I'm counting this, even though it wasn't submitted to Rabid Reference per se. A fellow librarian was looking for the average reading level for a county in North Carolina, and neither she nor the public library were having any luck. I came across this, which listed mean literacy levels, in a way that should be able to be converted to reading level. It was an interesting document (it's in .pdf form) Literacy in North Carolina. An HTML version can be read here.
The great things about librarians is that although individually we are usually information dynamos, each of us has various areas of esperience or speciality, and so if there's something we can't find, we can solicit help from others, either by calling colleagues or placing requests on lists. When you ask a librarian a question, you aren't just getting his or her expertise, but tapping into the collective ability of thousands of information professionals. So, if you're ever in a library and feeling reluctant to 'bother' the librarian, go for it. We like it. It's one reason we go into the field. Random bits of info to be found like a needle in a haystack gets our juices going. And trust me, contrary to media portrayals, librarians are juicy.
PS This also demonstrates the need for reference interviews, because sometimes even when librarians ask their question, it's not what they're actually looking for. In this instance, the person was actually looking for what grade level patient information guides should be written in (a common request in the health field), which really had nothing to do with the question asked. This would explain why they 'weren't having any luck'--I'm sure they found what I did, and dismissed it as not being exactly what they wanted. I just wish that when requests are put out on lists, they were as specific as possible. We sort of expect that of other librarians, because unlike patrons, we know how the system works. But, hey, it happens.
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