one link from a book

My friend Matthew works in a bookstore and we talk about bookish things often. From my inbox: “So, we just got this silly book in at the store called “The Lazy Person’s Handbook: Shortcuts to Getting Everything You Want with the Least Possible Effort” [link]

Chapter two is “The Short Cut to Arriving at the Right Answer” – it consists of five successive steps (e.g. guess, process of elimination, google it, ask random folk, etc.) – but #5 is Ask a Librarian then they say:

‘When all else fails, turn to the information experts. Today’s librarians are not your parents’ librarians. They are highly trained information specialists, with wide-ranging knowledge of subject areas, information sources, & search tools.'”

I’m not sure if being low on the lazy list is better than being high on the lazy list, but I guess it’s an honor just to be nominated, huh?

librarians trying to break Guinness Book’s read aloud record

Librarians from Henderson District Public Libraries [NV] are trying to break the Guiness Book record for reading aloud right now. Their goal is 100 hours, thoroughly smashing the existing record of 81 hours and 15 minutes. Read their blog, see their Flickr pictures, learn more. From an email I got from them

We are sleep-deprived, punchy, and silly, but the Henderson staff and other libraries throughout the state seem to be getting a kick out of it.

Anyhow, this is the most bizarre thing I’ve done in the name of libraries and reading yet!

Oh, why are we doing this? We have recently purchased a bookmobile. We have gotten local corporate sponsors, and the money from that will go to our nascent outreach program. We are also highlighting literacy as well.

update: “Jessamyn West is excellent about posting bizarre crackpot stunts in the library world.” may have to be my new tagline