Fast [In(fo]od)

With messaging services such as Meebo now used to answer reference inquiries, patrons are encouraged into a fast food mentality. In this instance, fast info.

This way of doing business makes for the Creation of False Expectations--getting something immediate and reliable and without effort.

(At a fast info counter)
"What'll you have, sir/madam?"
"I want a complete-answer with a side order of right-away and, to drink, an easy-to-understand."
(A millisecond later) "Here it is--and it's free."

Library workers cannot compete with Google and company when it comes to speed, but may when it comes to relevance. They can personalize interaction and through an interview get a feeling for what the user wants and maybe what the user ought to have. Ironically, one of the attractions of Google, and perhaps Meebo, is its impersonalization. The user is free from being judged by the intelligence or type of a question.

Ceci N'est Pas une Pipe

In the library world there's been discussion about the re-naming of various library spaces, say the computer commons or the reference desk. The fixed idea is to put them in phrases with the word "information" or "learning" or "research" or the like. But why do they need obvious descriptors? You don't normally put a sign on your door with the word "door" or on your desk with "desk."

You could, for example, call the reference desk Adventures in Learning or LibraryWorks or Librarian's Revenge or anything else. If that makes you nervous, add a traditional subtitle. Keep in mind that most patrons already know they're in the library, so be-laboring the obvious is unnecessary.