Jessy Randall's Blog, page 8

Mollat bookstore shenanigan

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The Librarie Mollat, a bookstore in Bordeaux, France, has been Instagramming images of their employees and customers with book covers. Some of them are so perfectly matched it seems unreal!

Thanks, Tom McBride and Bored Panda.

the impact of a book

[image error]This work of art by Jorge Méndez Blake has been shown in several galleries, and images of it are all over the web under the title “The Impact of a Book” and “L’impact d’un livre.” The artist’s title for the piece is Il Castillo / The Castle, after the title of the Kafka book at the bottom of the bricks.[image error]

Thanks, Emma Mitchell!

bookstore shenanigan for Women’s History Month

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Loganberry Books in Cleveland, Ohio turned all the male-authored books in the store page-edges-out to draw attention to women authors during Women’s History Month.

Thanks, Lisa Lister!

Valentine’s Day shenanigans

Libraries and librarians never let me down at Valentine’s Day. The Ramsey County Library posted this excellent valentine on their Facebook page:

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And the Loyola University Library in Chicago, following the lead of several other libraries, put together a Valentine’s Day display of “blind date” books wrapped in brown paper:

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(Thanks, Amy Shuffelton!)

See also this post.

SO MUCH LINKED DATA

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Thanks, Netanel Ganin and the Facebook group Troublesome Catalogers and Magical Metadata Fairies.

alternative facts section of the library

[image error]Check out this sign at the library of the Howard University School of Law.

Thanks, Maryann Corbett!

Addendum (same day): Here’s a related image, from the Facebook page of The Bookloft in Massachusetts. Thanks, Lisa Lister!

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little goofs

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Sometimes the littlest library shenanigans are the best library shenanigans, like when your coworker makes you laugh by goofing around with the foam book supports,

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or when your friend Nick Humez sends you a cartoon about the Dewey Decimal System.

shushing already-quiet people

Um … I’m sorry, everybody. But I had to include this as a library shenanigan. It’s actually like twelve different shenanigans piled together.

Thanks, Marianne Aldrich!

zeppelin reading room

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Look at this gorgeous zeppelin reading room at an art museum in Prague!

Here it is under construction!

So far, I can’t find any photographs of people inside it, but I will add a link later if possible.

Thanks, Diane Westerfield!

ISBN shenanigan

As Curator of Colorado College Special Collections, I recently ordered a copy of Woody Leslie’s book Understanding Molecular Typography. There appeared to be a snag in the cataloging, and the following email conversation ensued:

Cataloger Amy: Hello, Jon (and Jessy),  If this link is behaving as it was for me just now, then you will see the image, with a link, to a Dr. Seuss book to the right of the title I just cataloged, “Understanding Molecular Typography.” Hmmmmmmm…….. [image error]

Systems Specialist Jon: That bib record contains the ISBN for the Dr. Seuss title so it’s pulling the Dr. Seuss book cover image… Correcting or removing that ISBN should fix the problem. I also noticed that a subject heading of Humor is shown on that bib-is that correct?

Amy: I figured it had to do with the ISBN. The ISBN in the record is indeed the ISBN on the title page, so, I’m not sure how one might handle that. About humor, yes, that is correct, despite the rawther serious-sounding title.

Jon: Interesting-so it’s a humor book and they put the ISBN for a Dr. Seuss book on the title page? That’s kinda funny. WorldCat seems to have the same problem: http://www.worldcat.org/title/understanding-molecular-typography/oclc/920580763 –as do the catalogs of all of the other libraries WorldCat shows as holding this title… This is now actually hilarious.

Curator Jessy: Wow. This is fantastic actually! I wonder if they did it on purpose. Maybe I’ll try to contact the author or publisher and see.

Amy: I’d love to know what he says. It’s kind of like a library shenanigan. I mean, why “On Beyond Zebra”?? This is a first, for me.

Jessy: Dear Woody Leslie, As you can see from the email chain, your book is causing some confusion and hilarity at the Colorado College library. We think you did it on purpose. Are we right?

Artist Woody Leslie: Hi Jessy, This really made my day! Thanks for contacting me. Yes, I intentionally appropriated that ISBN number. Understanding Molecular Typography is a fictional textbook by a fictional author about a fictional science — the science of molecular typography, which is based on the premise that all letters are in fact molecules, composed of atomic shape units known as typtoms. One of the ideas of the book is the concept of genetically modified, or invented letters. I used that ISBN number as a tribute to Dr. Seuss’ book On Beyond Zebra, because it’s all about invented letters. I didn’t account for library cataloging of ISBNs when I used it, figuring it would mostly be ignored. I too have noticed the World Cat auto picture selecting based on the ISBN. Glad you were able to sort it all out. There’s more about the book and project here.