Vintage Awesomeness!

Just because.  "25 Vintage Photos of Librarians Being Awesome."

"Librarians, in case you hadn’t heard, are essential members of society — likely to expand minds wherever they go — and, as such, are fully worthy of hero worship (whether they’re among the coolest librarians alive or just pretty cool). That’s at least part of the impetus behind My Daguerreotype Librarian, ”[a] tumblr dedicated to literally or figuratively hunky and babely librarians from the past.” Inspired by the website, here’s a little extra literary goodness: 25 awesome vintage photos of librarians from ages past."

Beware the Sixth-Level Cataloger

I like the online comic Questionable Content anyway (not to mention the fact it's the source of a great library-themed Tshirt) but today's just rocks, on several levels. One, it's QC. Two, it's a guest comic by Bill Barnes, one half of the Unshelved creative duo. Third, well, hey! Laser eyes!

Pearls Before Swine

Hair in a bun? Check. Glasses on a chain? Check. Machine gun? Check.
Pearls Before Swine, 16 September 2011

Random but Good

Not dead, just crazy busy. Here's a few things to share:

* Seen the Pearls Before Swine comic of January 16th? Those are some serious librarians! 

* Hey, cool! Wil Wheaton thinks librarians are awesome. (Well, we are.) "I beg you: please support your local libraries in any way you can, and if you enjoy reading, take a moment to thank a librarian." Amen, Wil, and thank you!

* I am pleased that I can represent STEM librarians again at this year's WISE conference, "Expanding Your Horizons". It's an honor to speak to young women and encourage them into the sciences, show them that engineering is fun, and get my techy groove on.

Holy Apparition! Also: Say "Thank You"

Briefly, some bits & pieces of interest:

* Jonathan at Zen College Life gives us 85 Reasons to be Thankful for Librarians. There are some good ones in here! My faves would have to be #s 15, 29, 53 and - very important - 71.

* Watch the first-ever Batman episode to feature Batgirl! I love her casual use of library furniture for mayhem.

Tattoos and Cartoons

Thanks to Pamela A, who I met at SLA and who then sent me a photocopy of a cartoon that just made me laugh, you too can check out the winners of last year's Caption Contest of the Pittsburg Post-Gazette. To the right you can see the cartoon to be captioned; be sure to check out the top suggestions! My particular favorites:

• "Miss Vivian hoped that her 'extreme makeover' would put muscle behind the 'no food or drink in the library' rule."
• "With the entire Dewey Decimal System tattooed on Ernie's body, the library saved a ton of money on costly computer systems."

In other news, the Texas Library Association is at it again with their calendar fundraiser, this time with the "Tattooed Librarians of Texas". Brilliant!

Random Linkdump

Aaaand now that I've caught up on SLA postings and the book interview announcement, it's time to share a few other tidbits from the last week:

* Get your geek on at Geek the Library! (thanks to Libraryman)

* "The Librarian 3: Quest for the Judas Chalice" wins the Saturn award, given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, for "the best presentation on TV". Heh.

* OK, wait, what? School librarians reassigned into teaching positions in Bellevue, WA? I don't know about you, but I'm sure not qualified to teach. (My reference class teacher from grad school would back that up 100%.)

* Just in case I haven't already mentioned it (and if I have, well, I really like it so I'm going to mention it again) : Girl Genius. Go. Read now. I'll wait!

Amusing, or Not?

It's been the kind of week where I just can't decide:

1) Garfield Minus Garfield: That Cute Librarian



2) Personal Library Kit: You can be a Sexy Librarian Too!



So, what do you think?

A Moment of Humor

Whilst in the local Trader Joe's yesterday, wearing one of my many librarian-themed T-shirts, I was serenaded by one of the workers with "Marian the Librarian" from The Music Man.

I was amused.

The Librarian 3 on TNT

Yes, of course I watched it, and of course I have comments! I also have a new .sig line *grin*

Ahem. OK. Once again, bring your willing suspension of disbelief and your bowl of popcorn to enjoy Round 3 of TNT's Librarian movie series: "The Quest for the Judas Chalice", starring Noah Wyle as Flynn Carsen. Vampires! New Orleans! Action sequences! Memorable lines! (The first that popped up: "Maybe some women are ok with the wild and unpredictable lifestyle of dating a librarian, but I'm not!")

Yes, I thought it was cheezy fun. No, it didn't have anything to do with what we all think of as a "real" library, or librarian. But - let's face it - wouldn't we all love to work in Flynn's Library? (I know I would! I actually believe it to be an extended branch of the Middleton Public Library, to be honest.) Seeing it as the repository of history and artifacts through the ages (even if they are mythical artifacts) lends a bit of respectability to the name. I will admit I got the grins each time Flynn spouted details and in-depth history on anything and everything that crossed his path (wouldn't you hate to play against him in Trivial Pursuit?). And I think Judson (Bob Newhart, once again stealing all his scenes) is just wonderful.

To sum up: Tongue-in-cheek fun that requires you to leave your serious side out of the TV room. And to close: "I think it's only fair to warn you that I am, in fact, a librarian."

Random Linkdump

Yes, folks, it's time for another catch-all post of things I've had tucked away. Here we go!

• If you don't already know, this Sunday (Dec. 7) is the premiere of the (supposedly) final chapter in TNT's Librarian movie series: "The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice." I, of course, will be glued to the TV screen, popcorn at the ready! Here's some reviews and interviews:
  
  • An interview with screenwriter Marco Schnabel by Carl Cortez at iFMagazine. Teasers of a feature film?!?
    
  • An interview with star Noah Wyle by Iris Wiener at The Improper.
  
  
• Meet Emma Sherriff, outreach support officer for Plymouth Libraries. She shows, in this article by Kate Hilpern, that there's much more to being a librarian than shelving books! Definitely worth a read for the discussion of all the career paths available to librarians.
• You might be a librarian if... and I admit I'm guilty of a couple of these!
  

72° and sunny. The sunlight on the grass outside my window is particularly pretty today!

Recently Read: "Between the Stacks"

I haven't posted book reviews much here before, but I think that might change. I just finished "Between the Stacks", by Barry Bowes (Landesman, 1979) and quite enjoyed it. Set in a public library in the UK, it follows the trials and tribulations of the staff at the Pike Lane library, told from the viewpoint of the (interestingly unnamed, throughout the book) senior assistant. It's quite amusing, while also illustrating the frustrations of the reference interview, being the unpaid babysitters, and many other well-known PL issues. The issues at Pike Place frame an introspective journey by the main character, who's trying to evaluate his future, both personally and professionally.

It's not an easy book to come by; there wasn't a copy anywhere in my state (thanks, ILL!). Amazon has a few used ones from international sources, and I'm pondering placing an order, but we'll see. Even Library Thing, with its gazillions of books, only shows four copies. If you do have access to it, though, give it a read!

Friday Fun

Today: T-shirts! All from the folks at Instant Attitudes.

• Want!
  
  
• Don't we all?
  
  
• For the other coffee-holics out there
  

I hear there's this thing called "fall" happening in other places. Right now, we've got 90° temps with mostly sunny skies. Yay!

This is a sexy librarian look?

My first reaction: outright laughter.

You are looking at a preview of the fall line from designer Marni: "The Italian label offered its take on sexy librarians this season."

My second reaction: More laughing, with a bit of a wince.

Thanks to the.effing.librarian!

Brain Break!

Thanks to Hedgehog Librarian!


EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

Dr. Dewey Decimal!

ScaryGoRound has a new Tshirt available for order: Dr. Dewey Decimal! Also be sure to check out Books Rule from the same great shop. (thanks, Jeff!)

I love it when fall arrives in the desert; sunny days in the low 90s, clear nights in the low 70s or high 60s. From now until March, this is the weather that makes living here worth the summer heat!

Friday Fun

Two funnies, and a not-so-funny:

• Consider this before you move to Arizona. (It's so true! thanks, Abs!)
• The Procrastination Flowchart (thanks, Mike!)
• That dratted stereotype of the bun and glasses is even stuck in politics! I swear, if I hear one more talking head refer to Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin as looking like either a sexy or naughty librarian, I'm going to throw something. Arrgh! So I've joined a new group on Facebook: "Sarah Palin is not a 'sexy librarian'." Help the Tragic Optimist take sexy back!
  

Weather report: Jurassic Librarian isn't far off on his solar system chart; we hit 101°F today, supposed to hit 102° tomorrow. I hear there's this thing called "fall" happening in other parts of the country...

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog

Watch it. Go watch it now. Then tell your friends.

Really.

All Hail Biblia!

If you aren't already reading Warrior Librarian Weekly, now's your chance to start! The most excellent Biblia (aka Amanda Credaro) has included a photo and lovely little mini-resume about me on the front page of Issue #256 (yes, my hair's still purple), and links to You don't look like a librarian!

Thanks tons, Biblia!

A big 'ol catchup

You may already know about some of these, you may not; I've been bookmarking them to chat about once the SLA furor was over. And now that time is here!

• OK, one more thing about SLA: The Washington Times nicely summarized the conference in an article amusingly titled "Library Techies: Beyond the Dewey Decimal System."
• A paean to my personal fave Rex Libris, "In Praise of Librarian Warriors" is a nice little review by William Alexander over on Powell's Books Blog. If'n you don't have any Rex yet, get some!
• Over at The Ledger (FL), correspondent Jennifer Fickley-Baker enters the whole "guybrarian" fray with an article titled "'Guybrarians' - An Overdue Phenomenon at Many Libraries, and a Fine Career Choice." Sadly, it seems Jennifer never actually looked at the Librarian Action Figure... but regardless, it's a nice article from the guys' point of view. (I think.)
  
• Two days after the above article was published, Brainella the Librarian pitches in on the whole titles thing (and made me chuckle).
• ALA has just recently concluded, as well, and Denise Hamilton (at the LAObserved blog) points out some excellent short stories about librarians in her post "Sex on my mind as librarians take over the Anaheim Convention Center." I'm going to have to look these up!
• Lastly, a bit of humorous stitching: Sexy Librarians embroidery patterns are now available.
  

The monsoon season has started, but no rain today, I think. Currently 102°.