Library

There was a forum topic somewhere recently... I wish I could find it now, but the funny stuff was in the comments... where someone was complaining about the high costs of books. Someone else joined in and wished there were only some place where you could BORROW books and take them back after you’ve read them. Yeah, it was funny calling someone out on their ignorance, but more and more young folks aren’t even familiar with the wonderful place we call a library. Go get a book, read it, take it back so someone else can read it. I can’t really fault the kids, since library budgets are strained like never before. They must buy fewer new books and cut back hours and programs because there is so little money to cover it all. It’s a shame. One of these days, we’ll take a look and decide it’s more important to spend out money educating ourselves and our kids than it is to fight preemptive wars.



Cheers for the Library!

Can you spot the library?

Take-A-Seat, the chair that follows you around in a library. Cool idea, once you get past the cuteness and the creepiness.

A bookstore made in heaven.

Bibliophile tattoo.

TS Eliot’s Wasteland, rendered in LOLcat. (Thanks, Actor212!)

Here’s a game where you must put book in the order of the Dewey Decimal System. (via Fark)

Blog of the day: Vampire Librarian. Life on the night shift at a 24-hour university library.

100 self-help books you can do without. For example: 32. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Opposite Sex but Were Tasered for Asking Previously.

I didn’t bring the library book back because

-I left it in my truck and my truck was in an accident and got towed to the garage and I won't be able to get to the garage in Abbotsford until this weekend.

-my mother took it camping and lost it.

-I didn't take it out!

-my cat peed on it and it smells too bad.

-it flew out the car window on the 401 Freeway and was devoured by an 18 wheeler!

SHORTIES

Q. How many reference librarians does it take to change a light bulb?
A. Well, what kind of light bulb were you thinking about?

Q: What happens when you cross a librarian and a lawyer?
A: You get all the information you want, but you can't understand it.

A patron asked the librarian why Tales of Robin Hood had been withdrawn from the collection.
The librarian replied, "Too much Saxon violence."

The Library

(via Phil’s Phun)

A guy walks into a Glasgow library and says to the prim librarian,

"Excuse me Miss, dey ye hiv ony books on suicide?"

To which she stops doing her tasks, looks at him over the top of her glasses, and says,

"Piss off, ye'll no bring it back!"

There’s No Place Like the LIbrary

Previously at Miss Cellania: Librarian and lots more Literature posts.

Thought for today: County library? Reference desk, please. Hello? Yes, I need a word definition. Well, that's the problem. I don't know how to spell it and I'm not allowed to say it. Could you just rattle off all the swear words you know and I'll stop you when...Hello? -Calvin & Hobbes

humor jokes video funny games library librarian books literature

Comments

[ShhhhhFeathers]

Last time I set foot in my local library, getting access to books was easy; the computers for internet access were booked and the waiting list was more than an hour ;-)

[Don Miller]

I like libraries. I spend a lot of time in libraries,

however, I wanted to take slight umbrage with your comment about library funding and the war.

The vast vast majority of library funding nationwide comes from local and state funding sources. The cost of the Iraq war doesn't affect library funding. If your library is underfunded, this is an issue to bring to your local politicians.

[Miss Cellania]

Good point. And people SHOULD take it up with their local politicians. Still, national spending affects state and local budgets, both in tax revenue and through economic policies.

[actor212]

They don't call 'em liberries cuz the books don't grow on trees.

[actor212]

Don,

It's true that most library funding (there is some in NCLB, which is grossly underfunded anyway) comes from local and state sources.

MissC's point about local budgets being strained is true, and indirectly, that's due to the Iraq War.

See, states and localities DO rely on Federal funding for some programs, specifically emergency services like police and fire.

*Those* budgets have been slashed by the Bush administration in part to pay for the Iraq war as well as the hideous tax cuts Bush asked for, so when localities are forced to choose between, say, 24 hour fire and ambulance response and librarby books, most people would say the books gotta go.

[the frogster]

I do a fair amount of work at the library. It's too bad that due to the way libraries are funded, the towns with the best libraries are the towns where the residents have enough money to go and buy books and don't go to the library.

[dashofpanache]

I think teens figure out about libraries pretty quickly once they get to college. Where else can they go to do work and be forced to actually shut up and focus?

P.S.- I'm impressed by the length and quality of this and other posts. It would take me a month to accumulate the amount of info you have just for today.

[Vampire Librarian]

Thanks for making me the link of the day! Sorry, I'm a week late. Really impressive site you got here.