First, very important – if you’re looking for this week’s giveaway, check the post just before this one. And, good luck!

When author Donis Casey mentioned that today was Librarian Appreciation Day, and she had a guest post to share, of course I jumped at the chance to post it. Donis is the author of ten Alafair Tucker mysteries, and two Bianca Dangereuse Hollywood mysteries, spin-offs of the Alafair Tucker ones. Donis has twice won the Arizona Book Award for her series, and been a finalist for the Willa Award and a seven-time finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award. Her first novel, The Old Buzzard Had It Coming, was named an Oklahoma Centennial Book in 2008. Donis is a former teacher, academic librarian, and entrepreneur. She lives in Tempe, Arizona. Her most recent mystery is Valentino Will Die.

Thank you, Donis, for taking time to write this post.

The Badass Librarian

A couple of years ago, during the former president’s first impeachment trial, Steven Colbert jokingly noted that embattled former Ambassador to the Ukraine, Marie Yovanovich, looked like a badass librarian. He meant it as a compliment, and I laughed and agreed. But I also thought that truthfully I’ve never met a librarian who wasn’t a bad ass.

What you have to know to be a good librarian is hard for a layman to understand. Librarians are bottomless repositories of knowledge, both where to find it and how to get your hands (or eyes) on it. Librarians are fearless guardians of the freedom of information. Librarians have gone to jail to protect your right to know and your freedom to read. I do not exaggerate.

Lo, many years ago, I was a librarian myself. I started out in public libraries, working special services, building film collections (back when films came in big canisters), working general reference. I even did a stint as a cataloger, during that interim period when the catalog information was entered on a punch card, then fed into a big old machine to print out. But most of my career was spent as a Government Documents librarian.

Back in 1895, the U.S. Congress passed something called the Depository Act, the purpose of which was to make all non-classified government publication as accessible as possible to U.S. citizens all over the country. Any library in the nation can elect to receive as many government documents as it can maintain from as many government entities as it wishes, as long as the library agrees to make the collection available to anyone who wants to use it, even the rest of the library’s collection is private or restricted. This meant that whether you live in Washington state instead of Washington D.C., you could have access to government papers in the name of freedom of information.

The physical documents belong to the U.S. Government and not the depository library, so the government can recall any document whenever it wants. Because of this, historically most depository libraries kept their docs in a special collection using a special call number system, and hired specialist librarians to maintain and reference it. I was a docs librarian at two depositories in two different universities, both dating from the inception of the program in 1895. The collections were massive, and incredibly fascinating. This is where I developed my fascination and extreme familiarity with U.S. history and government.

We had all versions of every bill submitted to Congress, White House papers, old geological surveys, papers from both World Wars and every subsequent conflict, Census reports from 1790 onward. Want a WWI infantry manual or a propaganda poster? Got it. A list of Civil War pensioners? Got it. How about the Pentagon Papers, the HUAC hearings, the Watergate transcripts? Check. Want to know how to raise rabbits? The Department of Agriculture has you covered.

Every once in a while, some department (usually Defense) would have second thoughts about something they had released to the general public, and we would get a call saying that a U.S. Deputy Marshal would be shortly paying us a visit to retrieve all copies of said offending document. We would naturally rush out to the stacks, pull the document, and pass it around the office as fast as we could so that everyone could read it before the marshal showed up.

Things have changed quite a bit since I was in the docs biz. In the first place, most government publication has gone electronic. In the second place, free access to government information in general has undergone a sad diminution.

Now the government gathers information about us, rather than the other way around. If the law wants to know what you’ve been checking out of the library, the librarians who are served warrants must turn over a patron’s circulation records, and they are not allowed under threat of arrest to inform anyone – especially not the patron himself – that the records have been summoned. Needless to say, this puts librarians in a tough spot, so much so that The American Library Association has issued guidelines about what to do if a law enforcement official shows up and demands a patron’s records.http://www.ala.org/advocacy/privacy/lawenforcement

The idea that the government wants to keep tabs on or manipulate the behavior of its citizens is not a new one at all. The United States suspended an alarming number of civil liberties during the World Wars. People were encouraged to spy on their neighbors, and one could be arrested for criticizing the war or the president.

The difference now is how much more information about each of us is available and accessible. And do we ever cooperate! It’s impossible not to, if you own anything or buy anything online or have a bank account or a phone. Or if you think it’s funny to post pictures of yourself drunk and naked with your head in the toilet. Advertisers and political parties and not-so-benign entities use the information to create a profile so they can psychologically manipulate you into buying their product or voting for their guy. Fortunately, nobody is going to force you to buy the product or believe in the candidate. As for giving governments access to your personal information, even a list of the books you’ve checked out of the library … well … perhaps with the best motives in the world, they can use it to at least keep you from getting on an airplane, and at worst, you might find yourself disappeared to some third world country for questioning.

Things are possible now that never were before, most of them entirely wonderful. But we walk a razor’s edge, and have to keep a close watch. That’s what that badass librarian does every day.

Thank you, Donia!

Now, here’s the description of Donis Casey’s Valentino Will Die.

WHO IS TRYING TO KILL HOLLYWOOD’S GREATEST LOVER?

Though Bianca LaBelle, star of the wildly popular silent movie serial “The Adventures of Bianca Dangereuse”, and Rudolph Valentino, the greatest screen idol of all time, have been friends for years, in the summer of 1926 they are finally making their first picture together. Despite their success, one evening at Bianca’s fabulous Beverly Hills estate, a troubled Rudy confesses that he has received anonymous death threats.

In a matter of days, filming comes to an abrupt halt when Rudy falls deathly ill. It could be poison, but it’s definitely not a coincidence.

As Rudy lies dying, Bianca promises him that she will find out who is responsible. Was it one of his many lovers? A delusional fan? Or perhaps Rudy had run afoul of a mobster whose name Bianca knows all too well? With the help of P.I. Ted Oliver she dives into investigating the end of what had seemed to be the charmed life of Valentino.

The inimitable Bianca brings her star power to the role of female private investigator in Valentino Will Die, a propulsive Hollywood mystery novel, sure to thrill fans of Golden Age movies.