Posts filed under ‘Tutt Library Colorado College’
room-naming shenanigan
Colorado College’s Tutt Library will begin a major renovation in the summer of 2016, and the college will of course provide naming rights to high-level donors. For now, though, we notice that several spaces in the current building have acquired home-made honorifics. Suddenly this week we have rooms, nooks, corners, and even door knobs named for librarians both real and fictional: S. R. Ranganathan, Louise Kampf, Manly Ormes, Carol Dickerson, Melvil Dewey, Rupert Giles, and Starr Lackawanna.
No one has taken credit for this shenanigan. Perhaps several people are responsible? We look forward to seeing who else might be judged worthy of a naming opportunity. We expect that not all the names will belong to librarians. Perhaps I’ll name my office after Doctor Who companion Ramanadvoratrelundar, or Project Runway mentor Tim Gunn!
Addenda, November 18: B.R. Coad and E.J. Josey.
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.
yarn-bombing at Tutt Library
Architects tell us that Tutt Library’s concrete columns are “good bones,” but we are often irked by how they blockade our interior spaces. This week, someone (student? staff? possibly a group effort?) decided to treat one of the columns to a rather impressive yarn bombing.
Also, hello new subscribers! A recent post brought many new subscribers to the blog. Anyone is welcome to let me know about shenanigans in libraries and bookstores: jessyrandall @ yahoo . com (without the spaces).
missing issue yields a monster
As you may or may not know, Cosmopolitan releases each year’s worth of issues so that if you stack them in order you’ll see a bare-chested man. The Colorado College stacks are usually missing an issue or two, which means that instead of a man, we get a monster. Thanks, Diane Westerfield!
giant schooldesk sculpture
When he was a student at Colorado College in the early 1990s, artist Giles Thompson built this large schooldesk sculpture. It stood in the CC library until 1999, when the college donated it to the Business of Art Center in Manitou Springs. At some point after that, it was painted red, perhaps to protect it from outdoor conditions.
Giant chair-desk by Giles Thompson, CC class of 1993, Tutt Library, ca. 1992. PP95-62 #68.
Library staff Jessie Brown and Rita Edgington in the giant chair, August 1993. PP95-62 #102.
“Necktie” event at Tutt Library, 1994. Schooldesk in background. PP 95-62 #110.
Sculpture in Manitou Springs, date uncertain. Photo from the Manitou Springs Arts Council.
short film made in and around Tutt Library
This is quite lovely! Congratulations to director Chauncey Crail and the rest of his Colorado College team (Corrina Leatherwood, Caitlin Taber, James Dinneen, Dylan Pearl, Holly Pretsky, and Alec Sarche, plus many more).
indoor flying demonstration
As part of Colorado College’s block 7 library shenanigans, Jessy Randall (your trusty shenanigan documenter) offered an indoor flying demonstration lasting approximately two minutes. (It’s important to fly slowly when flying indoors, for safety reasons.) Music Librarian Daryll Stevens accompanied the demonstration with the Superman theme on clarinet.
Plushies available for borrowing
As a block 7 stress-buster, Rebecca Harner had the idea to lend out “study buddies” in the Colorado College library this week. The experiment was a huge success, with stuffed animals keeping students company at desks and tables all over the building.
Addendum, April 16:
Further addendum, April 2015: we’re doing it again this year!
Further further addendum, September 2015: we did it again, and this time one of the plushies turned up on a high shelf with an inscrutable letter. Another, a cheerleading tomato (apparently), was found in the stacks.
forts in the library, Monday and Tuesday
The entire Colorado College community is invited to build blanket forts in Tutt Library today, Monday March 31, and tomorrow, Tuesday April 1, and that’s no April Fool, though this whole fort idea may indeed be foolish. We’ve provided some supplies (i.e. blankets) in the main lobby, and you’re welcome to bring your own. Perhaps you will study better in a fort! Let’s find out! (Send photos, if you like, to jrandall@coloradocollege.edu.)
ADDENDUM: photos by Pam Willock, Jon Driscoll, and Eleanor Nesbit:
drawing shenanigan
Now and then, students at the Colorado College library get inspired to draw on the whiteboards that are in various locations in the building. We’re at the end of a block right now, a good time for creative shenanigans. (But then, is there ever a bad time for creative shenanigans?) My colleague Pam Willock found this drawing on the whiteboard on her door today. Thanks, whoever drew this, for giving us all a good feeling this morning. (Here’s a similar shenanigan from last year at another library.)
Library Shenanigans 