July 9th, 2009
My friend Wendy brought this fun site to my attention: thank you.
The About the Site description begins:
Awfullibrarybooks.wordpress.com is a collection of the worst library holdings. The items featured here are so old, obsolete, awful or just plain stupid that we are horrified that people might be actually checking these items out and depending on the information.
This blog contains actual library holdings. No specific libraries or librarians are named to protect the guilty. Check your shelves, it could be you.
Let me reproduce one entry to give you an idea of the crazy books they uncover:
A great choice for a parenting collection!
June 2, 2009
When Children Invite Child Abuse: A search for answers when love is not enough
Gold
1986
A fellow Michigan ALB spy has given us this gem! I am speechless just on the title alone! Who on earth is the target market for this book? Abusers looking for an “out” ? Question to the public library with this holding: are child abusers one of your major patron groups that you feel are being underserved by the public library?
The comments are very good, often humorous, and in the case of this particular title, able to explain that in fact the book “is meant to help parents understand difficult children and is not meant in any way to promote child abuse.”
Another comment notes:
This reminds me of my first encounter with unfortunate LC subject headings in my public library job fresh out of grad school. I found a heading CHILD ABUSE-INSTRUCTION MANUALS and was horrified. It was for a book on how to lead workshops to help folks recovering from abuse or something like that but the initial shock was similar to this book title you found.
Fun, and in some odd way, instructional too!
November 11, 2010
I’ve updated the link above to the new URL. Here’s a bonus image:
With a Foreword by The Village People!