Library Babies

When working with special collections and archival materials, interesting items often pop up, like this little vintage gem that recently made its way into the Western History/Genealogy Department.

Librari-anna, The Professional Librarian, is a booklet published by Columbia University Press for the 1952 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference. With its pictures of cute babies and humorous, library-themed quips, this clever piece of marketing seems a precursor to today's Internet memes.

Columbia University Press was using the baby theme to promote its new materials to librarians and libraries at the conference that year. The last page of the booklet (after all of the cute library babies), introduces their "offspring."

There's THE COLUMBIA ENCYCLOPEDIA II (whose father, First Edition, won international renown), a strapping 8lb., 3oz. baby now in its second year and doing fine.

The newest member of the Reference family has J. B. Lippincott as godfather. Columbia gave birth to this youngest child, named COLUMBIA LIPPINCOTT GAZETTEER OF THE WORLD, and weighing almost ten pounds, on April 28, after more than five years of labor.

These "birth announcements" were certainly creative marketing by Columbia, but the best part of the booklet is definitely the photos.

The captions reflect humorous things that you might hear in a library, both from customers and library staff. And while some of the captions are dated, or have a decidedly '50s feel, many are still relevant and funny in modern library contexts, too.