LJ Idol - Does this look infected to you?

[deza]

It's pretty common knowledge that people come to the public library to ask about everything. I do mean everything. Want to know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie-Pop? Screw the owl; ask a librarian. How many neck vertebrae does a giraffe have? Do these cognac-colored shoes go with camel slacks? When does a movie start three towns over? What's the square root of pi?

Librarians have the answer.

Sadly, it's not uncommon for people to come to the library when they have a medical issue. It wasn't that surprising when one grey-haired lady showed up at the reference desk with an obviously ill little girl in tow. This child was miserable. Her face was flushed, her eyes were red, it was obvious she had been crying and she had this odd rash on her cheeks. The woman marched up to the desk and said "The doctor said my granddaughter has Scarlet fever. Says she needs to be quarantined. I think he's nuts. Does this look like Scarlet fever to you?"

First off, librarians are NOT medical professionals. We may be smart, but years of medical school aren't part of the library master's degree curriculum. Trust me on this one. We'd get paid a lot more.

Secondly, if the doc says a kid has a highly contagious disease, parading said kid through a busy public building full up with other kids probably isn't the best idea. Really.

I did the only thing I could do - gave the woman a CDC printout on Scarlet fever, told her to follow her doctor's advice and asked her not to bring a sick child into the library again. Once she left (in a huff, of course; how dare ANYONE suggest she put the best interest of both the child and the public ahead of her own indignation!), I wiped the desk down with antibacterial solution, let the Branch manager know what had happened, and hoped no one else would catch it.

What would you have done?

This has been my entry for this week's LJ Idol. The topic was "Does this look infected to you?" Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!

Comments

[x-disturbed-x.livejournal.com]

I would've done the same thing. That's terrible!

I can't imagine why'd you go to the librarian for medical information. That is insane.

[deza.livejournal.com]

Frequently folks don't have any clue where else to go, so they start with us.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

Good lord. Lady thanks for the vote of confidence but sheesh.

[deza.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there are times when you just want to look at people and ask what the hell they were thinking.

[libwitch.livejournal.com]

about that. Probably also printed out the ALA Guidelines for Medical Questions (we pointed to them on our reference services standards page because of situations like this)

[deza.livejournal.com]

oooo, I'll have to see if we can do that here (different library, but it's bound to come up again).

[libwitch.livejournal.com]

totally cribbed ours heavily from Syracuse U, if I remember properly: http://library.binghamton.edu/research/askalibrarian/standards.html

[deza.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Geez! I had the first thought you did-- the doctor said "quarantine," so her grandmother brought her out into a public place?!?

I also checked with my memories of this disease, and sure enough-- if not treated with antibiotics, it can be fatal. That poor little girl, too, so clearly miserable and being dragged around by Grandma Denial instead of resting in bed.

Wow. The antibacterial wipes were actually necessary for THAT visitor!

[deza.livejournal.com]

I wish that were an isolated case, but sick people find the library a lot. It always shocks me to see someone bring in a sick child, though.

[jem0000000.livejournal.com]

Yikes. I think I'd've been very tempted to pour bleach all over everything after that.

[deza.livejournal.com]

If there were a way to do it without damaging things, I probably would have!

[kajel.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's just crazy. If you want a second opinion....maybe get it from another doctor.

[deza.livejournal.com]

Doctors get copays. Librarians don't.

[kf4vkp.livejournal.com]

People boggle the mind sometimes... I swear

[deza.livejournal.com]

I wish it were an isolated thing, but sick people in the library is depressingly common. It's one of the things they didn't tell us about in library school!

[deza.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there should be a training seminar on "how to hear anything without showing the disgust."

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

OMG! Yes, I'd have done the same. Only I'd have asked her to wait outside while I got the printout!

[deza.livejournal.com]

No telling how many people the poor kid would have coughed on while waiting. At least at the ref desk I kept it somewhat contained.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

I feel sorry for that little girl. : P

[deza.livejournal.com]

I do too. There are so many kids who get drug in while they obviously aren't feeling well because their parents just don't think.

That being said, I feel for anyone cooped up with a sick child, too!

[sweeny-todd.livejournal.com]

O_o ummm... wow... just wow...

[deza.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's how I felt.

[michikatinski.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who was a research librarian for 50 years--she always had the best stories!

[deza.livejournal.com]

I've been out of grad school for 17 years. It scares me to think of doing this for another 30+!

[agirlnamedluna.livejournal.com]

People will just go wherever to seek justification of their idiocy =/ too bad libraries attract them like the plague

[deza.livejournal.com]

It's good they see us as a place to get knowledge, I just wish they'd learn to think once in a while!

[myrna-bird.livejournal.com]

All I can do is shake my head. What was that woman thinking?

[deza.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I don't think she was.

[cheshire23.livejournal.com]

I think you handled this very well.

What the HELL was this woman thinking anyway?

[deza.livejournal.com]

I don't think she was thinking at all.

True Story

[libwitch.livejournal.com]

Today on my lunch I drove to the public library to pick up a book on hold. There was an ambulance there and the paramedics are asking a lady inside all the normal questions: how long has this dizziness lasted? what is your health history, etc?

The librarian (who knows me - I happen to the Board President) whispers - "she came in off the street and asked for help." I said something back about how you know, its nice people know the library with help them.

Then I tuned back into the paramedics, who had just asked the lady what she had been doing. She had been walking from McDonalds when she started feeling dizzy. Which meant that she had walked right past the local hospital and ER - which stretches a good three/four blocks and (as she admitted because paramedics questioned her on this) continued to stagger another half mile to the library to ask for help.

Librarians have the answer, indeed.