Reference Question of the Week

You know tax season is under way when you can consider your reference question of the week to be ‘Where are your tax forms’ lol. Well, not really lol, but really, I mean we’ve been getting these questions since before the holidays in December – even a few in November! People are rather anxious to get it all done I suppose – but, please note: make sure you HAVE all of your forms before filing and then realizing you’re short.

At any rate, with the IRS not delivering some forms until late January, early February, our designated reference/tax librarian in my department got a jump on what we did have in stock and started putting them out early this week. Along with a HUGE black and white poster board (bigger than poster board really), sign on an easel…on top of a shelf…in the middle of the reference section… with a HUGE white arrow, pointing to the stacks where the ‘IRS TAX FORMS’ are located.

sidebar: can you tell where I’m going with this yet?

There is also a sign with an arrow on the door as you enter the reference department, as well as several signs downstairs directing patrons.

And lo and behold, I cannot count the number of times patrons come in, walk straight to our desk, and say ‘where are the tax forms?”. To which I respond, ‘ See the sign behind you… right over there.’ And they turn, look, giggle, and head on over to see what we’ve got in stock.

Oddly (or not, I should know better), when this sign first went up I told my coworker that I might laugh if someone asked me where our tax forms were located as it seemed blatantly obvious to me – but then again I pay attention to signage everywhere I go, and also notice poor signage which is dissapointing.

So our signs are great, I’m so happy that we can serve our patrons in this vein, however there is no doubting the ‘Where are your tax forms’ qualifies as a reference question of the week 🙂

What did your library do to prepare for the tax season? Are you still getting a lot of questions despite the signage you put up at your library?