first-year panic

Watching someone's brain reach its maximum capacity is a truly amazing thing, and I may never tire of it. As the campus fills again with first-year students, many "fresh-from-the-farm" (or at least rural BC), they wander timidly into the library and ask things like "where are the novels" (not a simple question in a library using LC classification). With my bestest customer-service smile, I direct, instruct, suggest, and answer their inquiries... but every now and then someone just kinda "pops." It's not audible, of course, but if you know what to look for, you can see the moment.

It happened yesterday with a person who asked the aforementioned question about novels. Midway through my overview of how LC classifies fiction, I noticed a very scared/startled look in her eyes and could almost hear her inner dialogue of panic... so I grabbed a map and calmly pointed out where she might find novels written in English, in the PR and PS sections, and suggested she talk to someone at the reference desk, to narrow her search. However, after she thanked me and walked away from the desk, she turned and went out the door. She'll be back ... but not until after a call home.