Tuesday, May 09, 2006

No snickering in the library...


...unless you're hooked on Unshelved.--Seattle Times article

I love this comic strip. As Bill Barnes, the co-creator of Unshelved points out, Dewey (the young-adult librarian) says the things people in service jobs think while they're smiling and helping out patrons who are having "difficult" days.

I preorder all of the Unshelved books. One book has is autographed with a picture of Tamara, the children's librarian, performing jujitsu on an unsuspecting patron. My latest volume has a sketch of The Shusher next to the autograph. I have a "What happens in storytime stays in storytime" tee-shirt, but have refrained from getting the "Book Club" shirt simply because I am a poor attendee of book clubs.

By the way, regarding "one of their spiels [that] involves an image of children's librarians as idealistic souls who jump and clap their hands when they're happy," I have just one thing to say in response:

Yeah, what of it?!

***
From the Unshelved website: Article Errata: It used to be true that 90% of our readers work in libraries, but these days we've gone more mainstream. That number is down to about 75%, which with 30,000 readers means a solid 7,500 of you need another excuse to be enjoying our brand of humor. And that photo of Gene and me? That was our "goofing off" pose. It stands to reason that was the one they chose for the article... --Bill Barnes

4 comments:

Lone Star Ma said...

More fodder for my wish-I-was-a-librarian depression! Sounds hilarious.

I have missed reading of you the last few days.

Anonymous said...

yeah, i get it delivered to my e-mail address daily. it's a must-read for librarians and a should-read for everyone else.

Liz said...

I'll definitely check it out. Is it done totally in an absurdist vein? I love absurd humor. I read the actual comics in the paper today for the first time in like 7 years. I think the plot for Judge Parker is the same as it ever was. And exactly how many comics do we need about family life? Honostly. And for the love of Pete won't Beetle Bailey just die already.

PS: Can't get on Brad's site. Do you know what's up?

Saints and Spinners said...

Nonny: The Shusher (TM) is a bit absurd! I haven't read comics in the newspaper since Watterson stopped doing "Calvin and Hobbes."

ABCGirl: Before we know it, we'll be booktalking comic strips as well as graphic novels!

Lone Star Ma: Thanks! I've been checking out your website on a daily basis, but haven't been commenting as much as usual. The month of May is turning out to be quite busy.