Biblioball 2009: Baby, It's Cold Outside

It finally is cold outside! The Desk Set is throwing a lavish, entertainment-filled winter formal this Friday, December 11th at The Bell House. Where else can you score free happy hour whiskey and winter ale (8-9 pm), watch a lady on her flying trapeze, win a fabulous raffle prize, hear tons of live music, and dance the night away? Plus: foot juggling, food, portraits (both photographic and illustrated), and more librarians than you can shake a stick at.

Proceeds from this carnival of delights will be donated to Literacy for Incarcerated Teens. Tickets are $20 in advance/$25 at the door and all kinds of worth it.

See you there!

Biblioball 2009 from Desk Set on Vimeo.

P.S. Please don't shake sticks at librarians, just dance with one!

The McNally Jackson Halloween Embarrassment

From the lovely ladies of the Desk Set:

The Desk Set is delighted to be helping out our friends at McNally Jackson for their Halloween happy hour costume party The McNally Jackson Halloween Embarrassment.

Here’s your chance to bust out, dust off and iron up your old Lizzy Bennet gown, stick a red felt A on your chest, or throw on some round specs and a striped scarf. Enjoy some tunes, some drinks, and some bookstore ambiance as you show off your clever costume. What’s that? You’ve already made plans for Halloween? Well, make McNally Jackson your first stop: festivities start at 7:00, costume contest is at 8:00, and you’ll be on your way to whatever debauchery awaits by 9:00.

Two more terrific things about this party: Esther K. Smith will teach you how to make some badly needed cootie catchers, and you can purchase paperbacks from the Books Through Bars wishlist to donate while you party.

Here are the details as supplied by McNally Jackson:

The McNally Jackson Halloween Embarrassment

You’re a nerd. And not just a little nerd either, no, you’re a nerd of magnificent proportions. You love books so much that you’re not satisfied just reading books shamefully in the privacy of your home, no, you have to read them on trains, buses, in restaurants. It’s embarrassing.
Not only that, but you think about books all day, you talk about them. When you walk down the street, when you kiss your children goodnight, you are a book nerd even then, in your heart.
You should be ashamed but you’re not. No, you celebrate your nerd-dom, you revel in it. Then, on Halloween, otherwise known as Nerdmas, you take to the streets. You wear your nerd heart on your nerd sleeve and dance (poorly) and sing (poorly). You let the nerd all hang out.
And somehow society just lets this happen? People don’t flee; indeed, some join in with you! You form roving nerd troupes, carnivals of embarrassment and glee!

You, dear reader, are invited.

This Halloween we hope book nerds of all sorts will join us to act like damned costumed fools amid our stacks. With a little help from the nerdy librarians of the Desk Set, we’re hosting our annual Halloween party, and that means it’s time to dust off your spats and clichés, grab those fangs and poorly executed allegories. We’re inviting all attendees to draw on their bookish lore to dress up as a favorite character. Or theme. Or setting? Even a title will do. Anyhow, we expect you to impress us with your book-themed costume. Uncostumed book nerds are welcome, too, they just won’t have a shot to win fabulous prizes.

We’ll begin with a horror reading at 7:00, followed by music and drinks. At 8:00 we’ll host our costume contest, with a panel of judges rating your getup for execution, originality and enthusiasm.

We’ll have plenty of other ways for you to embarrass yourselves, too, including:
*a scary voice contest
*papercrafts with our neighborhood paper wizard Esther Smith
*charity book donations (kindness is embarrassing, isn’t it?)
*and plenty of opportunities to indulge your embarrassing love for sweets

The party is open to the public: no fee or reservation required. All we want is your nerdy nerdy self.
Note however, that this party is for fully-grown nerds. Younger party-goers are welcome to our kid’s Halloween celebration from noon to 2.

McNally Jackson, 52 Prince St.
(b/t Lafayette & Mulberry)
New York, NY 10012
212.274.1160

October 31, 2009

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Make Way for Lent: Field Trips, Week of Feb. 23, 2009

Over the next few months, we'll be seeing a number of events that focus on job skills, networking, and other recession-responsive subjects. This week features two such affairs: on Tuesday, SLA-NY hosts an evening program entitled "Opportunities of New York: Employment in a Challenging Environment"; and Friday brings an all-day METRO workshop, "How to Survive and Thrive in the Workplace". Now to the fun stuff:

• Feb. 24: What can book publishers do to keep the dream alive? Hear Robert Miller and Jason Epstein discuss "The Next Publishing Frontier" at the General Society Library.
• Feb. 25: Center for Book Arts presents the first installment of a series on the Vandercook. (It's a kind of proof press...if you're an ignoramus like I am, this website is quite edifying.)
• Feb. 26: METRO's Bibliographic Instruction Special Interest Group will feature three presentations of particular benefit to academic librarians.

And so not leastly, but lastly: MARDI GRAS PARTY! Here's a reminder note from Desk Set Nation:

Don't let Mardi Gras come and go without eating some king cake, donning some shiny beads, shaking it to some good ole' New Orleans tunes, and contributing towards the literary life of that great city!

Join the Desk Set at Daddy's for our party and Book Drive!
Tuesday, February 24th
7:30pm till late
Daddy's Bar
Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Please donate to our Book Drive!
You can purchase one or more inexpensive paperbacks on our Amazon Wish-list, send it to New Orleans, and make a student's day. All books will be donated to the A.P. Tureaud Elementary School, located in the 7th ward. Like all NOLA schools, Tureaud has struggled mightily to survive post-Katrina. Books are scarce, and we can make a huge difference. Click here to make a donation.

If you donate a book, we'll reward you with a free pint of beer courtesy of the Blue Point Brewery. But you're not really doing it for the beer, right? So even if you cannot make the party, please consider donating a book and spreading the word.

Lotsa love,

Maria and Sarah
The Desk Set
www.thedeskset.org

Celebrate Mardi Gras & Donate Books to NOLA with the Desk Set

Advance notice, Mardi Gras revelers: the Desk Set is planning a phat Fat Tuesday shindig at Daddy's Bar in Williamsburg. The party coincides with a book drive for the A.P. Tureaud Elementary School, a public school in New Orleans that, like so many others, could really use a helping hand. The Desk Set has created an Amazon wish-list on the school's behalf. They've even arranged for the addition of bookplates with individual donor names! Help support literacy and make your donation today.

Time Out, TONY

Aren't we lucky! This week, Time Out New York's oh-so-easy to digest Sex & Dating column features everyone's favorite fetish, the (female) librarian. I have nothing bad to say about the "field guide" bit and heaven knows Maria Falgoust and Sarah Murphy of The Desk Set are my personal patron saints, but what is this high neckline and glasses on chains nonsense? For The Desk Set's response to the article click your way over here and be sure to answer the all-important question, "Where DO librarians hang out?"

The Desk Set is on a veritable media blitzkrieg: in addition to the TONY mention, Hex Education Journal interviewed Maria and Sarah about why they became librarians and the genesis of the aforementioned organization.

Get Out of the Library! Field Trips, Week of Dec. 1, 2008

First and foremost, the weekend: Saturday night brings this season's premier philanthropic shindig, Be Still My Frosty Heart : The Desk Set Presents The Biblioball at the GlassLands Gallery in Williamsburg. All proceeds will go toward books for Passages Academy, serving incarcerated and detained youth in NYC. Plus, dancing, dress-up, fantastic raffle prizes...it's win-win-win!

Also on tap:

• Throughout the week: Various METRO workshops.
• Dec. 5: ACRL/NY Annual Symposium. Registration is closed.
  
• Dec. 6-7: The 21st Annual Indie & Small Press Book Fair. Discover new publishers and attend a variety of fun and informative events. It all culminates in Literary Trivia Smackdown 2.0. Really.