“A couple of times each month, lunchtime crowds at the Pop-Up Urban Park in downtown Wichita can get their food-truck cuisine with a side of literature.
The Wichita Public Library, as part of a new outreach effort, occasionally sends “Pop-Up Librarians” to the park at 121 E. Douglas to give away books and tell urban professionals about all the resources the library offers.
“It’s about surprising people with what a library is,” said Stephanie Huff, spokeswoman for the Wichita library.
“We give away books for free on a regular basis with loaning. So this is a little different, but it’s in that same vein of just celebrating the joy of reading for fun and pleasure.”
At least twice a month during the summer – the next event is Tuesday from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. – a staff member from the library’s Central branch packs a few dozen books into a vintage trunk and hauls them the block and a half to the Pop-Up Urban Park.
The books, which have been donated to the Friends of the Wichita Public Library, are free for the taking. And you don’t even have to return them.
Visitors are encouraged to take selfies with the librarian or their chosen book and spread the word on social media with the hashtag #PopUpLibrarian.”
(Read the rest of this article here, and check out all the great photos!)
We are all clear that libraries are awesome places, and the people who work there or who use them must also be awesome people. (The logic is pretty faultless there!)
So it may not be a surprise to learn that there are all sorts of library songs! And, in true library fashion, the New York Public Library has graciously collected them for us: (Read their entire page to get more info and a bunch of photos!)
Formed in Brisbane, Australia in 1977, The Go-Betweens featured the twin talents of singer-songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan. The group released 9 albums between 1981 and 2005. The Forster penned hymn to a librarian named Karen was the b-side to the group’s first single 1978’s Lee Remick. This song is the only one I know that praises a librarian’s readers advisory skills. Forster sings:
A lot of songs that mention libraries seem to be about things happening in the library that are not strictly study related. I couldn’t find a single song about, say, bibliographic instruction or collection development. But that’s OK. In their song “Young Adult Friction,” New York City indie-poppers The Pains of Being Pure at Heart sing about an activity taking place in the library that should not be taking place in a library. Sex and libraries in songs is a common theme. Characters are either hanging around the library before going somewhere to do their courting, or are hoping for a date (or more!) from the sexy librarian. The lyrics to “Young Adult Friction” refer to “stacks” and “microfiche,” and there is a pun on Young Adult Fiction, so bonus points to The POBPAH. Knowledge of library terms also suggests that this group might have spent some time in the reading room.
Enough with all this bookish indiepop. It’s time for some bookish rap, albeit pretend rap. As I write this I am working from the reference desk, so can’t listen to this tune in order to discern it’s musical qualities, but I heartily endorse the sentiment in this sample of the lyrics.
The silence is golden
To books I am beholden
I know I’m bad,
‘Cuz of the knowledge that I’m holdin’!
And I give you one warnin’
There will be no repeats:
Get out of my face
While I’m readin’ my Keats.
I ‘d not heard of MC Poindexter and the Study Crew, so I did some searching online. It would appear that this song appears in the 1990s science fiction show Sliders, in an episode called Eggheads (Season 1, Episode 7). MC Poindexter is actually actor Mark Poyser. Fittingly enough, the episode in question is available to borrow on DVD from The New York Public Library. So you can see and hear for yourself!
Taken from their 1999 Japan only album The Misadventures of Saint Etienne (could I be more obscure?) by the English dance pop group of the same name, Lost in the Library is an instrumental song. So I cannot be sure whether it is about losing oneself in a world of knowledge, of books, prints and photographs, archive folders, and microfiche, or a song about struggling to find the geography section. Or perhaps it’s about a quiet existential crisis in the reading room? Whatever, it’s a plangent, acoustic piece whose mood is most relaxing. Quiet calming. Like the library.
Esoteric musical choices are a necessity in this post as I’m steering clear of library clichés, as mentioned, so I have to take what I can find. It appears that most of the songs in this selction are by acts you probably haven’t heard of. Some are new to me too. Oh well. We’re here to experience new things. Comet Gain, a British indie band founded in 1992, recorded this song for their 2011 LP “Howl Of The Lonely Crowd.” I love the idea of a psychedelic library, where everyone is ecstatically happy, high on the new things they discover. I’m not sure that’s what this song is about , but that’s not my problem. The song says “Music will save you again and again.” Which is a good thing. Where can you find music? In the library. So logically the library can save you again and again. And it does. If you think about it.
All life happens in the library. Green Day is not a band I am very familiar with despite their being much the most well-known act in this post. This song seems rather jolly. I say seems… the protagonist, too shy to talk to the girl he has a crush on, sees her leave the library with her boyfriend. But he’s not bitter. He hopes maybe they’ll meet again someday. Maybe that’ll be in the library? He’s already in the right place to kill time. This song is from the group’s 1990 release 39/Smooth. You can read about, and listen to Green Day using materials held by The New York Public Library.
Spent a week in a dusty library
Waiting for some words to jump at me
I was sure Scots twee legends Belle and Sebastian would have written a song about libraries and librarians, but it seems I may have been wrong. Perhaps a keener fan will know? Fellow countryfolk popsters Camera Obscura do, and seem to have had more luck with love in the library than Green Day, as described in the song French Navy, taken from their 2009 LP My Maudlin Career. Sitting in the library. Looking for some inspiration. Suddenly! Love happens! We can’t guarantee love will happen in your library, but if you don’t go looking for it, you never know what you might find. More microfiche? Not sure how much work these love-struck folk are getting done, but hey, what better place to meet people?
I read your manifestos and your strange religious tracts.
You took me to your library and kissed me in the stacks.
Hmm. Perhaps I am being unrealistic expecting to find lots of songs about collection development, the Dewey Decimal System, and Library of Congress subject terms? Yes. I am. Whether the narrator in this song was taken to a public library I’m not sure. I hope so. This is another sweet song that involves a library. That people are going to libraries is what matters. Use it or lose it people! This is one of The Magnetic Fields more electronic sounding songs.
Library bar-code, PE label
Student must carry this card at all times,
And present upon demand for identification
This card are not while currently [enrolled pony]
You may be liable for any unauthorized use of this card prior to notifying the used card office
In writing, of possible unauthorized use due to loss or theft
I agree to comply with all library regulations
And to assume responsibility for all use made of this card
Wow. This ain’t no Carpenters. Possibly not a song about library cards. I sense something more sinister is afoot. “Students must carry this card at all times” suggests some kind of authoritarian dystopia, as if the library card has ceased to be your free pass to a world of knowledge, and has become a means of control by the state. Perhaps it’s a critique of education? Of Western teaching? I’m not sure. Hmm. Too surreal for me. You can make your own mind up by using your New York Public library card to request materials by and about Frank Zappa: there’s lots to choose from. By the way, if you are worried about privacy issues and your NYPL library card you can review The New York Public Library’s Privacy Policy.
I’d heard of this song from my bandmate, the drumming librarian whose name is Lisa. This is the first time I’ve actually heard this tune. I was thrown because I thought Velocity Girl, out of Washington, D.C. (1989-1996) had a female singer. Which they did usually, one Sarah Shannon. But this is a chap. I clearly need to listen to more Velocity Girl. The recording is a sort of shoegazey meets Pavement affair. Like most shoegaze music, it’s quite hard to make out what the words are from the muffled singing, but…
I’d like to tell you something
But I have to think of something first
I want to visit you at work
It is all quiet
It is so quiet at work
These are the best lines in the song, and the most pertinent to libraries. Our hero needs some inspiration to help him think of something to tell the librarian. How about an icebreaker first? He could borrow from Robert Forster. “What do you have by Hemmingway? Can you recommend a book by Genet? Brecht? Chandler? James Joyce?” I’m sure Lisa, like Karen, will make the right choice. “
As library people, sharing information is our whole purpose. Figuring out strategies for putting together information to share is the key to success for us. So this librarian at Indiana University who has worked so hard to bring information, in the form of music, to patrons is pretty exciting to read about!
“Each day, Michelle Hahn walks downstairs to the basement of the William and Gayle Cook Music Library. The sound recordings cataloger and assistant librarian finds her way through blue and gray bins and stacks of boxes containing reel tapes, vinyl records, CDs and cassette tapes. She passes shelves of records labeled with the names of famous composers like Mozart, Handel, Schubert and Wagner. Then she reaches her office.
The large window in her basement office lets in the sun, which shines through blue and translucent empty plastic reels that used to hold tape filled with music.
It’s in this sunny space at her computer that Hahn makes it possible for almost anyone to access one of the largest academic music libraries in the world.
As a sound recordings cataloger, Hahn inputs information about the library’s collections into IU’s online library catalog, IUCAT. Without that information, the collections wouldn’t be searchable and accessible.
“I make sure people can find what they’re looking for and be sure what they’ve found is what they want,” she said.
Hahn’s behind-the-scenes role at the library gives patrons a roadmap to the 700,000 recordings in the library’s collections, made up mostly of classical music and jazz.
When a new vinyl record needs to be added to IU’s collections and a description doesn’t already exist in another collection, Hahn creates one. When she writes up her descriptions, she includes all of the relevant information that would be needed for someone to find the item, such as a title, names of composers, important dates and locations, the kind of music and the types of musical instruments used.
“Cataloging is intended to help a user search for relevant content, determine whether the content will meet their needs and locate the content,” she said.
Thanks to Hahn, you can easily locate and listen to the oldest Jacobs School of Music recordings from the 1940s and ’50s. The work of music cataloging allows you to hear the jazz of David Baker, founder of IU’s Jazz Studies Program, and listen in on the student performances of renowned violinist and IU professor Joshua Bell from anywhere.
“So much can get lost,” Hahn said. “Cataloging is behind the scenes, but it’s extremely valuable. It’s crucial in the digital information age.” Hahn has helped alumni find and listen to performances by deceased family members. Students have been able to pick their instrument out of a concert they’ve performed in because they’ve been able to locate it with the information Hahn provides. She’s also helped listeners access encore performances that weren’t previously listed in the database’s records.”
“Our current world is awash in constantly expanding, shifting information. Librarians are on the front lines of this information explosion. They are positioned to not only help us navigate knowledge and data, but to make ethically informed choices about how to use it.
The core of a librarian’s job involves information — its organization, access, use, preservation, and production. Librarians’ roles have evolved in the digital age, but remaining steady in the face of these transitions is a core value of the American Library Association, who designated the 2017 National Library Week theme, “Libraries Transform.”
Professional librarians champion access, privacy, intellectual freedom, and social responsibility. These values provide an ethical grounding for librarians, in daily application and in creating a long-term vision for the profession.
Librarians Are Community Knowledge Enablers
The sheer quantity of information available today means that the nature of research assistance work has shifted. While finding information is still a core piece of librarianship, the evaluation process is becoming increasingly important, and librarians are expert partners in this endeavor.
Here are 75 books chosen by the ALA-CBC (American Library Association & Children’s Book Council) Joint Committee to provide guidance to parents, caregivers, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and anyone interested in discovering books for children who read at an advanced level and are seeking more challenging, but still age-appropriate, books.
Reading Beyond downloadable handout with full annotations
“The READING BEYOND lists celebrate the power of books to lift and expand children’s minds, providing reading experiences beyond levels and limits.” —Susan Polos and Janet Wong, co-chairs of the ALA-CBC Joint Committee
The READING BEYOND book lists are comprised of 25 titles in each of three age categories. These books were chosen from over 600 submitted for evaluation by the ALA member librarians of the committee and were chosen for their content, quality, and variety of genre and format. All the book annotations in the handouts available below are original descriptions written by librarians.
The full list of the 75 books are available three ways: as a downloadable handout with full annotations, individual bi-fold handouts (one per category), and a title and author listing by category (below).
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