My new job requires that I take shifts working the reference desk, which for those who don’t know, is basically the help desk.  Questions range from “Where’s the bathroom”  to “I’m writing a paper on Albanian History.”  I’m feeling a little anxious about pointing all of these graduate students toward the best resources so I’ve been mentally preparing myself for the last week or so.  Part of my preparation includes figuring out what books are in the reference section and what types of research they would be useful for. The findings are about as dry as you might have expected. Encyclopedias and dictionaries for most subjects including business, science, history, and the arts. The usual periodical indexes, gazetteers, and concordances are there. A couple of days ago I happened to come across an online review for the following title and thought it would be an exciting addition to the reference section: Dirty Words, a Literary Encyclopedia of Sex. Out of curiosity I decided to to see if any other libraries carry this title and lo and behold, 10 libraries have it proudly on their shelf.  So go ahead and order it through Interlibrary Loan if you need to brush up on some old moves or figure out what the kids are up to these days.