Summary
Most historians agree that full scale library reference services first appeared in the ancient Sumerian city of Uruk at the turn of the third millennium B.C. During a dig at the site of Uruk, archaeologists discovered the Royal Library, home to the first reference desk. Chief archaeologist Helmut Flapmeyer was able to determine the answer to a burning question in librarianship: What was the first reference question ever asked? (The answer: Where's the bathroom?)Super library sleuths Will Manley and Richard Lee once again dig through the remnants of the profession's dusty past to uncover the truth about reference librarians. Where did they come from? Should they really be cataloged under the subject heading Illogical? How do they eradicate such reference pests as Jerkus disgustis, Pervertus horribilis, and perhaps worst of all, Studentus moronis? With an intense and abiding sobriety, Manley answers these and other questions from libraryland.
