LISNews: Librarian News

Is this a positive or negative library transaction? Does something like this spread goodwill or is it just wasting time? What do you think the patron/customer thought about it?

Here is a recent chat transcript. Names have been changed, etc...

Question: How are you doing today?

[You have been connected to Tom.]
Tom: Hello, welcome to the library. I am Tom and I will be assisting you today. Please wait a moment while I consider your question...

Tom: ...after considering your question, I believe that I am okay.

Tom: do you have a reference question I can help with?

Patron: we had to do this for an assignment

Patron: ask you a question, lol

Patron: just thought id see how your day was going

Tom: what if I told you that I was a sophisticated AI program designed to answer these questions?

Patron: Well im pretty sure an AI wouldnt know how to respond to that question

Tom: I said I was sophisticated.

Patron: Touché

Patron: well thanks tom, have a good one = )

Tom: I hope your session went as well as you expected. thanks for stopping by

How do you answer questions like these non-reference questions? Do men and women answer these potentially personal questions differently? I'll admit, I wasn't sure where this might go when it started.

I like to think of it as putting the "fun" back in libraryfunship. (I can't believe I really typed that. Pretend you didn't see that. And I was doing so well up to this point.)