Ah, to be busy and doing reference. A woman who is a regular caller just asked me for the 800 number for the Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island (800-33-grand). We then did a verbal dance in her getting that when I said "two threes" it meant thirty three, not two-three-three. A couple of days ago she wanted to know where to call to report a school board member who had "threatened" her. Oy.
Better (as in more interesting) was a caller who wanted to know what type of music Bach's St. Matthew Passion is. Not opera, she said. Oratorio, I told her. Did you google it? No, I used our electronic catalog (almost said OPAC*, but didn't). What does oratorio mean? I'll google that, I said. Got a site that defines oratorio thus: "An extended musical setting of a sacred, usually non-liturgical, text. Except for a greater emphasis on the chorus throughout much of its history, the forms and styles of oratorio tend to approximate to those of opera in any given period, but the normal manner of performance is without scenery, costumes or action."
*: OPAC stands for Online Public Access Catalog, a library buzzword (doesn't every profession needs buzzwords? Yes, of course.
The workaday goingson in a library. It's just 11am.
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