What's in Your Book?

      You never know what you will find in library books or books donated to the library. As the acquisitions supervisor, I receive all the books donated to our library or those that are being weeded from the collection. In discarded library books I usually only find mundane items such as bookmarks are slips of paper, however, the fun begins with donated books.

      I have found dried pressed flowers, shamrocks, prayer cards, napkins, notes, postcards, receipts, and much more. The above photo is just a sampling from one side of the book truck. My favorite is the letter that came in a returned book. Apparently the book was checked out decades ago as an undergraduate and found during a move. They politely mailed it back with a nice apologetic note. 

      What do I do with these accumulated treasures? I toss everything in a large envelope, except insects and dirty Kleenex, and someday will make a bulletin display of found items. Recognize this? Is it yours? Come and get it. I’ve heard that others have found slices of bacon in returned books. Really, what a waste of bacon! I mean what on earth happened that you grabbed the last slice and used it as a bookmark? What unusual items have you found?

Stereotypes

            I watched “The Age of Adaline” this weekend and it was a pretty good movie overall except for one short piece of dialogue. In the movie Adaline is going home with Ellis to meet his parents at their 40^th wedding anniversary and before they arrive his parents are discussing her.

Harrison Ford (father) “So what’s the story with this girl? She works there?

Mom – “I’ve told you everything Ellis told me.”

HF – “A beautiful girl… (big pause here)…working in a public library?”

What the heck? Are the writers implying that only ugly girls work at public libraries? Are they implying that there is something wrong with working at a public library?

            Mom – “Maybe she likes books and silence.”

HF – “Or maybe she Googled him and found out about his generous contribution and then worked her way into getting her hooks in him.”

            Now this is where the writers again went wrong. As every librarian knows, Google is not the best source for research. She works at the San Francisco Public Library in the archives. She is used to scholarly research and has much better databases to use if she really wanted to find out the dirt on her boyfriend. She already knew that he had made his fortune in economic forecasting and he is the board of director president for a philanthropic organization. With a few clicks she would have this information in a flash from a reputable source.

            What is it about librarians that make them an easy target? People hear that you are a librarian and the comments begin. “It must be nice to just sit and read all day” or “Oh, they still have librarians?” Librarians, for the most part, are stereotyped as introverted, unattractive, timid, or as a know-it-all without social skills. The reality is that librarians are just like everyone. Some are firecrackers that ignite the thirst for knowledge and some quietly lead the way. What librarian stereotypes have you heard? How can we change society’s image of us and do we want to?

Girls Can Be Heroes Too!

I recently read the results of a gender study that looked at 6,000 children’s books published between 1900 and 2000. The study showed that children’s books are twice as likely to feature a male hero as a female heroine and could be reinforcing gender inequality. Personally, I don’t choose books on whether they have a female or male leading character, I enjoy books that have a strong leading characters regardless of gender. However, I do think society encourages young girls to be little princesses waiting to be rescued rather than encouraging them to be confident, resourceful, and rescue themselves. How can we help dispel this image? As librarians, we can help by setting up a book display showing that girls do not have to always be the damsel in distress, that they can be leaders and adventurers. That it is okay for girls to be smart and save the world if necessary.

What books would you put on display? I think a good representation of fun and action-packed stories set in times long past or in future worlds will spark the young adventurer to pick up a book and realize they too can be strong, confident, compassionate leaders. Here are a few to get you started.

1.      Brave Margaret: An Irish Adventure by Robert D. San Souci

2.      The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch

3.      Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

4.      Handbook for Dragon Slayers by Merrie Haskell

5.      The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

6.      The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

7.      The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon

8.      Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith

9.      Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

10.  Anne of Green Gables (series) by l. M. Montgomery

11.  A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

12.  Huntress by Malinda Lo

13.  The Hunger Games (trilogy) by Suzanne Collins

14.  Young Wizard series by Diane Duane

15.  Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Reference

McCabe, Janice, Emily Fairchild, Liz Grauerholz, Bernice A. Pescosolido, and Daniel Tope. 2011. “Gender in Twentieth-Century Children’s Books: Patterns of Disparity in Titles and Central Characters”. Gender & Society, April 2011 25(2): 197-226.