And just how does your average, dimly-aware-of-the-pop-culture-zeitgeist librarian use the previously blogged about music genre to her/his advantage? A few handy tips:
Nod Nod Revolution: The winner is the one who manages the most imperceptible head nodding while listening to Okkervil River. Team prize goes to the group who can exchange knowing smiles at the most obscure allusion to the Johnstown Flood.
Teach twentysometings to create acerbic t-shirts featuring quasi-cuddly characters with fang-like teeth using potato stamps and fabric dye mixed with leftover IPA from the local organic brewfest.
Convince a dewy young thing who sings in a cockney accent to write a song about a YA librarian falling in love with a stuttering Egyptologist with double-jointed thumbs. Try to get her to work in a shout-out to your homework guides when she's awarded the SXSW People's Choice Award.
Have a group of girls knit knockoffs of the hottest leg warmers on American Apparel (NOTE: Must be 18 or older to attend crafting session)
Hawk bibliographies on the Synoptic Gospels outside an Iron & Wine show. Avoid getting beat up by angry ticket scalpers for harshing sales by insisting potential customers investigate the latest CD at their local library.
For the adult services librarian: hold a memoir-writing workshop for the parenting set. Read aloud one with the biggest potential to go viral at Starbucks. Be sure to serve sustainably-harvested coffee and lie-detector tests to prevent being served a subpoena when it's revealed that the harrowing account of a welfare mom in a crack-addled neighborhood raising triplets who eventually attend Harvard was written by a hedge fund analyst from Dartmouth.
Librarians and Crime Continues Dept: Job Search Tips: when interviewing for as media specialist, remember to ask about combat pay.
What I'm Listening To Dept: Godspell, the movie soundtrack. Thanks to whatever deity inspired Turner Classic Movies to broadcast the movie yesterday, even though my co-workers weren't impressed with my rendition of "Turn Back, O Man". Must have been the feather boa and tube socks....
My geek-chic-lovin' friend strode into work the other day wearing a suspiciously new concert t-shirt. Not wanting to cripple what little pop-culture cred I have with a member of the microbrew 'n felting set, I pretended to be down with my local rep of All Things Indie: "The Decemberists, I see." Who says I'm not the master of the noncommittal comment?
"Yeah," he replied, "I'm a sucker for the whole lit rock thing." Truth be told, he didn't really say that. He did launch into a lengthy exposition about the relevancy of the band to his generation--something to do with pirates, accordions and the American Civil War, I think, but by that point I had wandered away in search of freebie M&M'S® in the library administration office.
But six hours later (after several loads of laundry and a Very Special Episode of Celebrity Fit Club) he did get me to thinking: maybe I can use this lit rock idea for good, to support the profession in our never-ending quest for relevancy with the Wii-boxers out there. After all, if the millennials are willing to stare at teeny backlit screens to text their interpretations of lyrics to all BFFs in the middle of a Mountain Goats show, why not leverage the self-absorbed angst? Heck--it's easier than chasing down teens and trying to slap temporary "reading is dope" tattoos as they flee the last round of Dance Dance Revolution in the YA section.
Next Time: A Very Special Lit Rock Guide for Librarians
Be Careful What You Declaim Dept: Remember my assertion that being a librarian is the perfect foil for those with criminal inclinations? It seems now we're either a magnet for crime or more frighteningly, a possible long-time propagator of it.
Librarian Tip: don't become too annoyed at the guy snoring at the table next to you while you're trying to read Nylon--he may be someone you recognize.
Vintage Video Dept: The year: 1987. The hair: Pat Benatar. The sweatin'-to-the-oldies taskmaster: Betty Glover!