Happy Valentine’s Day to librarians everywhere

I like Valentine’s Day. I always have, whether I’m in a relationship or not. It’s one of those holidays that I try to temper my enthusiasm for because it seems so… dopey or something. My local library just started a “why I love the library” campaign with the paper hearts, just in time for town meeting day which is in a few weeks. Here are a few more library/valentine cross-over links.

• Photo is from NYPL’s selection of Victorian Valentines. There are many more images to look at in their Digital Gallery.
• It is Library Lovers Day in Australia. While the website is terrifically underwhelming [links to pdfs, really? no title in the HTML?] there are some neat things going on: a free sausage sizzle [last weekend, actually], a song from a few years ago, a special morning tea
• The Valentine Public Library is surprisingly not taking advatage of this opportunity.
• Some more promotional tie-ins: How to Love Your Library, Library Lover’s Month in Wisconsin (proclaimed by the governor in 2005), specifics about how to do a valentine-themed fundraiser and more from the Library Support website.
• The Lilly Library at Indiana University lets you send an e-valentine from their Victorian Valentine collection.
• The Peabody Library at Vanderbilt University did a Valentine workshop this week.
• The planned library anti-Valentine’s Day party, however, didn’t go so well.
• Etsy seller simplesongdesigns has a neat valentine for your favorite librarian.
• Wikimedia Commons has many valentines that can be used copyright-free.
• Amusing ephemera from the LoC collection, a valentine bank note form the Bank of True Love.
• And, continuing my search from another LoC item claiming to be from “The Oldest Valentine Manufactory in America“, the I have come across Charles Dickens’ visit to Cupid’s Manufactory available to you in full text via Google Books and truly wonderful.

Happy Valentine’s Day.