Tales from the Reference Desk

This blog tells tales from the Reference Desk from time to time. In the old days, before the internet (will there/should there be an acronym for that era: B.I.?) at my first library job, we kept an index card file with commonly asked questions and answers. I remember that the names of the Seven Dwarves was on one card; fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth was another tidbit in this file and so on. Now the world of trivia, rumor, urban legends, local lore and just plain weirdness has expanded far beyond what could be filed in our little FAQ box at the Richmond Public Library. Which brings us to the post about the Vegetable Orchestra recordings requested by a patron not too long ago. You can even listen to the sound of vegetables being "played." In our wildest imaginings, this did not seem to be where Reference Librarian as a career would be headed. Maybe twenty years in the future, vegetables will be listening to Human Orchestras out in the fields to help them grow tastier?