Librarian Bait

Bizarro is brought to you today by Mixed Messages.

This cartoon is not funny per se, it is more poignant than anything. I think the average reader gets the meaning in a glance and says, "True. Who needs the library now that we have the Internet?" Or, if you're W, you might say, "Hah. They left the 'S' off of 'Internets and added an extra 'R' to 'libary.'"

Thinking further, you might realize that the cartoon doesn't actually make any sense. If a library were put out of business by the Internet, it would be a library museum, not an Internet museum. But that sign would confuse readers and not get the idea across. I think this may be the only time in my 25 year career that I've come across this kind of phenomenon.

In spite of this flaw in logic, a number of people who deal with libraries in various capacities have contacted me wanting to use this image for everything from fund raising to entertaining their local library's troops.

This drawing was a pain to execute, the strip version was even worse. Since I worked so hard on it, I've posted it here to get a little more mileage. Thank goodness for the Internet, I was able to find a wide variety of reference photos of the New York Public Library in a matter of seconds.

Click the image for a clearer view.