Dear reader,
Hello from my new computer! I finally shelled out after insisting I’d go the whole semester without one to conserve some dosh. I’m still shopping the five dollar bin at the flea market and taking my lunch to work in an old bagel bag, though. Balance, baby!
Anyways, I’ve made it through two weeks of library science classes and both new jobs and have seen some things that, naturally, I want to show you. So, without further ado, here are my favorite library school sightings thus far.
Babylonian cuneiform tablets
These three tablets were guests of honor at my history of the book class last Friday.
If you asked me what I thought I’d be doing in my first few weeks of library school, I’d certainly not have said “touching real Babylonian cuneiform tablets with my bare hands,” but here we are. I got to hold the tablet on the bottom, my fingers in the indentations where the original scribe would’ve grasped it. Transcendent!
Papyrus plants
While learning about the history of papyrus, we discovered that the very plant was living by our Birth of Venus fountain right outside the library. Bless her triangular stalks for getting us to a world where we have pulp novels and Twilight.
The Herman B. Wells Memorial Phonebook
Herman B. Wells was the beloved former president and chancellor of IU. I’d never demand a pyramid or a funeral pyre, but I do hope I’m popular enough to merit a memorial phonebook when I kick it.
Meet Amatria: An American Girl
Amatria is an AI sculpture who lives in the main library science building, which is shared with engineering, computer science, and informatics. I think that makes her a woman in STEM. She’s just like me fr! I’ll have to film her whirring and fluttering later.
Who made their buxom bear fursona the mascot of a whole-ass pizza place?
Why is Mother Bear so well-endowed? Is it just me or does her apron getup looks suspiciously backless? Whose doing was this entire thing? And finally, why did I stuff this plate in my tiny backpack and take it home to hang on the living room wall? The world may never know.
The Records Management Squirrel
The RMS lives at the archives where I work and we’ve been tasked with giving him a name. I pitched “Dr. Chumley Coggins, Board Certified Gentleman”, but my sister said that was dumb and he looks more like a “Samuel Treeman”. Vote Chumley!
That’s all for this week, but there’s plenty more to come.
Keep that dial locked on Bookhouse Broad FM if you’re interested in
The 1968 Miss America Protest and why Peggy Dobbins went to jail
Getting down with a 1700s French dance manual
The time I looked Steely Dan up in the rare books and special collections library catalogue and actually got a hit
Medieval manuscripts and miniatures
The signed urinal on display in our local art museum
An opera collab with my sister (send us your questions or drop them in the comments!)
And of course, some more zine-style issues full of fun facts, lore, comics, covers, and fanart
Some final miscellany
📻 If you haven’t already read the Steely Dan collab I did with
last week, make sure to check it out!🖥️ Plankton’s ode to Karen from SpongeBob has been stuck in my head on and off all week. Maybe I should follow Plankton’s lead and serenade Amatria. What compares to, what compares to, your beautiful diodes?
📚 I used to have a “Now Reading” section down here, but most of what I’m now reading is assigned, quite lengthy, and focused on information and linguistic theory or the history of the book. Probably the most interesting-to-non-librarians thing I’m currently getting into is Quantum Criminals, which we were recommended in the comments of the Steely Dan issue. I just started it, but I think it’ll be a fun ride.
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RIP Jimmy Buffett. I raise my fin in a salute to the god-emperor of Margaritaville. Fly high and keep it between the navigational beacons.
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
i thought mama bear furry pizza plate was a library archive relic (dont know why, this is what i imagine is stored in the library) and am so surprised that this is something that exists in the year of our lord 2023