QuestionPoint – Week 3

This was a weird question week on QuestionPoint. Most notably, one “student” wanted to know “how to eat pie.” My initial reaction was that Quill should not dignify the prankster with a response, but rather she should just close the transaction. Much to my surprise, she began looking up pie eating etiquette tips and pie making instructional websites and sent the inquirer the URLs. When she asked him if there was anything else she could help him with, he came back with, “how do you make roads”. I thought for sure she would cut him off this time. Instead, she conducted a reference interview asking him more about his information need. While waiting for his response she sent him the URL for the Wikipedia page on paving materials. Apparently, her cunning proved too much for the requestor and he soon disconnected.

This proved to be the most informative session for me. Quill’s diplomacy skills are stellar. And, she managed to provide the requestor with useful information even though his inquiry was intended to be turned into a dirty joke. I now have a much better idea on how to handle “stupid” requests, and I now know that there is always a way to respond with legitimate information even when the question is most likely illegitimate.

I also had the opportunity to help Quill find information on what proved to be a somewhat difficult question. The inquirer wanted to know what is a standard menu on modern U.S. Naval warships. I finally hit on the “jackpot” Google search terms i.e. “food in the navy” which rendered a lot of promising results. Quill conveyed the information to the researcher. The researcher seemed quite happy for the help.

I am quite happy for the opportunity to observe Quill these past three weeks. I have learned from her methods as well as her professionalism. I think I am ready to take QuestionPoint for a test drive next week.