Jessy Randall's Blog, page 2
September 27, 2022
shenanigan involving Nabokov’s galoshes
Marcia was at Cornell University in the late 1950s, when Vladimir Nabokov was teaching there. In the video below, she relates a story involving his galoshes. Visuals by Jonathan Caws-Elwitt.
Why does this count as a library shenanigan? Jonathan and I are glad you asked. As this Google Books screen-grab shows, Goldwin Smith Hall contained a small reference library in 1920.
That takes care of the “library” part. How is it a shenanigan? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s a sort of accidental shenanigan? Don’t quibble.
April 1, 2022
April Fools Day is a good day for shenanigans
We here at Library Shenanigans always appreciate a good April Fools Day blog post, even when it’s perpetrated by … ourselves.
December 8, 2021
Tilda Swinton as Libraries
January 21, 2021
Bernie and his mittens
The Cleveland Heights – University Heights Public Library posted this image to their Facebook page with the caption “Waiting for your hold when it’s cold out.”
Thanks, Simona Mkrtschjan!
Thanks, Pam!
August 27, 2020
Boris Johnson and the revenge of the school librarian
Apparently, one of the books behind him is Roald Dahl’s The Twits, though we can’t see it.
Thanks, Janey Street Thornton!
July 28, 2020
Illusion of nudity
Or maybe real nudity. The crazy kids in at Thornton Community College in Harvey, Illinois included this photograph in their yearbook for 1970. A nude or scantily-clad young lady protects her modesty by posing behind library shelves with carefully-placed books. I certainly hope you put all the books back where they were supposed to be, yearbook people!
Thanks, Craig Conley!
July 21, 2020
Bodley and the Bookworms – Scan and Deliver
And then you’ll want to see how faithful it was to the original (pretty faithful!)
Thanks, David Kay!
June 8, 2020
1974 Craigdarroch Streaking
Library Shenanigans has long prided itself on bringing you information about streaking in libraries. Herewith, two articles from the University of Victoria student paper, March 14, 1974, about streaking in the Craigdarroch College Library and elsewhere on campus:
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The newspaper is available at the Internet Archive.
Thanks, Craig Conley / Professor Oddfellow!
April 3, 2020
CC students build the library in Minecraft!
Colorado College students, sent home at Spring Break to help stop the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), are recreating the whole campus virtually in Minecraft! Yes! They are! And Tutt Library is already built!
Eliza Merrall, Katie Wang, Arity Sherwood, Patrick McGinnis, and Daniel Turevski are the freaking AWESOME ARTIST-GENIUSES who started up the project:
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They soon learned that incoming first year students, members of the class of 2024, had a similar idea:
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The Merrall et. al. version of Tutt Library is amazingly detailed and accurate. Here’s the south entrance, with the statue of Chas, in real life:
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and in Minecraft:
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Even the interiors are detailed and accurate. At least one librarian — we’re not saying who — has made sure his office has correct signage.
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Thank you, CC minecrafters, for brightening up all of our quarantines and making us miss each other even more than before!
November 6, 2019
raccoons in the library
Oy vey. Raccoons at the Arkansas State University Library.
This is not the first time raccoons have perpetrated library shenanigans.
Thanks, David Kay!


