Tsunami Generation for the Inquisitive Kind
First, my heart goes out to everyone affected by the quake and tsunami that struck Japan on Friday.
A young customer approached me at the Reference Desk yesterday afternoon seriously interested in the tsunami phenomenon. She was interested in the natural production of tsunamis and needed more information about it. To my surprise, when I asked the young girl how much information she needed, she replied, “as much as you have.” She continued and told me that she would use the information not for school projects, but out of her own personal curiosity – what a way to kick start the March Break!
Although the library has materials that speak entirely about tsunamis, the young inquisitor asked for more. I then told her one of my librarian secrets that I use for information retrieval. Because tsunamis are generated by natural hazards, they are likely referred in books about natural hazards. I took the young girl to the natural hazards book section, and advised her to look at the back-of-the-book index in books about volcanoes, quakes, etc. After fifteen minutes, she returned to the Reference Desk, this time not seeking more information but thankful that we found more than she expected.
Comments