Helping the pros

I had a great phone call on the desk this week:
Patron: "Hi. I have kind of a weird question for you."
Me: "I'm happy to help, I am pretty sure it won't be the weirdest thing of my day."
Patron: "Are you familiar with the author Jonathan Safran Foer?...In your system, are his books under S for Safran or F for Foer?"
Me: "That's a great question. I think under F for Foer, let me check...yep. F for Foer."
The patron thanked me for that, and then asked me to check another author with two last names, this one a black woman. Unfortunately it wasn't someone I'd previously heard of and I can't remember it now, but she was also listed under the second of the two names. I told him that and he said: "Ha, excellent! I'm the co-owner of a new bookstore that is about to open, and my partner and I are arguing about this. I thought we could consult an expert!"

I laughed, felt pleased with the relevance of libraries, made a mental note to visit the bookstore, and said goodbye. About 5 minutes later, the phone rang again:
"Hello, was I just speaking to you? Can you check one more author for me? Carlos Ruiz Zafón?"
He was under R for Ruiz. And Gabriel García Márquez was under G. Huh.
The patron on the phone said, "My business partner is Hispanic, and he was the one saying it was the first of the names. He made me call back with different examples."

After a bit of research, we concluded that this seeming discrepancy is a deliberate standard: English-name authors are classified under the last of their surnames, while Spanish-name authors are classified under the first. Presumably, this is due to different cultural traditions, with multiple last names being the norm in Spanish but rare in English. The Chicago Manual of Style has a succinct but not particularly informative FAQ on it, but I also came across a bilingual picture book called Rene Has Two Last Names, which has hideous art but still warmed my politically-correct heart.

That caller and his bookstore co-owner are for sure patrons of the week. I look forward to visiting their store and reporting back on how it's organized!