I really enjoy April Fool’s Day! Everyone seems to get so creative.
You have Google’s annual spook – this year it’s motion activated email. (See past years).
Sports’ Illustrated had one way back (1985) that got our entire family – about a rookie baseball player, Sidd Finch, that could throw a ball 168 mph!!
I think one of my all time favorites was in 2007 it was announced that Google bought OCLC. Librarians across the globe nearly had a heart attack! ( OCLC’s is a “nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing the rate of rise of library costs” and to have Google buy them – aghast! I am a librarian so OCLC is kind of important to us.)
Today on my listservs you have the American Library Association Aims to Eradicate Cluelessness by 2050. And Ask Colorado.org using “Leprechonian Organisation of Librarians (L.O.L)” to assist with virtual reference during evening hours! (this one is not on a website, so will copy/paste at the bottom of this post). Also, some librarians are putting what appears to be wishes granted…Library of Michigan fully funded or Michigan Reading Scores Soar Thanks to New Lansing Initiative. (Thanks Walt!)
The Museum of Hoaxes has a Top 100 April Fool’s Hoaxes of All Time, which include some of these and more.!
Again, I love the creativity and the novel-ness of the ideas! I can’t wait until next year…
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AskColorado Press Release – New Partnership Finalized
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For Immediate Release, April 1, 2011
“AskColorado to Partner with Irish Librarians to Provide Virtual Reference Service”
AskColorado (www.askcolorado.org), Colorado’s popular state-wide virtual reference service, is pleased to announce it has signed an agreement to enter into a unique partnership with a newly formed Irish library organization that will extend and deepen reference service hours for AskColorado while simultaneously providing an economic boost to the struggling Irish economy. “We’d been looking for an English language, time zone alternative to the provision of reference service for our late night, early morning, and weekend hours for years now,” commented Kris Johnson, Operations Manager for AskColorado. “When Mr. Bilbo O’Faele, manager of the L.O.L, contacted me last year with his staffing partnership idea, I was intrigued, and more than a little excited.” Added Mr. O’Faele, “She was a wee bit excited, to be shure.”
Ireland is known internationally for its recent and successful transformation from an agricultural focus to a modern knowledge economy, with an emphasis on high tech industries. Recently it has struggled economically, receiving a much needed bailout from the European Union in 2010. “We’re a proud people, and technologically sophisticated,” said O’Faele, who has a long history in both public and academic libraries throughout Ireland. After the bailout, I knew there must be something we were overlooking, some small part of our society we’d yet to tap into to help with our economic recovery.” O’Faele said the idea first hit him while shopping for a new pair of brogues at Primark (branded as JCPenney in the U.S.) “As I was trying on the shoes, admiring the supple leather and fine hand-craftsmanship, I knew I had my answer: Leprechauns!” An initial phone call to Brady “Tiny” Kavanagh, union leader for L.O.C.H. (Leprechonian Organisation of Cobblers and Handyfolk) confirmed there w as indeed interest in a project between the wee folk and the Irish library profession.
“When Mr. O’Faele contacted me about the idear of formin’ the Leprechonian Organisation of Librarians (L.O.L) I thought to meself, ‘Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Does a miner like his pint?!’” interjected Mr. Kavanagh, known for his long-drawn out stories and love of a good prank. “A new acronym would be wonderful, I says to O’Faele. ‘L.O.C.H.!? What’s that? A bunch of blarney if ye ask me!’” Kavanagh took on a more serious tone, adding “Ay, there was another reason too. Ye see, fer years, our Leprechonian labourers have toiled with the shoe-makin’, day after day, strugglin’ with the hard leather, all the while the rest ‘o Irish society is movin’ on, with the high tech, and the computers and such…even the libraries, if ye can believe that?! The librarians are movin’ on before the wee folk. I says to meself, I says, ‘We’ve got strong moinds, and wee nimble fingers, perfect fer the iPads and the micro-keyboards and such. Where’s our place in this so called ‘modern knowledge econom y?’” Mr. Kavanagh did have some reason for skepticism, based on a previous, pre-Internet attempt to transition Leprechauns from manual to intellectual labour, when, after successfully graduating 100 Leprechauns from an ALA accredited program, the newly minted lepre-librarians found that no library would hire them due to the fact they were too short and could not be seen behind the reference and circulation desks, not to mention the book stacks. That, and the fear that they would be constantly disappearing at the wink of an eye, did not assist with their employment transition.
“I’d heard of the previous attempt to integrate leprechauns into the library profession,” continued O’Faele, “and knew that this partnership would work due to the “virtual” nature of the work. Virtual reference service, which does not confine itself to the brick and mortar structure (for both the librarian and the patron) of the ‘traditional library’ would be the perfect work for our new high-tech leprechonian info-miners.”
Johnson reports that the leprechauns of the L.O.L. underwent an intensive, reference focused MLIS program, with a certification in virtual reference provision. In addition, each L.O.L.er was required to complete a minimum of 100 virtual reference practice sessions. “Early signs indicate the staffers may be particularly astute with historical reference questions,” added Johnson. “Their knowledge of history is uncanny. It’s as if they’ve lived a lifetime of lifetimes.”
The librarians of the L.O.L. will start answering questions for AskColorado on a limited basis starting April 1, 2011. “The wee lads are burstin’ their britches to start answerin’ queries for AskColorado,” interjected Kavanagh. When asked if she has any concerns regarding the Leprechauns propensity for folksy slang and phonetic spellings, Johnson sighed and nodded, commenting “Yes, we’re going to have to work on that.” “To be shure,” added O’Faele with a wink, “To be shure.”
