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.

Debra Westwood uploaded this image to the ALA Think Tank Facebook page stating “Spotted on a bulletin board at University of Miami Hamilton.” The original source may be “theseeleyg” at the Mudd Library of Lawrence University. Thanks, Diane Westerfield!

I’m guessing — or maybe just hoping — that some of the stories in this anthology take place in libraries. Of course, we already know that most tales of sex in the stacks are greatly exaggerated. Still, it does sometimes happen. Thanks, Jonathan Caws-Elwitt!

 The Countway Library of Harvard Medical School lends out a therapy dog named Cooper to those with the proper ID. From the library catalog record for Cooper: “1 dog (Shih Tzu) : dark brown, ash, and white hair, 15 lbs. ; 39 cm long. Notes: Should you have a good cry or even feign a whimper near Coop, you are guaranteed to get lots of kisses.”

Meanwhile, at the Kennedy Library of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, cats are sometimes made available as a stressbusting treat.

Thanks, Joan Petit!

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:

Someone has been leaving coded messages inside books at the Weldon Library at Western University in Ontario, Canada. As of March 24, 2014, 18 notes have been found. Professor Mike Moffatt has images of all the notes at his blog, and a reward is offered to anyone who can crack the code.

Get to it, mystery decoders!

Thanks, BoingBoing.

I reserve the right to claim any and all reference book shenanigans as library shenanigans. (As with so many images on the open web, the original source for this is unknown.) Thanks, BoingBoing!

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.)

To celebrate 400 years of the Bristol Central Library, animatronics company Rusty Squid (with artists, engineers, and designers) built this amazing moving, creaking honeycomb hive sculpture out of four hundred hardback books. Andrew Cox, a librarian at the BCL, says: “We embrace the digital but we all still love books and the book hive is a wonderful blend of art and engineering, reminding us of the intrinsic beauty and love affair we have with books as tangible items.” Watch the video for the full effect. Thanks, Alicia Bailey of Abecedarian Gallery!