Fashion for Library Geeks!

Here's what TO wear if you're a bibliophile, regardless of whether you've been locked out of your dorm room on a Sunday morning (ahem . . .).

Last spring, I was shopping online for something at CafePress when I stumbled upon an ingenious little mug with the legend:

641.3373

What could it mean?

After a little research via the world wide web, I discovered that (naturally) it was the Dewey Decimal classification for "coffee." How brilliant! How could anyone resist improvising on this idea, and making all sorts of things (say, T-shirts) that bore cryptic slogans to be decoded with the aid of a library catalog!

My friend Joseph was, for his birthday, the recipient of my first creation: SB441.4.H37 (the Library of Congress call number for the book Makers of Heavenly Roses, by Jack L. Harkness).

More recently, I printed up one for myself: HQ1190.H67 (the Library of Congress call number for bell hook's Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics).

Obviously, I encourage all of you to take up the challenge and make yourself enigmatic shirts with messages of your own choosing. The site at which you can design one-of-a-kind shirts is called CustomInk, and even if you don't get anything printed, it's great fun to play around.