Posts filed under ‘public libraries’
shark week at the Cranston Public Library
Cranston Public Library in Rhode Island FTW!
Thanks, Facebook Librarian Memes Group.
Anti-Prom — No Snakes
The Pflugerville Public Library in Texas accidentally enticed people to their anti-prom by promising there would be snakes instead of snacks, requiring them to release additional enticements stating the opposite. Thanks, Jonathan Caws-Elwitt!
invisible books on display
“Sad and Useless” recently posted twenty terrific library shenanigans, some of which have already appeared here. New ones include: the invisible book display (pictured), Batman Returns His Books to the Library, Books for Tall People, and more. Thanks, Bruce Bentzman!
Starr Lackawanna’s namesake!
Oh mah gahd, Starr Lackawanna, the librarian who appears in Daniel Pinkwater’s novels The Artsy-Smartsy Club and Looking for Bobowicz, is based on a real person, Starr LaTronica, currently of Brattleboro, Vermont! Which, come to think of it, totally sounds like a place in a Pinkwater book, alongside Hoboken and Hogboro.
Thanks, Jonathan Caws-Elwitt!
poems by library machines
Book-return machines in libraries in England are spitting out poem-receipts. Electric Lit has lots of terrific examples. Thanks, Kathy Randall and AARP Magazine!
with creepy kid
The Alexandria-Monroe Public Library in Indiana says: “We’d like to remind patrons to not attach googley eyes to books. It can cause damage to the cover and in this case haunt our nightmares for all eternity. Thank you. — with Creepy Kid.”
Thanks, Sarah Milteer!
Librarians need a seaside rest home!
According to Livia Gershon’s article “Being a Victorian Librarian Was Oh-So-Dangerous,” Melvil Dewey “predicted that female librarians would have trouble doing the job because of poor health.” Indeed, at the turn of the last century the Brooklyn Public Library Association proposed a “seaside rest home” for broken-down librarians.
When Diane Westerfield forwarded this article to me, I responded that maybe Dewey had the idea that librarians might suffer from nervous exhaustion or whatever because he was sexually harassing them and perhaps there was some emotional fallout from that. Diane then found this hair-raising portrait of Dewey available at Find-A-Grave. The look in his eyes! Yike!
no dogs, drunks, or smallpox
The Hyde Institute Library in Barnet Vale, Hertfordshire, England had some strict rules for its patrons.
Citation for the original is uncertain. According to the Bodleian Library, the source may be a 1930 issue of the Nottingham Post. A slightly different version of these rules may have appeared in the May 2, 1930 issue of the Western Gazette. Yet another version appeared on page 11 of the May 29, 1930 issue of the Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser.
Thanks, Woody Guth3!
“Horoscopes for Librarians”
“Horoscopes for Librarians” by Mayur Chauhan and Sally Miller in McSweeney’s is funny even if you don’t care about astrology. Thanks, WoodyGuth3!
spotlight on writers from “Sh*thole Countries”
Several libraries are doing this sort of thing in response to Trump’s idiotic and disturbing comment about U.S. immigrants, but I’m especially proud of the Winton Road Library in Rochester, NY, because I’m a Rochester girl through and through (just ayask my ayaccent).
Thanks, Jinny Spencer and Joan Petit!
Library Shenanigans 