Happy Tuesday, dear readers! As it is tax day today in the United States, I thought we could definitely use some fun today. So I have a few fun things to share to take your mind off taxes. Let’s get to it!

I happen to be a fan of “Welcome to Night Vale” and so think these cross-stitch bookmarks are awesome. Makes me want to break out my needle and thread.

I love going to libraries (I know, definitely a “duh” statement from a librarian) and I love seeing different buildings and styles of architecture so I’m excited for the new book on public libraries in the United States. Gizmodo has a nice photo set of 10 distinctive libraries to whet your appetite for more.

Finally, I’m rather fond of card tricks and sleight of hand and rather jealous of the quality of life in Stockholm, so I was fascinated by this video explaining why Stockholm is the best for pretty much everything.

I hope you enjoy your day and week, dear readers. I’ll be back soon with more news and notes. Allons-y!

Happy Tuesday, dear readers! I hope your week is going well. It is a busy week here on campus as we have multiple search committees bringing candidates to campus. Busy weeks remind me just how much we need to take a break sometimes to smell the roses, or in my case, the books. So here’s a few fun things for your day.

First, a lovely infographic on why people choose paper books over ebooks.

Also, book related is this lovely article with photos of cathedrals that now house libraries and bookstores. These are some seriously beautiful places to wander around the stacks.

Finally, because it is spring, check out Joy the Baker’s new recipe for tiny, strawberry, cream scones. They look adorable and delicious.

I hope you have a lovely rest of your week readers. I’ll be back soon with more news and notes. Allons-y!

Happy Tuesday, dear readers! It is exams week here on campus so we could definitely use some fun today. As students are doing their last bit of polish on papers and studying, I’m working away at the last bit of term grading. So I think everyone could use a bit of a study break. So let’s get into the crafty fun today!

I love origami and have since I got my first origami kit as a child. Naturally, I really enjoyed this article and video showing part of the process of how an origami master makes a life size elephant. Amazing!

Also, how could I not share this week in fonts? It’s impossible really to not share these posts. Pick a beautiful font for your next design project and make the world a prettier place.

Finally, I had to share this last post as I’m a huge fan of tea. If I could knit, I’d totally use this snail tea cosy pattern. Adorable!

I hope you have a lovely rest of this week, dear readers, no matter where you are and in what part of the term you are (if your life, like mine, still revolves around a campus calendar). I’ll be back soon with more news and notes. Allons-y!

Happy Tuesday, dear readers! It is time for some more Tuesday fun to get you through the day and week. So let’s just get to it, shall we?

I’ve quite enjoyed Unshelved comics since I was in library school, but I have to admit to last week’s Wednesday’s strip being particularly great. Just tear yourself away from your phone for a few minutes!

Also, I love this post about the best restaurants according to Yelp reviewers. A fun list and I love that a small place in Hawaii came out as number one. One of my favorites in Kauai didn’t make the list, but I still think you absolutely must try Puka Dog if on the South Shore. Also, I can totally vouch for the Cheese Board Pizza being fantastic. Just thinking about it makes me hungry!

I hope you have a great week, dear readers. I’ll be back soon with more news and notes. Allons-y!

Happy Tuesday, dear readers! I hope your week is going well. I can hardly believe we are coming to the end of the term in a few weeks on my campus and that we are almost to the end of February already! Time is truly flying. But let’s take a break from time flying away from us to enjoy some fun.

First, I love this how-to on folding a towel bunny. They are so cute and perfect for spring decorating.

Then check out this amazing house renovated for cats. It is incredibly and I’d love to see a video of the cats running all over the ramps and ledges. Somehow I don’t think I’ll be renovating my apartment to look like that, though, any time soon.

Finally, in case you needed a reminder to not check work email before bed, head over to this Lifehacker article. Then, get some sleep.

I’ll be back soon with more news, notes, and thoughts. Allons-y!

Hello, dear readers! I hope you are well and your week is going well. Today’s post is all about fun with fonts and typography. So let’s get into it!

As always I Love Typography blog has a great this week in fonts post.

If that inspires you, check out this tutorial on transferring type and logos to a chalkboard. Now I want a chalkboard in my home to try this on.

If you like making jewelry, this is a lovely tutorial on making a paper ring. I’m not sure if I could actually cut up a book to do this, but I still like how it turns out.

And, finally, check out this adorable printable paper desk calendar that’s a miniature typewriter. Amazing.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, dear readers. I’ll be back on Friday. Allons-y!

Happy Friday, dear readers! I had a plan to write a post on connection and its importance in library work today, but then the week got away from me and I was rather upset by the Net Neutrality ruling and didn’t finish up my post. So hopefully that will come next week. But today, especially since we are heading into a long weekend, I thought I’d just share some fun stuff and articles that have been hanging around in my saved feeds because I couldn’t find a coherent way to make them all work together. So let’s get into it.

This short article and link is a good reminder that to surround yourself with positive coworkers. Calmness and positive attitudes are contagious just like anxiety and negative attitudes.

I am rather fond of maps, whether they are old maps in archives and special collections or new maps created like infographics. So it is no surprise that I’m fond of this map of the world if every country’s population matched its physical size and this map of the world’s most and least populous places. Very cool.

And finally, I’m rather fond of this: 100 famous movie quotes as charts. Hope you enjoy it, too.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I’ll be back next week with more. Allons-y!

Happy Tuesday, dear readers! I hope that your day is going well and your week is shaping up to be a good week. I have a small assortment of fun stuff to provide a nice break for your day. Let’s get to it.

If you wear scarves, or have a friend that likes to wear scarves, please share this video: 25 different ways to wear a scarf. Especially with it being winter, scarves are an essential in my wardrobe and I loved learning some new ways to wear them. I’m looking forward to changing up my look a bit using the instructions from this video.

This last week has been a bit of a creative writing/authors/reading-focused kind of week with my husband’s friend in town promoting her second book, Shadowplay. (I’m currently reading it after having read Laura Lam’s first book Pantomime in the day before her book launch so I would know what people were talking about. It was a lovely book and I’m looking forward to getting further into her second book.) So with that backstory, it was funny that this article from Gizmodo popped up in my feeds on an algorithm for calculating if your novel will be a best seller. Not sure about how this algorithm would work when placed against current best-selling works, given the study used books available via Project Gutenberg, but it is an interesting concept.

Also, if you want to read more about Shadowplay or hear more about what Laura Lam is doing, check out her blog.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and week. I’ll be back on Friday with more news and notes. Allons-y!

Happy 2014, dear readers! I hope you had a lovely winter break and spent time with family and friends. If you have been snowbound and/or delayed by the polar vortex that is creating havoc in the United States right now, I hope you are somewhere warm and safe (and I hope that the airlines are able to resume their scheduled flights soon)! Today is Tuesday, so I have some fun to help you through your day as you settle back into work mode. Let’s get going.

First, I love making mini-pie in jars. Love it. I have several in my freezer right now, ready for pie emergencies. So obviously, I love this recipe for apple pie baked in an apple. Adorable and tasty! I may have to make these in the fall after apple picking.

Also, for those of you out there who haven’t yet seen them, I link you to the set of vintage READ posters. These provide a wonderful glimpse into the past and great ideas for some faux-vintage posters to create in the present.

And really, how could I resist a link to an animatronic wall of books? I can’t.

Finally, if you are in the East Bay tomorrow, you really ought to come by the Cal State East Bay Library on the Hayward campus as Laura Lam will be doing a reading from her second book, Shadowplay. It’s at 6pm in the Biella Room and should be fun. Laura is a graduate from Cal State East Bay, so it is exciting that she is coming back to campus for this reading. It should be fun, so come if you can.

Hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, dear readers. I will be back on Friday with some more news and notes. Allons-y!