#ask a Librarian

[harvardfineartslib]

Our asks are open!

For the first time since the birth of this blog (as far as I can tell,) our asks are open! I will be actively checking them throughout the day.

If you have any burning questions about our library, what we do here, or anything related to Harvard and libraries overall, I've got librarians on call and a plethora of fun facts in my back pocket for your informational amusement.

[wearelibrarian]

Since you requested asks.

What are some library resources that you love that don’t get the appreciation and use that they deserve?

I think y'all on Tumblr already know about this one, but the Internet Archive's Open Library is wonderful for accessing out-of-print resources that may not be available in other ways! It also serves as a catalog of books across the world, including ones which cannot be checked out or read through the Internet Archive. Most of my other favorites require that your local library (or your college/university) have a subscription, but this one is free.

The library resource that needs the most appreciation, though?

Librarians!

So many people are hesitant to come in person, which I understand - it can be scary to go up to the desk, and it can be difficult to find transportation to the nearest library. Many libraries provide assistance over the phone, and some even have online chat available to the public! You don't have to have a library card to ask a librarian for help, though we do appreciate when people sign up for cards. (September is Library Card Signup Month, fyi - go get your library card! I have four and intend to obtain more, since I'm lucky to be living in an area where I can obtain free library cards from multiple area libraries.)

[mstornadox]

It’s a matter of scale. AO3 has two major advantages over library catalogs, inching the Library of Congress:

There is only one (1) set of canonical tags. Keywords and phrases supplied by the writers are wrangled into the canonical list of tags or kept as Freeform tags. Non-English canonical tags will be translated into English.

It has a user-friendly interface that supports its tag wrangling.

Most library catalogs do tag wrangling for subjects, names, locations, and more. It’s called authority control. People get together and propose new headings and tweak existing ones. It can be political and contentious.

The Library of Congress (LC) maintains several tag sets (i.e. authorities) that are shared freely with the world and used by many many many libraries. Even non-US libraries.

These LC authorities were first created in the 1800s to facilitate the research needs of Congresspeople (hence a big focus on law) and for discovering items in the US copyright repository. LC authorities will never meet all of the needs of every library. It does not even meet the needs of the other big federal libraries, such as National Library of Medicine, who maintain their own specialized sets of terms.

There are thousands of authorities out there, usually for specific subject areas and audiences. Catalogers regularly add terms from multiple authorities, such as LCSH, Sears, FAST, MeSH, Homosaurus, and AAT, to the same catalog record. We even add local terms, like freeform tags.

And then there are all of the other authorities maintained by different countries and in different languages. WikiData is working on linking terms across many of these authorities. For example, look at the Identifiers section on the entry for Mary Cassatt.

Library catalog data is presented in three main public interfaces: the local online catalog; a discovery layer that searches the catalog, research databases and other external sources; and in union catalogs that search multiple library catalogs in 1 place, such as WorldCat. Each of these may handle and display authorities differently. Some of them will choose to work like AO3 and display the original tags in a record but use the canonical one for searching. Other libraries may decide to only display and search on the canonical tags. It depends on the capabilities of the library catalog software as well as the different interfaces.

I’m glossing over a lot of details that also affect library date, like catalog record structure, call numbers and shelf locations, inherent biases in classification systems, library vendor mergers, and the variety of local cataloging practices.

TL;DR: AO3 has 1 specialized set of tags in 1 language searchable in 1 interface. Libraries, on the other hand, use multiple sets of tags in many languages. There may have different search interfaces, each of which could handle tags and search results differently.

at a conference I attended recently, a researcher pointed to the difficulty of finding material in archives because so much depends on the metadata and the terminology used to describe things changes over time. "it would be so helpful," the researcher said, "if I typed 'lesbian' into the library of congress database, it would also show me results that were categorised in the 50s, when the materials were interpreted as 'intimate female friendships'"

which is what tag wrangles at Archive Of Our Own do incredibly effectively: searching for "omegaverse" also leads to "alpha/beta/omega dynamics" and "alternate universe: a/b/o" and so on. but ao3 achieves this frankly incredible categorisation and indexing system by the power of countless volunteers putting in hours and hours of unpaid and unthanked free time, and it's completely understandable that most archives do not have that kind of infrastructure, but also how incredible that a fan-run website has better searchability, classification, and accessibility than the library of congress

[ca-highway49]

I wonder who drives the books from one branch to the other in County Libraries... I wonder if it's a sinch to get if you have a CDL, if you need to volentueer a lot or if you need a degree

[curtis-brothers-hug]

Most of what Ponyboy says about girls strikes me as something he’s heard older boys say and he’s just repeating it even though he has no idea what it means.

“Married to some scatterbrained broad with no sense.” Wtf does that even mean? You cannot tell me Pony has a clue what he’s even talking about. It comes out of nowhere - there’s no other instance of him contemplating marriage, and the closest examples marriages or would-be marriages - his parents and Soda and Sandy - are nothing like that. That’s something he heard. “You don’t wanna end up married to some scatterbrained broad with no sense,” and he parrots it like it’s conventional wisdom.

Tim Shepard got his scar from a “tramp.” Even if Pony knows what a tramp is, that is not a word he uses in his own vocabulary. That’s the only time he ever uses that word, and it sounds like an echo of how Tim recounted it, or Curly.

“I thought about how nice it was to sit with a girl without having to listen to her swear or beat her off with a club.” That one’s a little more based on personal experience; he’s been around greaser girls and he finds Cherry different from them. But Ponyboy Curtis has never “beaten a girl off with a club.” Maybe he’s seen girls act aggressively toward older boys, but he himself has not had that experience. He’s pretty clear about having no real experience with girls. That’s another thing that sounds like something he’s heard, “I damn near had to beat off that broad with a club!”

Pony probably repeats things he hears about girls all the time. He’ll crack a joke about a girl, “must be her time of the month.” And Darry will turn and peer at him and be like, “you got any clue what that means?” And Pony puffs out his chest and tries to sound as tuff and jaded as the older boys when they talk about girls. “Pfff, yeah. Course. It means a broad’s bein all crazy.” “Mm hm. But what’s a month gotta do with it? What does ‘time of the month really mean?” And Pony’s just like “……..it means…..it’s cuz girls…….aw hell, Dally says it all the time! Why doncha ask him?”

[tiffanyachings]

“Fiat lux! If you want to talk improbable, let’s talk about this”—a scrape of stone on stone—“being three thousand and some years older than this.” A heavy clunk.

“Inexplicable, Warden.”

“Certainly not. Like everything else in this ridiculous conglomeration of cooling gas, it’s perfectly explicable, I just need to explic-it.”

“Indubitable, Warden.”

“Stop that. I need you listening, not racking your brain for rare negatives. Either this entire building was scavenged from a garbage hopper, or I am being systematically lied to on a molecular level.”

“Maybe the building’s shy.”

“That is just tough shit for the building.”

[3ib6vw]

Deadpool 3 - the one with the near sexual tension between the leads, the other being wolverine

that's what fanfic is about I'm pretty sure?

[booksinmythorax]

Hey, guy who was really mad we wouldn't let you pay your wife's library fines without her card. I know you're feeling some big stuff right now and you evened out a lot by the end after you called her and she confirmed her card number to us, but the thing I wasn't going to start a fight with you about in the moment was:

Your wife is a separate person from you, and we don't know if you're an abusive husband.

We don't know if you're trying to find out if she's checking out books about divorce. We don't know if you're trying to find out if she's checking out books about infidelity or alimony or raising your kids differently than you'd prefer. We don't even know if you're actually married. We don't know you're not an ex who's trying to get information about someone you're stalking. And on and on and on.

Ultimately, your wife has a right to privacy just like everyone else. Privacy even from you. She can choose to share whatever she wants with you, but we need confirmation of that. Thanks for understanding.

[pseudospaceship]

In our defense, photocopying book pages is harder than you think it should be. Scanners/copiers specifically made for bound books are rare and expensive. Depending on how a book is bound and where in the book your pages are, it might be impossible to get it to lay flat enough to scan without getting weird distortion in the gutter. That example is actually wonderfully lucid compared to some copies that I've seen and made.

On the other hand! Most institutional journal subscriptions are digital nowadays, and I've never encountered a journal article that didn't permit a full PDF download. If you've been giving students the same janky photocopied article since 2003 (not out of the question or even necessarily bad pedagogy in some fields), do everyone a favor and go download yourself a better version. If your library doesn't have direct access to the article, it's probably very easy to get through interlibrary loan. Most academic libraries also have growing ebook collections. If you can link your students to the library's digital version of a book instead of giving them a badly photocopied chapter, it will be much easier to read in general AND it's much more likely to be accessible to students with visual or text processing disabilities.

university professors love to create the most fucked up pdf ever known to mankind. it's enrichment for them.

[certifiedlibraryposts]

i used to work as a page at a library

Oh nice, they need a lot of those to be in all the books [i am dragged offstage by a comically long cane]

[ayyy-imma-ninja]

Library bats are bats that live in libraries and eat insects that could damage the books :3 you learn something new everyday, Bats that live in libraries are typically small and nimble species, such as: European free-tailed bats, Soprano pipistrelles, and Common pipistrelle bats, Bats eat insects that could harm the books, such as moths and beetles, that could damage the books' pages and glue. Bats can be found in libraries in Portugal, including the Joanina Library at the University of Coimbra and the Mafra Palace Library. During the day, bats roost quietly in the library, but at night they emerge to eat insects. Because bats are living things, they produce droppings, so librarians must clean up after them. To protect furniture, shelves, and floors, librarians cover them with tarps before closing the library each night. Because bats only hunt at night, it's unlikely to see them during visiting hours.

that's so cool and cute!!!

To answer the previous ask if Sun uses them, I am afraid he doesn't. He doesn't want any sort of critters inside his library (unless they are service animals)

[fictionadventurer]

Fun Catholic Lord of the Rings trivia for you:

Tolkien had a devotion to St. John the Evangelist (which should not have been surprising, given his name).

Traditionally, the symbol of St. John the Evangelist is an eagle.

There's no indication it's intentional allegory, but it does add a very cool layer to those scenes.

[ghostlyarchaeologist]

The Librarians S02E03/Almost Paradise S01E07/Leverage Redemption S02E06.

[anglerflsh]

everytime I mention the type of job I'd like to have (archivist) people tell me that literally no one on earth wants to do that which normally would be annoying but. you don't want to sort documents? to preserve things from the past? do you not like excel sheets and burocracies? my best friend burocracy?? sad

[wolfstarlibrarian]

9 books to read in 2025 (sweet + spicy)

Thank you SO much to @eyra for tagging me! I love an excuse to talk about books.

I had SO much fun reading these books I'm excited to share them, so pretty please let me know if you read any of them? I might put anon asks back on because I'm so eager to discuss them. Also, all of these books have HEAs.

Also, I'm working on related marauders lists for almost all of these, so stay tuned!

🌶️ = the more peppers the spicier it is

🍭 = the more lollipops the sweeter it is

Captive Prince: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

This series is one that ifykyk. It's a dark, dramatic, sexy mlm series set in a pseudo historic age and WOW. If it was a fic it'd come with tons of warnings and tags, but there's also an underlying softness between the main characters. Lots of angst and drama and characters you can't help root for. DEFINITELY an 18+ rec so please proceed accordingly.

Johann: Vampire Mates: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭

I already rec'd one of the books in this series here, but this one is tied for my favorite. A modern soulmate/vampire au that's got humor, the CUTEST cinnamon roll who's inexperienced (and hundreds of years old), a russian mobster, and just enough angst to make me you ache.

Boystown Heartbreakers: 🌶️🌶️ 🍭🍭🍭

If you're a wolfstar fan, then you'll absolutely adore this friends-to-lovers modern story about a hairstylist who is so worried about dating his DROP DEAD GORGEOUS best friend. All the internal turmoil paired with a book boyfriend you'll absolutely love, and lines that actually had me laughing out loud makes this one of my top reads for the year.

The Charm Offensive: 🌶️🌶️ 🍭🍭🍭

This one totally surprised me with how well it dealth with mental health issues in the middle of a VERY charming story about falling in love with someone (when it's literally your job to help them fall in love with someone else). A bi-awakening and oblivious pining gem. If you want more fics that feature a reality show check out this rec list.

Myles Below Freezing: 🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭

Okay can someone alert the Hazelnoot server? Because this one feels like a cross between Solntse and Sweater Weather. Myles (a cinnamon roll, nerdy Remus IMO) has to solve a murder mystery at the South Pole while trying not to fall for the sweetheart Russian Alexei. The banter is incredible and honestly my friends and I need a second book about the lesbians in it. Forced proximity, oblivious DATING, anxiety rep, action and chase scenes, cuddling, and locked-in together all in one.

Sapphire Sunset: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 🍭🍭🍭

If you don't know Chris Rice, he's the gay son of Anne Rice (author of Interview With A Vampire) and thank god he's followed in her footsteps because his romance books are SO good and intense and yet fluffy? It's a ton of drama about an ex-marine and a hotel heir and a family scandal for the books. Feels delightfully like an age-gap modern Drarry book.

Lightning Born: 🌶️ 🍭

A friend recommended me this Frankenstein mlm retelling, and I was like "ew, no". However, I was completely surprised by how much heart it had, and how much it reminded me of R/S. Amnesia (due to ya know, dying), forbidden love, some serious angst, and thankfully a HEA that includes lesbians getting to live out in the tropics.

Honey Girl: 🌶️🌶️ 🍭🍭🍭

This is the only book on the list with wlw as the main pairing and by god, it's beautiful. The writing style gripped me on the first page and I've been recommending it to everyone since I've read it. Imagine waking up in a hotel room in Vegas, by yourself, with a wedding band on your finger and a note. The whole book feels like an intimate love letter and it should absolutely be on your TBR.

On Writing

No spice or sweetness in this non-fiction book, because it's a book by Stephen King on writing. Whenever I talk to anyone who's struggling with their craft I always recommend this book. It's short, to the point, and will leave you feeling much more confident in your abilities while helping you improve your writing. 10/10.

⭐

Okay well I hope you enjoy these recs! I've turned on anon asks so please share your thoughts or your own recs as I'm always looking for new books and fics to read. (We'll just ignore how long the TBR list is already...)

Tagging: @thedrarrylibrarian @wolfstarwarehouse @wolfstarmicrofic @pancakehouse @imsiriuslyreading @lavenderhaze @rainbowrowell @gayliketheancients @brandileigh2003 @mrtellmeafckingsecret @imjusthereforwolfstar And ANYONE ELSE who also love books

[lover-of-small-things]

as a senior at the university of iowa working on my novel, unfortunately i cannot stop thinking about jughead jones, senior at the university of iowa, working on his novel... like. did he sit in prairie lights drinking black coffee until it closed. did he lay on the riverbank reading proust. did he fall asleep in some corner of the english and philosophy building and wake up confused and crammed on the shitty chair by the elevator the next day. did he go to local readings. did he eat shitty dorm food. did jughead jones go to my favorite iowa city gay bar.