Do you know the Darwin Awards? It is another one of those fun websites. This one is dedicated to human stupidity. I used to read them fairly regularly, but haven't in a couple of years. Tonight's report is about a young student (I'm gonna guess freshman) who stopped by to ask me a couple questions. Nothing wrong with that...I am all about using available resources, and librarians are one of the best. Our conversation went something like this:

Girl- "hi, um, I've got this number here, what is it?" (shows me a piece of paper)

Me- "that's a call number"

Girl- "oh, so does it mean that the book is in the library?"

Me- "no, it means that the book is in the library system. I can look it up for you and see if it is available"

Girl- "I already looked it up, the catalog said 'Available'"

Me- "well, then, that means the book is in the library"

Girl- "okay, where is it?" (actually looks around at this point, like the book would magically appear or might just be laying on the floor next to her)

Me- "all of the books are on the third floor"

Girl- "where's the third floor?" (no, I am NOT kidding)

Me- "well, we are on the first floor, so the third floor is two floors up" (I didn't even say this mockingly....I was very polite)

Girl- "okay, great, where are the stairs?" (this sounds dumb, but the stairs are not visible from the main part of the library so I get asked that lots)

Me- (pointing) "down there to your right"

Girl- "so the books are all on the third floor?"

Me- "yes"

Girl- "are they organized somehow? Like alphabetically or something? I, mean, how would I find it, do I just look for it?"

At this point I lost the thread of the conversation. I said something to her about call numbers and how they work and how to find a book if you've got the call number, etc. But in my head I was picturing thousands of books just lying around in stacks on the floor and hundreds of students picking them up and putting them down as they frantically tried to find the ONE that they needed.  Oh, and I was trying not to laugh.

Whenever people ask me about library school, they always want to know what kind of things we're taught. One of the classes I took was called Organization of Information and friends always give me a look like I am joking when I say that. For the very first time I realize that there are actually some people in the world who have never given a single thought to the hows and whys of organization. These people don't realize that everything is information and it is all organized for efficiency. Addresses, zip codes, streets, credit card numbers, social security numbers, library books, magazines, television shows, I could go on and on. Everything has an organizational structure to it and evidently there are people who just didn't know it. Never thought about it or just don't care. Truly it boggles the mind.

This girl is clearly one of those people. I can only hope that she has some other area that she excels in...but for this, she should be up for a Darwin Award.