This is a cowbell:
This blog needed more cowbell - photo credit R. Kaplan, 2010
More to the point, it is a cowbell that can be borrowed from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
Wait, what?
Surprise. This particular cowbell is included as a piece of realia in one of the library’s senior activity kits. “Realia” is the fancy librarian word for “circulating items that you might not expect a library to have,” and a little bit of catalog search magic reveals that you can borrow all sorts of unusual things from libraries all over the county.
But: back to the cowbell.
The senior activity kits are designed for use by activities/programming directors who work in senior centers, nursing homes, and other group situations. As such, they have special borrowing and lending policies. Our cowbell is part of kit #PK123, “Remembering Farm Days,” which also includes a set of slides, several bags of seeds, some activity booklets, and much more. You won’t find it in the catalog, though – senior kits are one of the services you can learn more about on the CLP “secret menu,” also known as “our astonishingly diverse and informative website!”
[Okay, the website isn’t really a secret, but in the age of Googlemania, it’s the best-kept open information secret you might not be looking at. Just for fun, next time you have a question, ask us first, then report back on how it went. We need to know this sort of thing.]
So, if you work with seniors, and you think one of our kits — with or without cowbell — might enhance your programming options, give Main Library a call to arrange an Oakland pickup. Can’t make it in to see us? Contact the staff at your local district library and they’ll work with us to set it up for you.
–Leigh Anne
cowbell aficianado since 1975.
Eleventh Stack 