Virtual Reference Desk

I figured that I'd blog while I was doing the virtual reference services this morning. I logged in a few minutes early so that I could refamiliarize myself with the Information Gardens. I noticed the video and gaming area and clicked on the sign for games... quite an interesting approach to help patrons refine their online searching skills.

It looks like the server is having some trouble, as the windows and buildings keep disappearing and reappearing. I'm also having trouble with the online tool that Geri showed us to keep track of my hours; maybe it's user error. I'll see if Benny can help me figure it out when he gets home from work. So, I've posted my hours in the discussion board.

I also listened to some of the read-outs this morning as I waited for people to come into the world. A few were from books that I have read, others are books that are new to me, but I'm sure will find their way to the stack beside my side of the bed for the summer. The Stupids Have a Ball book was intriguing to me, as it's part of a series that Benny grew up reading with his mother! It's interesting to me that people challenge such books, when it is really the parents responsibility to talk kids through such books... to explain that they are being used perhaps as an analogy of greater things going on in society and families. The Bluest Eye was one that I am not familiar with as much, but parts of it reminded me of Zora Neal Hurston's Their Eyes are Watching God that I read in high school. The culture is somewhat similiar, but the flow of the language and style was what really connected the two pieces for me.

As of 8:20, there have been no "bites" to my fishing for people to ask me questions. Perhaps they're in the zone doing their own blogging or posting on discussion boards. It has been some good time to get better acquainted with the Information Gardens. The Thorny Issues Blog in the Cactus Garden appears not to have been updated since 2007. Why is that? It seems that there would be new topics to post here on an almost daily basis. Is it just not the focus of the DL Library program right now?

Well, it's 9:04 and no one has asked a question yet, so I guess I'll log off for now. Maybe I'll have more luck on Monday.