But since libraries are the last bastion of democracy, we need to be careful about ridiculing any single portion of our constituents. We need to be welcoming to all, which is contradicted if we offend a particular group (though I have heard of one library who hangs a sign reading something like “if we don’t have at least one book here that offends you, let us know so we can do our jobs better”).

In my experience, libraries are such slaves to neutrality that decorating for Christmas or St. Patrick’s Day is not allowed, for fear of making non-Christians feel unwelcome. Even promoting black authors during Black History Month gets a second thought because it might be construed as racist, or reverse-racist.

Thus far, it seems libraries have let the will of the amalgamated Patron be our rudder when it comes to the institution itself having a personality or opinion. But perhaps it is our place to step up and use humor (clever and intelligently-crafted humor, of course) in our dealings with the public. That way, people might not see us as stuffy and intimidating, but more casual and current. And that’s a good thing, right?

But in this specific case, let’s also not forget that this is a single business that is employing a focused marketing campaign. Getting the entire field of librarianship to relax however many years of tradition is something else entirely. But we can try.