Ken exhibition

August 2023: The St. Thomas Public Library in Ontario, Canada has an exhibition of books by people named Ken.

Presumably, Kenneth Grahame, Ken Kesey, Kenneth Koch, Kenneth Patchen, and Kenneth Rexroth are just out of view.

Thanks, Ilana Armzallag!

Bay County Library tiktok shenanigans

The Bay County Library System in Michigan is tearing it up on tiktok with hilarious library shenanigans such as

@baycountylibrarysystem

Wait, is this not standard practice? ✨️😳 😂 Brightyn slays in the stacks 🕺@Cincy Library #librarytiktok #fyp #library

♬ original sound – Cincy Library

and

@baycountylibrarysystem

#duet with @Troy Public Library #Duet Easy enough for us to do!! Libraries are a hot trend – come visit us! 📚 #library #librarytiktok #michiganlibraries

♬ original sound – St Charles City-County Library

For an unlimited time only!

The New York Public Library is offering some fantastic deals for Black Friday!

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 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.

Colorado College Special Collections blog, April 1, 2022

Tilda Swinton as Libraries

Sometimes Twitter really gets it

https://mobile.twitter.com/JudeAtwood/status/1468030063819964424

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!

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!

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!

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!