This is actually a great idea! I think library bookmobiles should totally do this!

Thanks, Will and Celie, my kids, who have read all the Big Nate books about a hundred times. This particular comic appears on page 29 of Big Nate: Here Goes Nothing (Harper, 2012).

Hernando Guanlao has been running his own version of a public library for twelve years in Manila. The library has grown from about a hundred books to a few thousand. From the article: “The idea is simple. Readers can take as many books as they want, for as long as they want – even permanently. As Guanlao says: ‘The only rule is that there are no rules.'”

Thanks, Dina Wood!

Italian artist Frederico Pietrella uses library date stamps to make representational art. He changes the stamps each day, and may work on a particular piece for a couple of months. His pieces sell for tens of thousands of dollars. If that’s a little rich for your blood, maybe you should check out Giselle Restrepo‘s library check-out card corset and more. Thanks, Steve Lawson!

Thank you, Mental Floss, for featuring these gorgeous library tattoos. Do I recognize a librarian friend in one of these pictures? Maybe …. just maybe. Thanks, Steven Kotok, David Weinstock, and BoingBoing! (But most of all Steven Kotok, who sent this to me hot off the press, almost literally.)

If you’re considering a library tattoo yourself, but aren’t sure if you’re ready to commit, perhaps these temporary tattoos would be a good compromise.