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Books & Beer

If you’ve been following that other blog I contribute to, you may already know that tonight I’m getting together with a bunch of Larryville book nerds to talk about Haruki Murakami’s 925 page odyssey, 1Q84. We’ll be drinking PBR at the Taproom at 7:30 p.m.

AWESOME 1Q84 art project via http://portfolios.sva.edu/gallery/Its-Only-a-Paper-Moon/2808011

Besides being hipper than your mom’s book club, we love seeing new people, especially after we’ve had a beer or two. If you live in Larry and have been reading your way through 1Q84, come on down!

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Categories Banana Suit Life

Totoro, SOPA, and My Weekend Project

15 Jan

My new hobby has got me thinking a lot about intellectual property. When you’re relaxing on the sofa with a ball of yarn, the mind tends to wander. So, I started wondering, who ‘owns’ this cute lil stuffed Totoro I just made?

The pattern for this handsome little guy comes from LucyRavenscar, the British crochet maven who makes among the best amigurumi around. In her pattern, which she gives away for free on the internet, she specifies: “This is a free pattern of my design, so please do not sell it. Otherwise, use as you like, but if you make this Totoro to sell you must include a link to this pattern. Thank you!”

Copyright enthusiasts might scratch their heads. Why would she possibly give this away for free, especially when she already has an online storefront at Etsy? Let’s extend this argument to libraries: why should publishers let libraries “give away” ebooks for free, for instance? (more…)

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Categories Banana Suit Life, News Tidbits

Librarian’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

4 Jan

Ladies & gentlemen, I grew up in a family that lived and breathed the Mormon edict to “be prepared!” My three brothers are Eagle Scouts. We had a shelter custom-built in our basement to store a year’s worth of food for seven.

Yet it wasn’t until I went to grad school that one of my favorite professors finally put the fear of god in me. “What are you all planning to eat during the next natural disaster?” she demanded to know as we covered the emergency preparedness segment of her Organizational Management syllabus. “You sure can’t wait until after the disaster happens to get prepared.” Then she told us to all get guns.

Literally since that day, my husband and I have been on our path to emergency preparedness. If you’re interested in making your own kit, your friendly internet librarian in a bananasuit suggests checking out the Center for Disease Control (CDC), FEMA, and the Mormons, all who have great emergency preparedness resources. There’s even an excellent US Army Survival Manual that’s been floating around on Reddit. And my husband’s and my own personalized list is available here. Any way you slice it, your survival kit should cover these seven essential categories: (more…)

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Categories Banana Suit Life

A Year of Librarianship.

30 Dec

My job at the public library is fun, and sometimes hard, just like any job. This March, I started a new position as my library’s Adult Programs Librarian, which has been rewarding, satisfying, challenging. Sometimes I lose track of what’s up, exactly, and just how much we’ve all accomplished. As my library school advisor would say, it’s because I’m working in “The Swamp” (does he think that’s supposed to make it better?).

But, here and now, on December 30, this is my chance to step back from the murky stuff right in front of my face, and look back to see just how far we’ve come. We really have been up to some pretty neat stuff.

one

Authors Candice Millard, Charles Shields, Bill James, Stanley Lombardo, and Nancy Pearl all stopped by to speak at my library. Maybe you met them. They’re all amazing.

two

I threw a big library party with Cathy Hamilton (desserts! European cruises! tour guides!), and learned about the Manic Mouth Congress.

three

I wore my banana suit to a block party. Hearts of Darkness played hip hop, and babies danced with Yogi Bear.

four

I tried to help Lawrence win a $100,000 energy efficiency grant, and was taken down by Manhattan (KS)’s EcoKat. I did win a $25,000 grant for my library from the Kansas Health Foundation.

five

I collaborated with Lawrence Magazine and Jason Barr to create a giant version of their John Brown Paper Doll and Disguise Kit. We installed it in the front lobby of my library, and our community played giant paper dolls (more…)

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Categories Banana Suit Life, I Swear This Happened at the Public Library

Merry Creature

24 Dec

Today I offer a personal post ( … with a library tie-in, of course!).

Last month, Aaron and I decided to teach ourselves how to crochet and checked out Creepy Cute Crochet: Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, and More! from our public library. A few days later, we were chaining, single crocheting, double crocheting, half-double crocheting, treble crocheting, and more. We have YouTube Donna to thank for showing us how.

Together, we crocheted 31 tiny devils, ninjas, aliens, vampires, robots, knights, clerics, grim reapers, Amazon warriors, skeletons, and Cthulhus between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Affectionately, we have called these our “Creatures,” and we hope you like them as much as we do.

Ever since our felted piggy incident two Christmases ago, we’re addicted to giving DIY gifts. We like that it makes gift-giving a little more personal, and we get to have fun spending extra time together in the weeks leading up to the holidays, too.

I think I’m partial to the tiny Cthulhus, maybe just because I really like their wiggly eyes. I’m also fond of the devils’ curly tails. To see photos of all the creatures we made, plus close ups, click here to head over to the Flickr album. Merry Creature!

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Categories Banana Suit Life

Ten, and Ten Thousand

30 Nov

We hit some major milestones this November, guys. Earlier this week, my cat Lupa turned ten years old. We sang her Happy Birthday and gave her a spoonful of cream cheese.

And, just a few weeks ago, Librarian in a Banana Suit welcomed its 10,000th visitor. Welcome to the library, everyone, the librarian is in!

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Categories Banana Suit Life

Being a Librarian in a Book Club

23 Nov

Readers, I’m going to let you in on a dirty little secret. Today’s librarians cringe a little when you talk to us about books and reading. Come on, guys: it’s the Information Age, and all of your librarians went to “Library and Information Schools.” Maybe even just an “Information School.” Many of us came into librarianship because we liked to read, but left “professionalized” with all these fancy ideas about how our core calling is to bring Information to the people. That’s what happened to me.

These days, I am what I’m beginning to think of as a rehabilitated reader. Sure, my heart still palpitates over social media, government docs, and information literacy. But there’s one thing you just can’t shake when people find out you’re a librarian. They really wanna talk about books.

A few months ago, my buddy Nog and I formed a little book club on a lark. If you want to witness the saltier side of your friendly neighborhood Librarian in a Banana Suit, head on over to our PBR Book Club blog. It’s a group for bookish hipsters, and we are actually mostly boys. That’s what happens when you combine books with beer. At our inaugural meeting there were only five of us, and we were discussing David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas. We started by shotgunning a few PBRs to ease any tension, and then Nog — who teaches college English courses — cleared his throat. “Umm, I don’t really know how to do a book group.” And then he turned expectantly to me.

“Oh my god,” I realized, “they expect me to know what I’m doing because I’m the librarian.”

(more…)