Annual In-Service Day for Library Staff

School Districts do it. Companies do it. And Sacramento Public Library does it, too.

All libraries are closed Wednesday, October 8, for annual staff in-service development and training. Why Wednesday? Ah ... well, you see, the library is a 7-day operation. No, not at all branches, but some libraries are open evenings, weekends and Sundays, and Wednesday is one of the few days of the week all staff are working. Telephone services are available seven days a week, except for holidays ... and the annual in-service training day.

Online self-service will still be available: look for books in the catalog, renew items online or by phone at 916-264-2952 or 916-264-2953, research homework topics using our licensed magazine indexes and e-research tools - and we'll see you again in person on Thursday, October 9, during regular hours.

Smeerch's photo used with permission.

Telephone Changes Help Us Serve You Better

Our phones have been getting busier and busier. On the Telephone Reference side, we know it's frustrating for you, the caller, to be made to hold "for the next available librarian." Likewise, on the Circulation Help side, because there was no ability to queue callers, you often heard "If you are getting this message during normal business hours ... " and were required to call back later to talk to library staff.

This morning, we merged those two vital services. Telephone Reference, and Circulation Help now have only one phone number. Callers now will choose "help with your library card", or "all other questions." We hope that, by making that simple change, callers to Telephone Reference won't have to wait as long, and callers to Circulation Help will be able to hold for assistance.

The number to remember is: 916-264-2920.

Please let us know how it's working for you!

(Baby's photo is used with permission under the Creative Commons license granted by the photographer.)

Keep Those Calls and Letters Coming ...

Last month, Central Library staff answered 5,546 phone calls for the library system. This service began in 1992, when Sacramento Library branches were faced with a "down" economy and chose to centralize phone service in favor of preserving public service hours. We're still going strong, and answer all kinds of questions, ranging from library hours to help with library accounts, to all kinds of informational questions.

Here are a couple of questions we had fun with in May:

Q. What percent of the current world population is the population of the United States?
A. The Population Clock on the U.S. Census Bureau's web site on the day we answered the question showed a world population of 6,670,597,757 and a U.S. population of 304,193,202. So, a little bit of math later, we calculated the U.S. population is 4.56% of the world population.

Q. What is Sacramento County's credit rating?
A. With a free registration at Moodys or Standard and Poor, searching for "Sacramento County" yielded ratings ranging from BBB to AAA.

Q. What public transportation was available in Houston, TX between 1940-1945?
A. We found two web sites that yielded the following: There was a streetcar system owned by Stone and Webster and renamed Houston Electric Company. It began a transition to buses in 1929 to mitigate rising costs. In 1940 the rail car system was shut down, and HEC switched to an all-bus transit system. In 1940 there were 56 million riders; in 1945 there were a record 130 million riders. The web sites: Book Review: Houston Electric - The Street Railways of Houston, Texas and Houston Institute for Culture : Houston Timeline .

If you have a burning question, give us a call at 916-264-2920 or send an e-mail to askus@saclibrary.org. We'll do our best to answer it.

What Would You Like to Know?

One of the more interesting things librarians do is answer questions. In Sacramento, questions that come in by phone to any of our branches are routed automatically to the Telephone Information Service (TELIS) at the Central Library, where librarians use a collection of books, online subscriptions, and the Internet to answer them - usually in less than 5 minutes.

So, what kind of questions do callers ask? Everything from "What day is it today?" to "How many hairs are there on a cat?" (answer)

Here are a few questions we've received over the last few years:

Q: How did Roseville get its name?
A: It was chosen by the residents at a picnic for the most popular girl present (Sacramento Bee, Oct. 10, 1931).

Q: When weather reports give wind direction, does that indicate 1) direction the wind is blowing to, or 2) direction from which the wind is blowing?
A: From Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary: "the direction from which the wind is blowing."

Q: Does OPEC have a standard size for their oil drums?
A: According to the OPEC Web site: "Oil is measured in barrels. . .One barrel equals 52 US gallons, or 159 litres."

What would YOU like to know? Call 916-264-2920 after 10 a.m.

Who Ya Gonna Call? What D'you Wanna Know?

Call 2-6-4-2-9-2-0!

Is this the library at [you name the street]?

TELIS is the voice of the library in Sacramento, and handles calls for all 27 branches and library administration. It is located in its own little library inside the Central Library building, and is open all hours that any branch is open. Calls to TELIS during service hours are always answered by a librarian.

Do you have this book?
Where's the nearest library?
Do you have anything about ancient Persian astronomy?

Telephone reference is one of the hidden services provided by Central Library staff. Reference librarians put in at least one shift per day answering callers' questions about everything under the sun! They use a collection of about 400 books, magazines, and newspapers specially selected for the telephone reference service.

Do you have tax forms?
How many spots are on a ladybug?
When is the next computer class?

In July, over 5,375 callers got their questions answered by phone. Of those, 5,303 (99%) were answered on the spot; only 72 questions (1%) had to be referred to the reference desk for further work.

Who do I call to report bank fraud?
What's the name and address of my congressional representative?
What's the answer to 42 ACROSS?

Chances are, we can answer your questions, too!
Call 916-264-2920
Service hours and additional information