In Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen and Kevin Hawkes, a lion visits the library and causes some consternation to some of the librarians. This book makes me cry every time. Thanks, Amanda Newman!

To protest budget cuts, Improv Everywhere brought ghosts and Ghostbusters to the New York Public Library in the spring of 2010. Thanks, boingboing!

The Twin Hickory Public Library in Glen Allen, Virginia displayed actual human beings reading banned books for National Book Week in 2008. Thanks, BoingBoing!

Squidoo gives us some advice on pranking librarians. There’s a video with a decent joke about a chicken in a library, too. The joketeller remembers partway through that chickens are female, which is nice.

A library patron’s account is frozen because his book is overdue. He freezes the book and returns it. Ha ha! Hilarious! Of course, the book is ruined and the library makes him pay for it. Library unknown, September 2008. Possibly a hoax — that photograph is a little too perfect, isn’t it? Seems likely this never happened.

George Washington racks up late fees at NY library. Looks like our first president committed a library shenanigan of his own: he never returned a couple of books to the New York Society Library. Thanks, Dina Wood!

This video, made for National Library Week in April 2008, is very funny and all, but I’m beginning to feel a bit green around the gills at all the librarians-making-fun-of-patrons things that are filling up Library Shenanigans. What I like best are goofy shenanigans perpetrated by students or other library patrons. I’d like to see more of those. Still, this definitely qualifies as a shenanigan, and it made me laugh. Thanks, Emily Lloyd!

“Librarian” by Haunted Love. Gorgeous video, beautiful song. “Don’t you find me appealing in a nerdy sort of way?” I found out about this song from Marilyn Johnson’s This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All. She says: “The song ‘Librarian’ by the New Zealand duo Haunted Love debuted in 2006 with a video featuring two attractive performers suited up as mock librarians, hair pulled back, glasses in place, fingers and feet tapping in disapproval as a patron committed various crimes, like scattering books through the library and sticking gum under a table. The ‘librarians’ lure the culprit into the closed reserves with the promise of new magazines, then crush him between the movable stacks. The video recycled the usual cliches, but at least it was stylishly done.” Thanks, Marilyn Johnson!

A Librarian’s Guide to Etiquette is an excellent librarian shenanigan in the form of a blog. I particularly liked this year’s April Fool’s Day entry: “Celebrate April Fools’ Day by telling playfully outlandish tales to your library patrons, like, ‘The library web site is a good alternative to Google!’ or ‘I would love to hear about your family genealogy!’  Hilarity will ensue.” Thanks, Steve Lawson!

Yes, they can. And other beverages of an alcoholic nature. And there’s a handy serving table that pulls out, too. See apartmenttherapy.com’s advice. Thanks, Steve Lawson!