SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

GO TEAM

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GO TEAM BOOK WORM!

SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

MICROCOSM

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SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

BUDGET

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BULLETIN BOARDS & DISPLAY : Banned Books Week 2013!

     This post is quite tardy. The library has been very busy. But better late than never, right? Banned Books Week 2013 was September 22-28. I had the library all decorated to support intellectual freedom, and I did presentations about censorship and intellectual freedom for 6 eighth grade English classes. They were all very attentive and polite, and had great questions and participation. Their teacher had them all check out books that had been either banned or challenged, which made for some interesting research coming up with about 200 titles that fit the bill and were currently available in our library.
     She gave them an assignment to read their challenged/banned book and take a stance on whether they agreed or not with the book being challenged or banned, and why. Of course she leaned heavily toward influencing them on the side of intellectual freedom.
     I really liked how the teacher made it very clear in her paperwork for the students that banning a book means removing it from an entire community so that NO ONE has access to it.
     I felt it was totally worth the effort on her part and my part. I loved that the teacher wanted to do such a thorough exploration of a subject that's near and dear to my heart. It gave me the opportunity to talk about my own personal experience with censorship. It's great to see teachers who recognize how important it is to teach kids about the issue, and make sure they understand all the complexities of it. It's not simple or easy.
     I ended up having some great conversations with students regarding the reasons (so-called and real) why some people try to ban certain books. Sometimes it was difficult to find the info, which was also a nice research challenge. ;)
     Here are some pics of what I put up in the library for Banned Books Week, 2013.
   

There's that comic I drew a billion years ago when I worked in the junior high library...

Detail of the "Library Key"

I like this poster.

I like this poster, too. Those robots are cute AND open-minded.

     "Think for Yourself and Let Others Do the Same" poster available from ALA HERE.

BULLETIN BOARDS & DISPLAY : Halloween 2013

Vintage Halloween tablecloth used as bulletin board covering.

     My Aunt Wanda gave me this rad bag full of vintage Halloween decorations. We figure they're from the 1950s, or maybe even the '40s. Some of the stuff was never even opened! Anthony and I put some of it up at home, and the rest I took to the library. My mom helped me put everything up, which was totally fun. Thanks, Mom! Thanks, Aunt Wanda!

Vintage scarecrow as centerpiece of the big bulletin board. (I made the reading tarantula years ago when I worked in the Children's Room of the Santa Ana Public Library.)

     I'm actually ashamed of that half-hearted "WEAVE ME ALONE, I'M READING" slogan. I was in a hurry to come up with something reading-related and also spooky or whatever, and kids were due to come flooding into the library any minute.

Luckily for me there were TWO of these vintage flying saucer witches, so one is at home hovering over our dining table, and the other is coasting across the library whiteboard. She's bitchin'.

     Then this crepe paper honeycomb spider happened!

"Kiss my fat black ass!"

     Rubberhead the Skeleton Man hangs out in the library every year. He's surrounded by potions, ravens, a vintage black cat crepe paper thingie, and horror stories.

Vintage crepe paper honeycomb bats, clip art collage stuff, and spoooooky books! Plus my extended bibliography of horror reading recommendations printed on orange paper.

There's that witch, some skull lights, and that sassy black spider...

Vintage Halloween tablecloth, vintage crepe paper spider, Maurice Sendak calendar, Chris Van Allsburg glowing pumpkin print from "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick," and Alice In Wonderland Halloween scrapbook paper.

I drew that lil' skeleton years ago, and he really needs some new material because he says "The horror… the horror…" every damn year.

    In the picture above, see those two vintage orange and black plastic Halloween decorations? My Librarian gave those to me before she retired. I love them. Thanks, Marilyn!

The End!

SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic) : BANNED BOOKS WEEK

 "A Simplified Cartoon Guide to Banned Books Week"

And here's a vertical version so you can, like, put it on a bookmark or whatever. Just a suggestion.

SMELLS LIKE CRAFT TIME : Duct Tape Wallet Variant

     In case you're interested, I made a quick DIY wallet with an image from that SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY comic I did for the OC Weekly. You can see more of it here:
http://tommykovac.blogspot.com/2013/07/craft-time-diy-wallet.html

SUMMER VACATION : Used Book Store

     If you're interested in reading about one of the stops on our summer road trip vacation, click HERE.

BRIEF HIATUS

SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

IN THE LADIES' ROOM

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SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

TEEN PARANORMAL ROMANCE

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SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic) SUMMER EDITION!

SUMMER IN O.C. SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY

SEE IT IN THE OC WEEKLY SUMMER GUIDE HERE

SEE THE ENTIRE OC WEEKLY 2013 SUMMER GUIDE HERE

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JUST DEWEY

     I thought it would be nice to extract Melvil from the comic I just did and make him his own thing, so I could use it later somehow. So here's just the portrait of Melvil. Actually, he was born "Melville Dewey," but changed it to "Melvil," and then even preferred spelling his last name "Dui," because he was super into phonetic spelling. Kind of a freak.

SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

LIBRARY LEARNIN': SMELLVILLE

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SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

THE FAST & THE FURIOUS

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SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

BERTINA'S BOOK BUNDLES

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BAD BOOK COVERS

     My library is part of a school that is only 14 years old. But that doesn't mean I haven't found some pretty out-dated stuff now that I'm weeding the non-fiction. To my knowledge this is the first time this library has ever been weeded. I'm not a weeder by nature, I'm more of an archival-minded hoarder, but some of this stuff even I have to pitch.

Opportunities In Direct Marketing Careers
Copyright 2000, VGM

      Dude. If the dork on the cover doesn't scare you off, then you're probably already on your way to a grim career in direct marketing.
     If they were publishing that book today, I would hope they'd at LEAST replace the bulky curly noodle-corded land line phone with an iPhone or something.

The Internet for Teachers and School Library Media Specialists
Copyright 1996, Neal-Schuman NetGuide Series

     I love how Miami Vice that cover is. It looks more '86 than '96. And I was expecting to find all sorts of references in it to "The Information Superhighway," and other now-quaint terms. Which I did. But the MOST shocking thing to me was in a chapter written by a teacher on how he had set up a website for his school.
     He proudly shows an example of one of the webpages they set up for an individual student, with a PHOTO of the child, the child's full name, and all sorts of personal information, such as what the child likes to do, his family, their names, etc.
     Great way to provide plenty of tools for would-be child abductors! Good job, guys! I guess internet SAFETY has come a long way, although it seems like it should have been common sense, even back then, not to post all that personal info about children on a public forum.
     The boy whose webpage was printed as an example in this book probably got really sick of dodging strange men who knew his name, the names of his parents, and his favorite hobbies.
   

SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

WHOOPS

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SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

SISYPHUS

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SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

CIRCULAR LOGIC

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SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

HAUNTED

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SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

BOOK BURIAL

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SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

READER'S ADVISORY

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STUDENT FEEDBACK

STUDENT: I saw some of your comics online.

ME: The library-related ones?

STUDENT: Yeah. I wish the Snilby were a real thing.

ME: Thanks! Me, too!

Here's a link to the Snilby's first official appearance:
http://smellslikelibrary.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-snilby.html

SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

IN THE YEAR 2013...

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OW!

     This stupid gigantic reference book, Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War, just fell off a cart and jabbed my arm. It hurts, it's scraped, and it'll probably BRUISE.
     LOOK at it:

     I don't even LIKE the Vietnam War.
     If anybody notices my injury and asks what happened, I'm just going to give a grim shake of my head and say, "Vietnam."

SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL

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BIBLIOBURRO

     Found this image on Tumblr (via "Bookporn") and really like this organic alternative to Bookmobile. You can't PET Bookmobile, right? Well, I guess you could, but it wouldn't be cute and soft and look at you with big limpid eyes. Couldn't feed Bookmobile a carrot. Okay, I guess I've made my point.

SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

HOW BOOKS GET SHELVED: Part Two

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THE BACK CORNER OF THE LIBRARY

     After a period of several hours with the library full of students, I found this in the back corner. And yes, that's a hole torn in her mouth.
     Did YOU do that?
     If so, you should be ashamed. I'm not exactly sure HOW ashamed, and I don't WANT to know. But you should be ashamed.

SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

HOW BOOKS GET SHELVED: Part One

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SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

HOW BOOKS ARE MADE

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SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

ASSBOT

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SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

DONATION

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SMELLS LIKE LIBRARY (the comic)

LITERARY MERIT

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