Posts filed under ‘books’
ghost books
Not sure where or when this photo was taken, but with Halloween coming up it seems apropos. Thanks, Emily Lloyd!
“roots libraries” diagram poem
Now and then I myself perpetrate a library shenanigan. I’ve been making a lot of diagram poems lately, using images from old library books and other things. Ohio Edit recently published my “roots” series, which includes a diagram showing my library roots. (It also includes one for my book roots.) The illustration is from: William Austin Cannon. The Root Habits of Desert Plants. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institute, 1911 (full text available from Google Books). If you’d like to make a similar diagram poem showing your own library roots, email me the image (jessyrandall@yahoo.com) and I’ll collect them in a separate post.
US/Canada sports rivalry … library vs. library
The Kansas City Royals and the Toronto Blue Jays are facing off in the American League Championship Series, so Libraries in Kansas City, Toronto are waging a Twitter war using photographs of books. (It’s kind of like this, but with baseball.) Thanks, Joan Petit!
way, way overdue books
Many libraries have stories of overdue books being returned decades after they were borrowed. Portland State recently received a book 52 years overdue. This beats Colorado College’s figures: in 2005, we received books 25 and 45 years overdue. (See the full story in the Winter 2006 issue of the library newsletter.) But we’re nowhere near the record: 221 years. The perpetrator? George Washington. I kid you not. See the full story here.
rare books dress
ModCloth is selling their “Archive Got the Power” dress for $99.99 in sizes from XS to 4X. Oddly, no one has reviewed it yet, which seems strange for a dress with books all over it, somehow.
two monks discover how tall women and horses are
This is not exactly a library shenanigan, but since libraries are almost the only places you can see medieval manuscript books, I included it anyway. Two monks discover how tall women and horses are, and also how wars work and how to fit someone into a cauldron. Thanks, Lynne Marie Thomas!
food truck is a book truck
Mexican publisher Fondo de Cultura Económica turned a food truck into a bookmobile and is traveling around California offering Spanish-language children’s books for sale. (An article refers to the truck as a “library,” but as far as I can tell, it is a commercial enterprise.) Thanks, Feminist Library on Wheels!
lockers don’t just hold books, they are books
Two 8th grade teachers at a Mississippi school spearheaded an initiative to paint lockers to look like enormous book spines. I can’t believe this actually happened! I’m not sure I believe the statement in the article about the project increasing the “cool factor” of books, but I absolutely believe that the teachers “spent hours ‘arguing and fighting and crying’ over which book titles would go on the hallway’s 189 lockers.” I’m impressed that they put series books in order, next to each other — it’s like the lockers are organized library shelves. And now, apparently, students are compiling lists of how many of the locker books they’ve read. Awesome.
Thanks, Joan Petit, for letting me know about this.
bookshelf quilt
Patsy Nayback Gaylor made this quilt. The Reader’s Nook links to some helpful patterns and techniques so you can make your own. Thanks, Esau Katz!
fun with encyclopedias, part 3
Some clever high school student has discovered that the spines of the World Book encyclopedia can be rearranged to spell out “Boob Dick.” (As you may recall, “Dork Bowl” is also a possibility.) Thanks, Steve Lawson!
Library Shenanigans 