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Every term, I take the students on four library tours, give or take (they go on four, anyway, but I've missed one or two through the years). This means I've sat through each tour approximately 3-4 times,. and I know the librarians who give them fairly well. This year, however, things have been a little different, because the librarians are engaging in Wacky Hijinks.
First, the Government Documents tour. This is where the gov docs folks give the students a general idea of what kinds of things we have in the collection, and then take them downstairs and show them where the microfilm are (it's scary how many kids in their 3rd or 4th year don't even know we *have* a basement) and how not to get killed by the compressed shelving. It's been given by the same guy forever, according to Dr. P.... except this year. This year, the crazy librarian has gone off to join the National Guard, and is away on basic training. Now, let me say that he is not a young man (late thirties at the youngest), not is he by any means in shape. A certain professor described him as a "little doughboy". Thinking of him in any kind of military service boggles my mind quite severely. If it helps, think of him as a little boggan librarian: short, kind of round, and generally helpful.... But also in a way that makes you wonder if he has ever had a girlfriend and maybe still lives with his mother. Yeah, National Guard training... Madness. I guess he turned into a super patriot of some kind after 9/11 and decided that this was the best way for him to show his support for his country or something. Yeah. You know, now that I've made that boggan analogy, he reminds me of the kind of character Coristine might try to pass off as a serious concept ;p
The North Carolina tours this term have both been fairly interesting this school year. last term, you may recall I posted on the day I was off to see Serenity that it was hosted not by the head of the collection, as usual, but by a mister M(att) Reynolds ;) This time was almost better. See, the head of the collection is just, well... Pull out of your minds a picture of a dignified southern gentleman/librarian. He's tall, well dress, immaculately groomed, speaks well but softly, and is known to sport cardigans frequently. he is generally helpful, knowedgeable, and very very polite. Today when I came in, I noticed that he had a cut under his left eye. This was definitely strange...I amused myself by picturing a scenario wherein he might get in to a fight.... An engagement of fisticuffs over a matter of honour perhaps? Though my brain could supply a few other scenarios for the injury (tripe into a stack of books? ;), I *also* notices that the knuckles of his right hand were all scraped up as well. So I'm going to go with my first instincts on this one, because it seems so especially out of character and looking for these little amusements helps me pass the time ;)
And those are the Wacky Librarian Hijinks. There is one more tour to do, so I guess we'll see if the trend continues. I missed the first one this year as I was at SHA.
I also grabbed about a million zillion books from the library today to help research about a million zillion topics - The Hanseatic League and the Bremen cog, 17th-18th-century pottery, and viking ships, to be specific. Three... that's *like* a million zillion, right? I promise I have ore than three books, and now I am off to pour through them, and maybe hunt and kill something for lunch. Maybe some ramen. It's easy prey and I'm very familiar with its traditional 'kitchen cupboard' habitat.
First, the Government Documents tour. This is where the gov docs folks give the students a general idea of what kinds of things we have in the collection, and then take them downstairs and show them where the microfilm are (it's scary how many kids in their 3rd or 4th year don't even know we *have* a basement) and how not to get killed by the compressed shelving. It's been given by the same guy forever, according to Dr. P.... except this year. This year, the crazy librarian has gone off to join the National Guard, and is away on basic training. Now, let me say that he is not a young man (late thirties at the youngest), not is he by any means in shape. A certain professor described him as a "little doughboy". Thinking of him in any kind of military service boggles my mind quite severely. If it helps, think of him as a little boggan librarian: short, kind of round, and generally helpful.... But also in a way that makes you wonder if he has ever had a girlfriend and maybe still lives with his mother. Yeah, National Guard training... Madness. I guess he turned into a super patriot of some kind after 9/11 and decided that this was the best way for him to show his support for his country or something. Yeah. You know, now that I've made that boggan analogy, he reminds me of the kind of character Coristine might try to pass off as a serious concept ;p
The North Carolina tours this term have both been fairly interesting this school year. last term, you may recall I posted on the day I was off to see Serenity that it was hosted not by the head of the collection, as usual, but by a mister M(att) Reynolds ;) This time was almost better. See, the head of the collection is just, well... Pull out of your minds a picture of a dignified southern gentleman/librarian. He's tall, well dress, immaculately groomed, speaks well but softly, and is known to sport cardigans frequently. he is generally helpful, knowedgeable, and very very polite. Today when I came in, I noticed that he had a cut under his left eye. This was definitely strange...I amused myself by picturing a scenario wherein he might get in to a fight.... An engagement of fisticuffs over a matter of honour perhaps? Though my brain could supply a few other scenarios for the injury (tripe into a stack of books? ;), I *also* notices that the knuckles of his right hand were all scraped up as well. So I'm going to go with my first instincts on this one, because it seems so especially out of character and looking for these little amusements helps me pass the time ;)
And those are the Wacky Librarian Hijinks. There is one more tour to do, so I guess we'll see if the trend continues. I missed the first one this year as I was at SHA.
I also grabbed about a million zillion books from the library today to help research about a million zillion topics - The Hanseatic League and the Bremen cog, 17th-18th-century pottery, and viking ships, to be specific. Three... that's *like* a million zillion, right? I promise I have ore than three books, and now I am off to pour through them, and maybe hunt and kill something for lunch. Maybe some ramen. It's easy prey and I'm very familiar with its traditional 'kitchen cupboard' habitat.
silly