I was thinking about how one of the things I love most about my local public radio station (OPB) these days is their acknowledgment of a user-generated catchphrase, “I heard it on OPB!” They had begun branding mugs and other such ephemera with the phrase, but that seems to have stopped now. I really wish that the library and it’s people would generate that kind of buzz. “Dude, I heard it from the librarian!” or “I learned it at the library” (but something catchier sounding). At the same time I was thinking this  I was also thinking about how I really want to come up with a new marketing initiative this year…and the two thoughts collided mid-brainspace.

What if I start collecting and disseminating some of the interesting questions and resultant “stuff we learned” in a similar fashion to library secrets? Except, clearly, instead of tips and tricks (secrets) it would be more of a random info scrounged up at the reference desk type of thing. This pain in my toe is preventing me from articulating myself clearly, I apologize and hope that you get the gist.

Here’s where you come in. Do you think that I need to alert library patrons that I might want to start anonymously sharing questions they’ve asked us? I certainly wouldn’t be sharing personally identifying info or even the time and day the question was asked. I was just thinking that folks might be interested in knowing some of the random stuff we learn while chasing down information with our users. Or that’s more of that delusional librarian thinking. What do you think about the potential ethical implications here?