Libraries (and Librarians) are All That Poetry Contest Winner!

I’m still sneezing hard enough to peel an esophagus and generally feeling like the virus that hit me was driving a cement truck, but I’m lucid enough to know that I’ve been remiss in not declaring a winner sooner than this—I’m sorry again for the delay!

There were eight entries in this particular Contest—four by comments and four via e-mail—which is a terrific turnout and I thank you all for both playing along and for the lovely compliments you made to libraries and those who run ‘em on your behalf.

I couldn’t find the Pink Cowgirl Hat of Win—sadly, it may have passed out of our lives during the last Cleaning of Playroom—but Sunny’s Cubs Hat of Maybe Next Year worked just fine.

Special Recognition goes to Mike A., whose poem was a huge hit with our library pages; indyclause, who was put int the Hat twice because she managed to include Nantucket in a seemly manner; Kev, who was almost taken out of the hat for not managing the seemly; lilligriff, because she’s awesome; Lisa Blackman for making me cry (again, sheesh); Wandarer for working that rhyme scheme; ; senojeiram, whose poem contains everything  I love about libraries; and anonymice for a terrific sonnet that I wish s/he’d let me share.

But there can only be one winner because I run these things on a librarian’s budget, so—

The winner of the $20 gift certificate to Amazon  is

senojeiram!

Let me know where to send it, and I’ll do so!

Random Thursday: Bad Librarians Do It With You

It’s Random National Library Week Thursday!

Have you given your librarian chocolate today?

Would you like a librarian to give chocolate to?

Because I could totally be that librarian.

___________________________

The Librarian Song

Joe Uveges wrote a song for the Colorado Librarian’s Association five or six years ago and a friend sent it to me a couple days ago.

Most of the librarians I know would have been in the peeing section.

Yeah, that doesn’t sound right, but you know what I mean.

(thanks, Kev—you owe me a keyboard)

ooooooooooooooooOOOOOoooooooooooooooo

We do, Actually

(via Watson, who appreciates literacy in a tall man)

ooooooooooooooooOOOOOoooooooooooooooo

Stay Informed, My Friends

No, Paul, that’s not me.  At all.  But I’m flattered you asked.

ooooooooooooooooOOOOOoooooooooooooooo

Share the Love

In honor of National Library Week

The Poetry Wednesday Ode to Libraries (and Librarians) Contest
challenges you to get your poetry on!

Rules and Regs are here.

As of this post, we already have five names ready for the Hat of Win.

You have until the 20th to post your Libraries (and Librarians) Are All That poem in the comments of  the post I’ve now linked up three times in this one section.

Seriously, it’s easy:

Librarians know
Where All the Secrets Are Kept
Do not tick them off.

See?*

ooooooooooooooooOOOOOoooooooooooooooo

I Wanna Be a Bad Librarian!

Or at least work for the Jonesboro Public Library System, because they’re definitely in the peeing section.

Yeah, still doesn’t sound right.  But you still know what I mean.

Wonder if they’re hiring?

_____________________

*My husband suggested that I get someone to translate this into kanji or rōmaji for my next tattoo.  Hmmm . . .

Poetry Wednesday: I F%$&ing Love the Library

As I mentioned last year during National Library Week, most poems about libraries are sticky with cotton candy rhymes and syrupy sentimental nostalgia for days that never were—I’m paraphrasing—but I managed at the time to find a few that weren’t written with children in mind (check ‘em out, pun intended).

I didn’t think I’d be that lucky this year and had planned to do another poetry contest in which I would bribe you with an Amazing Prize in exchange for writing an original poem about how libraries are sacred trusts worthy of all tax levies and librarians the most wondrous creatures ever to interpret the vagaries of the cataloging systems on your behalf and admonish you in dulcet tones to turn off your cell phone, please, and the young ladies on that screen had better be wearing clothes, mister—and the goat, too.

But then I found this, by Laura Brown Lavoie:

And remembered this one, by Taylor Mali, on the importance of academic libraries:*

Note the distinct lack of rhyme and the surplus of awesome.

We clearly need more of these library (and librarian)  affirmations in poetry form . . .

So I guess I’m throwing a bribefest contest after all!

Your challenge: Write a poem about libraries and/or librarians and share it  in the comments of this post (or e-mail it to me).  If you do, your name will be entered into the Hat of Win for an Amazing Prize.**

Any type of poem, any (or no) rhyme scheme, four line minimum.   Anyone who sends me a video of their original slam poem automatically gets a Special Prize, because whoa.

The usual rules apply:

1. If you write a poem with phrases that rhyme with Nantucket or otherwise use innuendo that goes beyond what my kids are savvy enough to detect, e-mail it to me.  If you don’t know the difference (Kev), e-mail me just to be sure.

2.If you don’t want to share your poem with the general public, e-mail it to me and remind me not to post it—I retain the right to argue (liligrif) but I’ll respect your wishes.  If you win and prefer I don’t know your mailing address,   we’ll work something out.

3. If you’re related to me by known biology or marriage, you’re welcome to write a poem, but you can’t win.  Sorry.

4. National Library Week ends April 20th, and so does this contest, at Midnight CST (that’s Chicago time).

If you have any questions, let me know.

And if you can’t bring yourself to write a poem, go tell your local library staff how much you appreciate them.***  If you get a photo of it and send it to me, I’ll toss your name in the Hat.

_____________________________________

* I know I’ve shared it before, but that was for a Random Thursday last August, so I can totally use it again.  Taylor Mali bears repeating as often as possible, anyway.  And it’s my blog.

** “She calls that a prize?  Amazing . . . “

***If you don’t appreciate them, then . . . I got nothin’.

Something to be Shared (A Child of the Library)

The eminently talented Piers Cawley would like us to share this with everyone we know:

It would be a great and good thing if you would.

A Child of the Library

Chorus:
I’m a Child of the Lib’ry, it made me who I am,
It taught me about freedom and the fellowship of Man
A sea of story waits for you behind the lib’ry door,
Don’t say we can’t afford them any more.

The Lib’ry’s where I made some friends I’ve known my whole life through
The Walkers and the Blacketts and the Pevensies so true.
Simp the canine cannonball, Galadriel the fair.
The daughter of a pirate king and Paddington the Bear

I’ve travelled South with Shackleton and all his gallant crew
And to the African interior that Mary Kingsley knew
I’ve rode the trackless prairie where the bison used to roam
An travelled round the Universe, not half an hour from home.

And as I grew the libr’y fed my curiosity,
All there for the asking. All of it for free.
It’s there I found the stories that I couldn’t find at home.
It’s where I learned I was myself and not my father’s clone.

So make friends with your library, don’t let it fade away.
Teach your kids the lib’ry’s where you go on Saturday.
Don’t let the bastards tell you they will cost to much to save
While they’re shovelling our taxes down the hole the bankers made

So make a stand for the lib’ry. Stand up while you can.
Stand up for your freedom. Stand for your fellow man.
Ignorance is never bliss, don’t close the lib’ry door.
For a lib’ry lost is lost forever more.

Lyrics © 2011 Piers and Gill Cawley
Music © 2011 Piers Cawley

Licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA License.

Random Thursday: Libraries Gone Wild!

People send me the best library stuff!

_______________________________

The Confusing Library

The Two Ronnies, being Ronnieful.  In a library.

Win!

(Thanks, Patrick!  You’re right—no Anglophile  worth the name should miss the Ronnies!)

oooooooooooooooooooOOOOOooooooooooooooooooo

A Shanghaied Library—in Shanghai!

My dear friend firstmausi went to China with her family a few weeks ago, and took these photos especially for me:

A self-service kiosk library, right across from where they were staying.

____

She can’t tell me the scope of the collection, because they’re all in Mandarin, but I’m sure there’s a variety.

____

I might have been conflicted a bit at this point (Technology=cool!  Job Insecurity=bad!),
but the last image saved the day:

This young man, who presumably knows Mandarin, tried for five minutes to get a book out of this machine and couldn’t.

As firstmausi says, “You see, librarians are not replaceable!!!”

oooooooooooooooooooOOOOOooooooooooooooooooo

“I’ll Fight for the Library”

My husband thinks my laugh is twice as weird while I’m trying not to spray my keyboard
with the  ill-advised mouthful of iced tea I took while watching this.

So you might want to put down your glass (and be prepared to adjust the volume slightly).

The establishment is also not responsible for any damage done by enthusiastic, victory air-punches.

Told you.

(Thanks Jodie—you’re even cooler than advertised)

oooooooooooooooooooOOOOOooooooooooooooooooo

Speaking of Ninjas  . . . .

We’re not hiding from you . . .
We’re hiding from the other patrons . . .

(Found this one myself . . .so to speak)

oooooooooooooooooooOOOOOooooooooooooooooooo
And Now, Another Classic Muppet Moment

Technically, this isn’t about a wild library,
but it does show two aliens going wild over a book,
and I just couldn’t pass it up:

I like the smell of books, myself, but I guess these guys don’t really have noses, anyway.

(Can’t remember who sent me this one . . . Kev?  The Muppet vids are usually yours?)