and can think of no one other than the library to call for help.

It's good that people think of their library. But it is a shame that people think of their library as a service for getting phone numbers, recipes on the show they just saw on television, addresses or phone numbers they could easily get from a phone book. There are too many of those and not enough of others who want to do research, to study, to investigate, to satisfy their intellectual curiosity.

Egad!