Jul 6
2009
06:29 PM ET
Site of the Day: Awful Library Books
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What’s with all of these wannabe snarky blogs that are popping up? This one is lame (let’s make fun of old books!).
Chill out, Rob. It’s funny to look at the kind of books that were popular way back when. It’s not snarky.
I remember the Family Fun book at our library as well – we checked it out! Who can forget that cover. And my mother still has that vacuum cleaner – from her wedding in 1954.
Librarian here: I just withdrew a book from our library today–an Internet guide from the early 90s. How on earth that was still on our shelves, I’ll never know. A few general computer books from the 80s too. Oy.
Dont know if it is still onthe shelf but the funniest title of a book I have ever heard and unfortunately read the book was “Topsy Dingo Wild Dog”
In the medical library I found “Huber the Tuber” a children’s book about tuberculosis.
Rob Tyson, are you jealous you can’t start your own blog? Some of us still enjoy the cheesy parts of life – to each their own.
I’m an A/V cataloger, but I do often check out the recycle bins to see what’s being withdrawn – guess I’ll have to start looking harder. Actually, we have been having fun with the Ladies’ Home Journals from the 1970s that we’re finally getting rid of. The ads alone are a hoot!
I swear that the “How to Survive your Child’s Rebellious Teens” book was in our library at one point–or maybe it was just a book with a similar font in the title. It’s interesting that it’s possible to guess the decade that a book was published based on the font and graphics used on the cover. Our librarian withdraws at least 3% of the materials every year, but I’m sure that there are some “winners” that remain on the shelves.
That’s hillarious! I especially like the computers books that are still in circulation – anyone remember Wordstar? And how to program Atari games in Basic? What a hoot! I just know there’s gotta be some gems lurking around my public library…
I work in a library as a student job and I’ve shelved some crazy books. “Sex for Dummies” is on the shelf next to the religious books along with “Coping with Teenage Sexuality”. With fiction there is books under mammoth for “The mammoth lesbian book of short stories”. We’ve even got books on weed like “The Stoner’s Handbook”. It’s even funnier to see who checks out these books like a 50yr old woman checking out “Mastering the Art of the Quickie”. Libraries are pretty sweet.
I, too, work in a library. I swear that a book called, “50 Ways to Paint Your Ceiling” passed over the counter today. Did I mention that I work in the children’s department? (They were just returning down there…I think!)
Honest to goodness real book at our library. I took a picture of it because no one would believe me.
http://www.twitpic.com/9njgl
This is the best site! I work in a college library, and pop this up at least once a month to get a good laugh. We have lots of outdated books just like these on our shelves, so this site is helpful in a way. We are now updating our collection on a monthly basis.