Librarian in a Banana Suit

So, this happened last week:

Saw a little of this:

and a little of this:

and a little of THAT:

…but still none of this:

Maybe next time?

You can click here to see the rest on Flickr ~ my favorite is the mosaic subway octopus!

Nope, not the work of local graf outlaw Ajax, but a photo snapped by an old good friend while traveling.  This was totally someone’s shadow traced on butcher paper, am I right??

It’s a busy week at the library, as always.  I’m juggling summer reading (way fun) and visiting some nearby excellent libraries to share ideas about how to make our patrons happy.   Anyway, thought I’d check in and let you know what I’ve got checked out on my library card right now…

What I’m reading: Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell;  Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger.  (Soon to pick up The Devil in the White City for June’s Last Wednesday Book Club!)

What I’m listening to: Pomegranates: Persian Pop, Funk, Folk & Psych of the 60s & 70s; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

What I’m watching: Ugly Betty, Season 1; Talladega Nights

… iiiiit’s Summer!

This weekend I got to play tour guide to my good friends Cory and Karen, who were visiting from Iowa and looking for a Kansas adventure.  Although they probably would have enjoyed the local Lawrence scene — Sylas & Maddys Ice Cream, the William Burroughs House, Free State Brewery — I thought their visit would be a great excuse to get out and see some of the sights I’ve been wanting to see since moving to Kansas about a year ago.  You know, Council Grove, Holy-Field Winery, The Garden of Eden…

Instead?  I checked out this crazy book from the Library and we wound up 2 1/2 hours north in Marysville, KS, to see some black squirrels.  Sometimes the library will lead you astray.

To be fair, the book makes it sound like a great bet:

“Drive in any entrance to this prosperous river town and you’ll see big signs proclaiming it “The Black Squirrel City.”  Indeed, coal black squirrels have the run of the town, with a city-proclaimed right-of-way on any street, alley, or railroad track.  Anyone who dares hurt one is fined $25.  In 1972, city commissioners made black squirrels the official town mascot, granting them immunity from all traffic regulations, freedom to trespass on all county property, and the first pickings of the town’s black walnuts.

“No one knows for sure where the huge population of black squirrels came from, but the most persistent legend claims a local hooligan unlocked a cage of the dark rodents from a carnival of Gypsies who camped in City Park for three nights in the 1920s.”

But did black squirrels overrun our vehicle when we crossed the city line?  Of course not.  After (creepily) trolling the streets from our car for half an hour, we finally spotted our first black squirrel.  Which ran away.  And then we took some afternoon refreshment at the local taqueria.  At least the salsa was spicy and the company was great!

Today I officially started my new job as the Adult Programs Librarian at Lawrence Public Library!

I’ve gotten my feet wet these past few months by planning our Read Across Lawrence initiative and meeting with community partners for Civil War on the Western Frontier, as well as moderating a book talk or two, but today is the first day I’ve really been empowered to think about the future of programs at our library.  I’m excited to develop a long-term strategy and push the envelope of what public library programs can be.

This is a milestone for me in more ways than one — I’ve had my share of professional supervisory positions in another life, but this is my first full-fledged “librarian” job.  I’m feeling an odd swell of kinship with fake movie librarians like Goldie Hawn, Parker Posey, and Bat Girl.  Onward, librarians!

Hi guys, I just wanted to let you know about some recent updates to Librarian in a Banana Suit that I’m pretty excited about!  In the upper-right corner of the site’s homepage, you’ll see some new page headings: About the Site, Bio, CV, and Publications.  Farewell, mystique.  Hello, information.

Well, somehow it’s become the “book” channel over here lately!  Hi guys, don’t mind me, just the book lady…  But I wanted to chime in briefly tonight to tell you about a New Year’s Resolution I’ve made: I’m going to read more pulp.

Being a librarian, I often get asked about my reading preferences.  As I’ve talked about here, and also here, this often makes for an awkward scenario.  I was that girl who wanted to check off every single title of the Modern Library’s list of the Best 100 Novels when she was sixteen years old.  I have an undergraduate degree in English Literature.  I love Joyce, Woolf, and Faulkner.  Believe it or not, this is kind of embarrassing when you work in a public library.

All this being said, I pride myself on having non-elitist tastes when it comes to lots of media!  Since my awkward teenage years, I’ve gotten over most of my hang-ups with pop music, blockbusters, and reality TV; these days I prefer Jaws to Citizen Kane, Project Runway to The West Wing, and Wu-Tang to Puccini.  What’s become most important to me is really, thoroughly enjoying the story — experiencing it without bias, and deciding from there whether I like it or not.  Plain and simple.  Academia has too much cultural baggage to decide these things on its own.

So why can’t I do that with books, too?

To be fair, I have branched out a little in my reading tastes.  In the last couple years I’ve started dabbling in young adult fiction, graphic novels, and manga.  I even read Twilight!  Maybe the fact that these are niche genres helps; I see them as “other” enough not to encroach upon my beloved literature…

But all that’s going to change in 2011!  This is the year of pulp, of thrillers and bestsellers, of Dan Brown and Nicholas Sparks.  I will no longer shy away when library chit-chat turns to the latest mystery.  And you never know — I might even like it.  Wish me luck!  What should I try first?