Many libraries have perpetrated this shenanigan, including the Lawrence Public Library in Kansas, the Maplewood Memorial Library and the Hillsdale Public Library in New Jersey, the Rockville Centre Public Library in New York, the Jasper Public Library in Indiana, the Amarillo Public Library in Texas, and many, many more. Thanks, Sundress Publications, for drawing my attention to this!
It seems no one is taking responsibility for this excellent shenanigan. I got it from Marianne Aldrich, who got it from someone else on Facebook, who got it from someone else on Facebook. A little detective work suggests the location may be the Arnold Bernhard Library at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. Thanks, Marianne!
At Portland State University in 1988, at least one student attempted to climb the library building as part of the Outdoor Program’s “Halloween Climb.”
Here at Colorado College, students have attempted to climb various campus buildings over the years, but not, as far as we know, the library.
Thanks, Joan Petit!
On Saturday, January 19, the Pikes Peak Pen Women visited Special Collections to learn about historical writers and artists in Colorado. They viewed the original handwritten manuscript of Helen Hunt Jackson’s novel Ramona, books by Ann Zwinger, artists’ books by Alicia Bailey and others, and postcard collages by Mary Chenoweth.
Special Collections is home to the papers of Chenoweth, an artist who taught at Colorado College from 1953 until 1983. She made sculptures, woodcarvings, woodcuts, watercolor and oil paintings, etchings, and more. Making art was an everyday activity for her, and she frequently created one-of-a-kind postcard collages and mailed them to friends and family.
The Pen Women usually do some kind of writing exercise at their meetings. This time, instead, they made their own postcard collages, using recycled materials such as scraps from magazines and catalogs. I hope the club members will do as Chenoweth did and mail their postcards to friends and loved ones. Perhaps we can start a home-made-postcard-making trend!
The Manly Library in Australia put up this sign recently, saying they shall be reclassifying Lance Armstrong’s books as fiction. Thanks, Tom Lovell!
UPDATE JANUARY 21, 2013: it appears this shenanigan was a prank (is that redundant?). The library does not actually plan to reclassify the books. Here’s an article explaining what happened. Thanks, Brian Springett!
In the June/July issue of The Believer, Sarah Vowell gave some excellent advice to a person with a crush on a librarian. Thanks, David Weinstock!
At the University of Illinois at Chicago, staff discovered this diary and drawing written on the underside of a table in the Daley Library. It was probably written mostly in the spring of 1988; one entry (“Totaled my Dad’s car”) is dated May, 1988.
It’s likely this shenanigan would never have been discovered if the staff hadn’t decided to redecorate. When they dismantled the table, they found this bit of history.
Thanks, Gwen Gregory!
A fantastic holiday greeting from the University of Maryland library.
Thanks, Ed Vermue!
Did you know that librarians get up to shenanigans when they are alone in the library? Well, they do. Thanks, Iris Jastram!
Cornell University’s Olin Library has temporarily installed a patch of grass.
Best shenanigan ever? I think possibly yes.
Thanks, Dina Wood!