I have always striven to ensure that Unshelved is generally funny, filtering out library in-jokes left and right even when Gene swore they were high-larious. And then this sequence came along, an ode to our cataloger readers, many of whom are worried about their jobs. So now my greatest fear is that this is the day that Garry Trudeau, my cartooning idol, to whom I once confessed, in person, my desire to become a professional cartoonist, will pick to check out that library comic strip he’s heard so much about. And he’ll find today’s strip, look at the punchline, and shake his head sadly, never to return.

So catalogers, this one’s for you. And Garry, I hope you’ll give it another try a different day.

Pimp My Bookcart is making the news all over the country! Well at least in Augusta and Newark. Entries have slowly started dribbling in, but most of them usually arrive in the last week or two of the contest, which ends November 15. So there’s still time to put together the most memorable teen program you’ll ever do, for this, the final year of our contest.