The relevance of the reference desk
Published: Thursday, June 18, 2009
Updated: Thursday, June 18, 2009
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As people of the world we need and rely on a united body of facts. In a word, we live on facts. These facts reside in marked contrast to the lala land we go in and out of during the summer, hence their relevance.
N.C. State's "knowledge professor," the renowned Dr. John Carroll, ponders what a fact is and what a fact is not (full disclosure: I have taken and enjoyed one of his courses).
The rest of us assume that there is some finite body of truth and that we are building on this body with what we do.
Wouldn't it be great if you could call or text a dictionary, or an encyclopedia to get facts when you need them?
Aha! May I present to you (or maybe reintroduce to you) the NCSU reference desk, complete with a toll free hotline (1-877-601-0590). These guys are also available through the NCSU library homepage where they will answer instant messages from all of the popular services like AIM and MSN. They will also respond to text messaging via phone.
So the next time your friend starts telling you the capital of Australia is Sydney, and you know for a fact that it's Canberra, you can call up the toll free number and have them tell your friend she's wrong: argument solved. Or you can call about the cheapest gas station in your hometown.
You can presumably call about movie times, newspaper articles, Guinness world records, the amount of nitrogen in soil content, and ironically, I asked them what type of questions I could ask them for the purpose of this article.
They said I could ask anything that ends in a question mark. I asked them how much I could ask and they said basically that if they could answer it, they would. The sky is the limit.
For in depth research, however, the desk said that they would rather schedule an appointment with a researcher in the library.
Therefore, all of those inklings that you had during school -- go for them. That is one of the key points of the reference desk. All of the drawings in the margins of your notebook that you would make if you had the time, well now is the time to work on it. Work hard and call up the reference desk about your gizmo.
They will tell you basic facts like the cost of sheet metal at Home Depot, but also the next step to take: what books to read, what floor to look on in the library, and what databases to use. We can use the reference desk to look up words we do not know when we are reading, helpful books and services in our area where we live, and questions about life like what is the phone number for a local church, or what is the scientific name of that flower in the park?
This all sounds trivial. Who needs to know the nitrogen content of soil in North Carolina? Well, part of this argument is that it is not trivial to a soil content and landscaping major in the Natural Resources department. Other questions like resources for learning how to build something are as important.
Finally, basic facts that I have mentioned like what is the scientific name for a flower, or what are the movie times in my area. These facts are easy enough to access that I doubt it is much trouble for the reference desk to look them up when you are unable to reach a computer.
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