themarcofthebeast:

[The Playboy Sheikh’s Virgin Stable-Girl, 2009]

Not only is this one of the worst titles of all time, the text apparently includes sentences like this:

“Kaliq dismounted with the same speed and grace as he would remove himself from the body of a woman he had just made love to.”

WHAT?

See the SBTB review (http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/blog/the-playbot-sheikhs-virgin-stable-girl-by-sharon-kendrick) for more incredibly awesome terribleness.

papersquared:

gerrybaboona:

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PHOTOSET IN THE WORLD

I will just randomly sing this to myself at various points during the day.

What kind of magic spell to use?

(via geekedlibrarian)

candypsa:

The entire haul. We only tested four because … we already had ice cream for lunch today.

Ris
Billed as “milk chocolate with rice kris pies,” we were both shocked at the size of the rice. (We’re used to Nestlé Crunch.) The rice balls were large, about the size of Kix cereal….

Our afternoon endeavor…

thepierglass:

me writing essays

This remains one of my very favorite film quotes OF ALL TIME. 

Also exactly how I would bump up word count in procrastinated essays in college.

I <3 Kronk!

sophiebiblio:

Abby Morrow has some extraordinarily simple and smart advice for you on successful program promotion. Her experiences are in working with babies, kids & teens (or as she catchily calls them, “young patrons”) but her suggestions should work for programming librarians working with any age group. Don’t miss it!

Read Abby’s blog: http://thelupinelibrarian.me/

And follow her on Twitter: @lupinelibrarian

sarahlcomics:

Afternoon lull quickie chart.

TEA also an option

(via ilovecharts)

oupacademic:

natgeofound:

Victoria amazonica water lilies can reach 20 feet in circumference and support up to 300 pounds each. Perching children atop the massive leaves was all the rage in water gardens of the time. Salem, North Carolina, c. 1892.
Photograph by Frank Hege, National Geographic

Did you know the Victoria amazonica was originally named the Victoria regia in honor of Queen Victoria? The discovery and history of this amazing flower reveals a cultural history of the British Empire from the swamps of Guiana to the Crystal Palace. 

Whoa.

(via themonicabird)

oupacademic:

Happy National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day! 

Baking chocolate was melted before its incorporation into cookie dough until the 1930s, when Wakefield, the owner of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, created the “Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie,” which later became known as the chocolate chip cookie. Her original recipe, from Toll House Tried and True Recipes, calls for cutting bars of Nestlé semisweet chocolate into very small pieces, which are then added to a basic butter cookie dough. When sales of semisweet chocolate soared in New England, Nestlé investigated, and the company began producing scored chocolate bars packaged with a small chopper. In 1939, the company introduced semisweet chocolate morsels and signed a contract with Wakefield allowing the company to print her recipe on every package. The shortcut formula for adding chocolate to cookies was a big success, and the chocolate chip continues its reign as America’s favorite homemade cookie.

From the “Cookies” entry by Becky Mercuri in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Second Edition, edited by Andrew F. Smith. The entire entry is available to read for free until the end of the month.  

And stay tuned for pictures from OUP USA office bake-offs! 

Photo by Alice Northover, cookies by Alana Podolsky for Oxford University Press.

And now I NEED chocolate chip cookies. Right now.

Statistics Dashboard | Traverse Area District Library

Click through - this library’s stats page is awesome!

(via twonickels)

STATS = AWESOME

(via twonickels)

Some days (or weeks, or months) it’s hard to feel like I’m accomplishing anything. There’s always so much to do, and it’s hard to feel that there’s progress when the tasks—even when they’re fun—are repetitive. As soon as I finish a book order, I start another book order. We are also doing some realignment at my library, which made me really think about what it is I actually do at work. So I’m taking a step back and listing my current job duties here—both because they may soon change, and because sometimes I need a reminder of how much I actually accomplish for my job.

I’m a reference librarian, which means I spend 4-5 hours a day on desk, five or six days a week (unless I’m working on a Friday), helping people. I’m finding patrons books and other materials, pointing them toward the bathroom and the exit, fielding microfilm requests and helping people use our venerable machines, recommending books, and helping patrons fill out those horrifically complicated online job applications or teaching them how to upload a profile picture to Facebook. At the same time, I’m checking the tables and disposing of trash, picking up books and stacking them on the cart for counting use and reshelving, keeping my eye out for patrons who look like they might need help, and trying to get other work done as I can while still looking approachable at the desk.

Whether I’m on desk or not, I am responsible for:

• Collection management (ordering, replacing, moving from “new” status to the regular stacks, weeding) for parts of the nonfiction collection that include more than 25,000 items in a variety of subject areas.
• Collection management of more than 26,000 paperbacks across 10 locations. This includes taking in stacks of donations and evaluating their suitability for the collection.
• Collection management for the adult graphic novel collection at my library and six branches.
• Collection management for the system’s young adult video game collection, housed at two locations.
• Teaching two or more classes (usually Computer Basics and Microsoft Excel) for up to 14 students each two-month session of computer classes, and assisting my co-workers with their classes.
• Keeping the paperback display area stocked with books and changing it monthly. It’s a bit big for one theme, so I usually do one on each half. I also do the National Poetry Month display.
• Gathering materials and sending them to my two homebound patrons.
• Ordering the few museum passes that the library offers and keeping them up to date.
• Pursuing continuing education opportunities—attending and presenting at conferences, etc.
• Maintaining a stream of information on the library’s Google+ page.