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Second Look transcripts will be an opportunity to post suggestions for different ways of handling situations, using these as learning opportunities and a way of sharing Best Practice Tips for the library community. KIN24x7 librarians are also welcomed to comment with other suggestions for resources or tips.

The Session
17:32:50 Guest I need the Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species of the eastern gray squirrel
17:33:11 Librarian I'll see what I can find
17:33:12 Guest Hi how are you today?
17:33:18 Librarian Great
17:33:35 Guest thats really good I'm doing great too
17:34:16 Librarian Well, let's try this..
17:34:24 Librarian http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=89&cid=8
17:34:42 Guest ok thank you i'll take a look at it now

Patron Survey Comment
My librarian was horrible! All I asked was the Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species(the scientific name) for the Eastern Gray Squirrel and She didn't give me even one of those! If I ever get that librarian again I will never come back! I'm sure other people on this website will agree with me. I hated that librarian! She should be fired as a librarian on this network.

Commentary
Even though the session began in a friendly manner, the patron's reaction was severe at the conclusion of it.

First, the patron's question is fairly straightforward and concise: "I need the Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species of the eastern gray squirrel". Unfortunately, the web site that was sent shows only the genus and species: Sciurus carolinensis (which the patron appears to have missed as well.) However, the Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, and Family are clearly missing from the page sent.

A better, more-authoritative resource for this answer could have been Animal Diversity Web from University of Michigan: animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Sciurus_carolinensis.htm

Animal Diversity Web (ADW) is a great resource on animals. A Google search using the words "squirrel" and "kingdom" would have brought it up in this particular case. The site contains the entire classification of animals right at the top of each entry. For example, the Eastern Gray Squirrel's entry begins with Kingdom: Animalia > Phylum: Chordata > Subphylum: Vertebrata > Class: Mammalia > Order : Rodentia > Suborder: Sciuromorpha > Family: Sciuridae > Subfamily: Sciurinae > Species: Sciurus carolinensis. (Even more detail than the patron even wanted.) ADW is also available as one of the resources at the KnowItNow24x7 Wiki at afterdark.knowitnow.org/wiki/ under Science > Animals as well as at the OLC Reference & Information Services Division's delicious account: delicious.com/risd_links (under the Animals tag).

Another concern is that the librarian did not follow-up with the patron after they said "ok thank you i'll take a look at it now." A better response might have been to ask if the site answered their question after they took a look at it. Asking this could have elicited a response of "I don't see the kingdom and the other ones," and led to a much more positive experience for the patron and librarian both.

Best Practice Tips

  • Be sure to read the entire question that the patron is asking.
  • Be sure to inspect the resources sent to be sure the patron's question is answered by it.
  • Be sure to follow-up with the patron after a resource is sent and before ending the conversation. ("Thank you" from a patron is not necessarily the same as "Goodbye.")

Comments

Squirrel transcript

It doesn't look like the patron left any opportunity for the librarian to offer another site. It does not look as if the librarian closed the session after offering the one site. Sometimes we do provide a partial answer right away so the patron will have a starting point. TIme frames can be longer than any of us would prefer, because we are working with more than one person. To me this seems like a patron grabbing an opportunity to vent, rather than someone sincerely looking for an answer to the question.