Miskatonic University Press

The Triple Staple

staplers york libraries

On Wednesday 10 February 2016, at about 3:45 pm, at the ref desk at Steacie, I hit a new record: three consecutive questions about refilling staplers. We have three staplers here and they all emptied within minutes of each other. Three questions, three different staplers. I call this the Triple Staple.

Ready, aye, ready
Ready, aye, ready

I’ve had a few Double Staples in my time—nothing to brag about, really—but this was a personal best I will never forget.

Has anyone ever done a Quadruple Staple? Discussion among my colleagues revealed that at least one person refills the staplers at the start of his shift, and hence he has never even had a Double Staple. This was new to me: certainly no such practice was discussed at library school, but in our profession one continues to learn every year, and this is a fine example of how we share tacit knowledge. I am curious to know about your local practice.