Less and more

This past Saturday, I was at my home library working and so did not go to the library where I'm doing my Practicum. The first thing I noticed was that there were so few -- or on this day, no -- reference questions asked. I tried to think back to other Saturdays and how many real Reference questions are customarily asked. Couldn't recall too many at all. Granted my home library is primarily a popular fiction (a la Evanovich, Cussler, Patterson) library, but the difference in function was even more pronounced/noticeable because I've become accustomed, now, to having a busy reference-question-filled Saturday. Directional questions, yes. A substantive question? None for the day. (I had one question (a medical concern) on Monday afternoon and one (on the Dred Scott case) last night. I was able to find information in books in-house on the check-out shelves for both questions.) My home library doesn't have a defined Reference Desk; we all answer Reference questions at the present. We log the reference questions at my home library for the annual report but I hadn't really paid that much attention to how few questions are asked until recently. Does library size have anything to do with reference question volume? I was a little concerned that my home library is not apparently perceived as a library for answering reference questions. It was a different kind of Saturday...and I'm kind of thinking I like the busier question-filled version, even if I haven't a clue about the subject, although I do afterwards. Makes me feel as though I'm doing something useful and valuable -- and, after all, isn't that why most of us are in libraryland? To be useful?