Five things people did to me at the library last week 😇

An unfortunately non-exhaustive list

In this newsletter: a secret Libby hack, the fate of IMLS under Trump, hot summer reading picks for young readers, how you can help get books to people who are incarcerated, aaaaand five things people did to me at the library last week!

THE UNFORTUNATELY NON-EXHAUSTIVE LIST:

• A man screamed a flurry of insults and obscenities at me and then bent over and slapped his ass with jubilant gusto WHILST giving me the finger (this wholeass mid-size city’s local theater production was performed for me for FREE for saying he couldn’t use the library’s only restroom to charge his phone and leisure-scroll for a n h o u r)

• A Difficult Regular who’s been given multiple warnings for his piss-poor behavior asked if we were hiring (no)

• A man became angry with me for prolonging his printing process because I dared to replace the ink cartridge. “How long is this going to take?” he whined. I helpfully suggested, “I can put the old ink back in for you if you’d prefer it to look bad. Otherwise, you’ll need to be patient.” He chose to wait patiently after that 😇

• A man came in who needed the bathroom while the key was in use, so when said key was returned, out of the goodness of my foolish heart I brought the key directly to them, and they took it with thanks….and then……….did not use it to go to the restroom, and instead simply held onto it like a Tamagotchi they planned on nurturing into adulthood.

• A Difficult Regular bitched that the printer station is, yes, still just for printing and is not an entirely different device (unclear how he planned to get prints from the non-existent printer station he envisioned, but the human imagination is a wild and wonderful thing, who am I with my logic to stand in the way!)

• FREE SPACE: A man was le shocked Pikachu that we close at the time listed on the doors

  

  Gentle Reader Note: All of the above things happened in the presence of everyone else lucky enough to be in the library at the time (you too could witness such free theater productions if you visit your local library branch!!) & were not private interactions; some identifying details have nonetheless been changed to protect the guilty

Library news

• Court allows Trump administration to proceed with efforts to destroy Institute of Museum and Library Services as case continues: “Washington, D.C. — A federal judge has declined to block the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The ruling, issued today in ALA v. Sonderling, will allow the administration’s cuts at the independent agency while the case proceeds.”

  

• In better news, did you know you can change the skin tone of the lil reader icon on your Libby app? Thanks,

  E.A. Noble
  for the tip!

• Summer reading: My kids (8 & 11) are DEVOURING the following books so I’m here to recommend them if you’re a parent, auntie, etc and to remind you that falling in love with reading can happen lots of ways! The skill of reading is important, but the enjoyment you get from a story is something that need not be bound by a strict set of rules, and that love is what can spur you on to a lifetime of reading and enjoying a good tale. Audiobooks? Amazing. Graphic novels? Awesome. Meet kids where they’re at. Give ‘em the good shit. HOOK EM.

  • GOOD SHIT THAT ISN’T HARRY POTTER 🥰

    • Phoebe and Her Unicorn (what if Calvin & Hobbes were updated and turned into a comic about a girl named Phoebe and her imaginary unicorn friend Marigold Heavenly Nostrils? This is what you get.)

    • Goosebumps (still solid!)

    • The Babysitters Club & Babysitters Little Sister graphic novels (delightfully faithful to the originals while being gently updated for the modern kid)

    • UNBORED: The Essential Field Guide to Serious Fun (great for a gift, consider this the Grown-Up Choice)

    • Forge Your Dragon World: A Wings of Fire Creative Guide (for the kid who’s read all the Wings of Fire books and wants to create their own)

    • The Legend of Zelda manga

    • The Star Wars: Jedi Academy series

    • Officer Clawsome, Lobster Cop (ACAB includes lobster cops but I don’t police my kids’ reading) (that was a cop joke…)

    • Five Nights at Freddy’s graphic novels (really gritting my teeth through this phase but the heart wants what it wants! and right now my son’s heart wants everyone’s favorite horror-filled Chuck-E-Cheez homage; the graphic novel series is “expertly crafted” according to Kirkus, if that is a balm to your soul, dear pained reader)

    • Scary Stories for Young Foxes (great as an audiobook, and short enough to read cover to cover around a campfire over a few days of camping)

Support Public Libraries & People Who Are Incarcerated at the Same Tiiiiime 🙌

• Finally, there’s some new library merch over at my shop! 20% of profits from the new merch goes to the Women’s Prison Book Project, which “provides women, trans, and gender expansive people in prison with free reading materials on many topics including education (dictionaries, GED books, etc.), health, fiction, law, self-help, and crafts. The books are individually selected for each person based on their requests, which come through handwritten letters.” The platform I use for merch allows me to send the 20% directly to a registered nonprofit, so I thought, well heck why not! People behind bars deserve books too. Shirts come in XS-4XL (when available) & a variety of colorways, as well as children’s sizing:

  

Protect Public Libraries (or else); Read Books Stay Weird Be Kind; Free People Read Freely

And that’s what you missed on glee!

hayley