RE: [ha-Safran]: Different kind of query
This is my favorite all time reference question we received. In 2001 we received a typewritten letter from a 75 year old man from Chicago seeking information on Albert Einstein, because, as he wrote, "My father claimed that I was the illegitimate son of Albert Einstein. Can you help me find out if this is true?" Harvey Sukenic Acquisitions Coordinator And Instructional Services Librarian Hebrew College Library email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) === Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
RE: [ha-Safran]: Different kind of query
Thank you, Steve. Of course an Akademon publication might only get used in an academic setting. The question posed to me thirty years ago was long before this was published in Israel, let alone the existence of WorldCat (I basically went through decades of Kiryat Sefer looking but coming up empty) - never mind the Internet! Phil Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) === Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
RE: [ha-Safran]: Different kind of query
Dear Vanessa - As I started this thread of conversation, I'll assume I can go again! My first week at Hebrew Union College in New York (January of 1974) a distant cousin of my wife who was a librarian at a major Madison Avenue advertising agency called with a similar question. A client, a major producer of dates, wanted to a campaign around "Date - the Fruit of the Bible." She asked me for a list of scriptural verses they might use. We were both surprised to find out that while we assume that dates were commonly eaten in the ancient Holy Land, only the tree, the date-palm, is mentioned in the bible, the fruit alone is not. Phil Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) === Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
Re: [ha-Safran]: Different kind of query
Working in a public library, we get many strange and wonderful questions such as: The effects of pollution on orgasm (middle school students doing science homework. When asked if they perhaps meant organisms, the said,"Whatever!" Why was Mozart a genius? When told that he came from a musical family, the patron replied, "So did I, but it didn't work for me." A definition of trisexual. Barbara Reference Librarian Science, Business,Social Science, Government Documents Oakland Public Library 125 14th Street Oakland, CA 94612-4310 (510) 238-7171 FAX (510) 238-6867 Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) === Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
Re: [ha-Safran]: Different kind of query
The NY Times has the back story on this specific translation: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE2D91739F936A3575BC0A964958260 There is also another work of his: http://worldcat.org/oclc/166291563 Yakov Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) === Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
RE: [ha-Safran]: Different kind of query
By the way, is there a translation of "Mein Kampf" into Hebrew? The closest I've found was via http://worldcat.org/oclc/32340306 : ** One of the most interesting queries I was given was by a woman writing a Holocaust memoir. She gave me an obscure name (I can't recall it, at the moment) and said that she'd like to know if he was mentioned during the Nuremberg Trials. What should have been the first problem is that the Jewish Public Library of Toronto's collection development wasn't likely to get us the complete Nuremberg Trial transcripts. As luck would have it, earlier that year, someone donated several volumes to the Holocaust Centre and the HC was donating all of their books to the JPL. The next obstacle was the fact that the transcripts have neither a Table of Contents nor an Index. And I wasn't about to search page by page for the name. ;) Luckily, I discovered that the first 7 days' worth of transcripts were keyword-searchable via a Harvard University obnline project - see http://nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/NurTranscript/TranscriptSearches/tran_searching.php I simply did a keyword search, marked down the volume & page number, went to the shelf and showed it to the patron. Some days I loathe modern technology ; other days, I just LOVE it. :) B'shalom, Steve Bergson Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) === Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
Re: [ha-Safran]: Different kind of query
To AJL safranim, As the husband of a (recently) retired librarian, I appreciated this a lot, and especially the last pun. Here's an idea: perhaps the AJL could publish a booklet giving the various replies received to this fascinating question. Best wishes, Monty Noam Penkower Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) === Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
RE: [ha-Safran]: Different kind of query
As a cataloger, I don't get reference questions all that often. Once, however, a student approached me and asked if the librarians were Moshiachists. I asked him what he meant by that and he pointed out that the Lubavitcher Rebbe was listed in the catalog as follows: Schneersohn, Menah?em Mendel, 1902- He interpreted the fact that the years of Schneersohn's life were open ended to mean that we--as librarians--did not believe him to have passed away. I explained to him all about authority records and how (at the time) it was not LC's policy to add the year of a person's death to their authority file. The policy has since been changed and the Lubavitcher Rebbe's authority file now contains the year of his death, 1994. I guess old rabbis never die, they just go out to pastor, Steven Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) === Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
Re: [ha-Safran]: Different kind of query
We have interesting questions every week. None of which I would classify as bizarre. Many times the question the person asks is not the one they need to ask for what they need to know. Here are some recent ones: Question: Where is the section on child development? Answer: BF 721, but what the person really wanted to know was how did early childhood experiences cause someone to become a dictator. Question: [I am sitting at my desk with a name plate and ID badge around my neck] Do you work here? [I guess typing at the computer is not working.] Donnie Daniel Stuhlman Chicago, IL ddstuhlman at earthlink.net Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) === Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
RE: [ha-Safran]: Different kind of query
The strangest question I've ever had was whether the phrase "milk and olive oil" (as opposed to "milk and honey") appears in the Tenach. It turned out that the enquirer was an olive oil importer, and wanted to know it for a bet! By the way, is there a translation of "Mein Kampf" into Hebrew? Vanessa Freedman Hebrew & Jewish Studies Librarian UCL Library Services University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT Tel: +44 (0) 20 7679 2598 (Internal ext. 32598) Fax: +44 (0) 20 7679 7373 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] **Please do not print this e-mail unless it is absolutely essential to do so** Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) === Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
