Yesterday I took advantage of my library privledges at a big shot Ivy League University. The reference librarian was very helpful, but after doggedly trying to help me find an obscure piece of information without much success, she basically had to give up. After I thanked her, she said to me, “We’re not supposed to say this to our patrons, but I’ll break the rule. Good luck.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
She said that in some Library Science class she took, the librarians-in-training are instructed never to wish researchers good luck. (Now, I could see how you would want to stop library staff from using the phrase in a glib or sarcastic tone – “You want to check out our Guttenberg Bible? Good luck!” – but she implied it was supposed to be an across-the-board prohibition. )
She did not know why this rule existed, and I could tell she thought it was kind of silly. Nonetheless, I got the sense that she usually abides by it except in dire cases like mine where persistent digging yields nothing.
As for me, I think the rule is childish and patronizing and serves as another small brick in the loatheful wall that keeps the information-keepers apart from the information-seekers. Not only that, but it denies that a substantial portion of library research in fact involves luck. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found gold by turning down the wrong aisle in the library, for example. I can’t be alone in this.
So, librararians, were you, too, told of this rule? If so, why does it exist? (And for bonus credit, do you follow it?)
Or perhaps because it seems to imply that all of their expensive training in library sciences, and snooty Ivy League pedigree, are of little use, after all…?
Library folks aren’t supposed to say anything that could be taken as editorial comment on the project / research / subject at hand.
Suppose a library patron is looking for information on depression, abuse recovery, dating younger women, divorce, rape, suicide, setting up a militia, sex-change operations, emigrating to another country, religion, etc. Even an innocuous “good luck” could be taken as applicable to something other than the research itself by someone who’s feeling a little nervous / embarrassed / touchy about approaching a librarian for help in the first place. (“Suicide methods, eh? Can’t help you, but good luck!”)
When I worked in a library (not as a librarian) we weren’t supposed to make any remarks about the materials patrons were borrowing, not even “Gosh, that looks interesting” or “Hey, I’ve wanted to read that too,” etc.
I’ve been through library school, and I don’t remember ever hearing this. Was it a rule of the library in which she was working, or did you get the impression it was a general professional standard?
Having said that, such a rule does make sense. If you were a doctor you wouldn’t say “Good luck!” to a patient whose case baffled you, and if you were a lawyer you wouldn’t say it to a potential client whose case was too much for you to handle. Instead you’d start calling or emailing your colleagues to either find a resolution, or find someone else who can handle it. It ought to be the same way for librarians.
I do have to be careful sometimes. Like that time a woman came in researching polyamory, looking for evidence against it because her boyfriend wanted to and she didn’t. You can’t say ‘good luck’ to that kind of thing. The research paper on Truman, sure. But librarians get some weird things that can require caution.
I agree with this. You can’t wish someone luck on the subject matter because you don’t know the context of their search, and you can’t wish someone luck in finding something because that could be taken as discouraging the patron or admitting that the library is somehow lacking. Considering the amount of affiliates, the library should be well-organized and appear to be able to loan nearly anything.
I wish people “Good Luck” all the time. Of course, as others have said, and with all patron interactions, you need to consider the subject matter and the patron.
I never heard of this “rule” before reading this thread.
As a doctor, I occasionally do wish people “good luck” when baffled by their case. There is a component of luck in sickness; I don’t want people to have serious illnesses. Of course, I wouldn’t say this to patients without making other referrals. But I don’t see that the practice does any harm, if I say “good luck” to the patient as the ambulance takes them out of my ER for their aneurysm surgery – they could use the good luck. They already know why the procedure is risky – I’ve told them the risks.
It’s true that people often misconstrue “Good luck”. It’s one of my regular expressions, along with “Have fun”, and I use it a lot without thinking about it.
But every now and then someone will say “What do you mean by that?” I always just give them a puzzled look and no verbal response. Why respond to that?
Wishing a patron good luck kind of implies that he might need luck to find what he’s looking for in your library. Even if it’s true, it probably not an admission that the library adminsitration would approve of.
Not really. No library can be expected to have everything, hence the wonders of consortia and Interlibrary Loan. It’s all in your collection development decisions. Nothing shameful about that.
Plus, if you knew the freshmen and sophomores here…they need all the luck they can get.
