In an academic library, you don't get quite as many humorous reference questions as I'm sure public libraries get, but this one threw me for a loop. A student asked me to help her find a primary source on dinosaurs.
I had to think about that for a bit. First I thought, hmm, there wasn't anyone around during the time of the dinosaurs to document the experience. Then I thought, am I on candid camera?
I asked some questions about what type of information she was hoping to find and finally realized that she probably needed a geological study. After a few more questions, I determined she was in a First Year Science class.
Now the dilemma: how to find a "primary source" (what the professor really meant was peer-reviewed - I confirmed this later) on a geological study that a non-science major in an intro science course could understand. Thank heavens for Science and Nature - both are considered peer-reviewed but have articles that are easier to read than other journals. I think I ended up using EBSCO to search for articles on dinosaurs within Nature.
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