Sunday, December 21, 2008

Libraries and humour?

Libraries and humour, Are they incompatible?
When I was doing my BA I had a discussion with some other library bods about libraries and humour. We came to the conclusion that we liked a laugh but didn't really laugh at library humour.

See IFLAnet: http://www.ifla.org/I/humour/humour.htm
As you can see, not very funny... or is it?
Or ... is this funny?



The discussion (all via email) went on to investigate whether humour and jokes could be used to get users interested in libraries and library services...

Unfortunately humour is a very personal thing. What I might find funny might shock and appal others.

For example, I find this (non library vid) funny...


... but you may not?

You may remember being sat down in Primary school and the librarian or teacher reading a funny story while you and your peers fell about the place. I'd reckon, (I don't have science to back this up), that it was these early experiences that engages children, making them interested in books and reading, not a quest for learning.

So then what happens?

The library becomes a serious place...
We have assignments and projects to complete, we are told to grow up...

As Frank posed the musical question,

"what happened to all the fun in the world?"

2 comments:

Carl said...

I just think the fact is that there is not alot of material to work with to make funny jokes about libraries. The only funny library gags i can ever recall were comic strips done by Sergio Aragonés in Mad magazines.

Oskar said...

You are hilarious my friend. Thankyou Learning 2.0 for this blog! You truly are the rockingest.