I notice you have those nice little pencils near the reference desk. How about putting a few pencils in little containers near the computers?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Thanks for your suggestion. I’ll pass it along to the Reference Dept. (who provide the “golf pencils” at the ref desk) and they’ll consider it.

How do Cardinal’s choosing the Pope make different color smoke?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Chemicals are added to the fire to create the black or white smoke. AP couldn’t find the particular recipe, so I assume that, like the votes themselves, the chemicals are a Vatican secret. Apparently in the past Italian army flares of different [...]

How do you say “hook up” in Spanish? Argentine slang would be particularly helpful.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: You could ask our subject librarian for Latin America, who happens to be from Argentina, but she might get the wrong idea. Actually, I don’t think this is the sort of thing where you have get the words [...]

I need a recipe for vanilla extract. I can get vanilla beans, but cannot find extract up to my standards. Can I make it?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: There are some recipes on the web (just google for “vanilla extract recipe”) that involve soaking the cut bean pods in vodka or brandy for anywhere from 3 [...]

Are there any hotlines that kids could call to report info they have on violence at school? Like a place you could call that would be anonymous so they won’t have to worry about getting in trouble. They could report that someone has a gun or said something threating and stuff like that. I just [...]

Are there ever any bad questions that you refuse to answer? I hope this wasn’t a bad question…

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Spam sent to the online suggestion book (e.g., book announcements) are deleted. Some rude comments about library staff may be ignored, although these are rare and AP may attempt to gently remind the nasty [...]

How do I delete a file that my Mac’s Finder thinks is “in use”?

The file could very well be in use because it’s on a shared drive, but the file really is useless, thus I don’t care if it’s “in use”. Is there a way for me to delete it manually? Do I need [...]