Nearly twenty years ago, before I donned my first cardigan and became Liberry Man (this phrase has been shouted at me in grocery store parking lots), I loved an online comic strip called Unshelved, which was set in a library and featured a main character named “Dewey”. (Like….Dewey decimel system. Sorry, I have to explain that now because some librarians think that the decimal system is sus and want to clap back and pretend we’re in a bookstore. Zoomers. ) Way back then, when we could find time between triceratop raids, Unshelved had a merchandise store that sold a shirt with the print, “FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS”. This past week I searched for that shirt or other iterations of the same, and lo! I found that there were printed versions of Unshelved comics! This is one of them, and it’s so dated that people pronouncing ‘lol’ was a thing, as was a series based on Jayne’s hat. It’s pretty cunning, I think. Frequently Asked Questions is one collection of many in the Unshelved series, and I enjoyed on several levels. These days, of course, I am a librarian, so I grokked the Unshelved cast’s problems more than I did twenty years ago — whether that be IT or patron problems. Library culture has changed so much in twenty years, though. Although this series does spotlight the variety of library offerings — audiobooks alongside physical books and movies — it’s mostly focused on books, whereas these days most libraries in the US appear to be reducing their physical holdings and re-orienting the space for other uses, like ‘makerspaces’ for people who are really into 3D printing and want fool around on the public dime. Cellphones, which Dewey sharply tackles in several strips, have also taken over pretty much everywhere: even churches and courtrooms are not spared the cursed things’ noise, though at least in courtrooms armed men will give you the business whereas librarians and priests are only allowed to look slightly peeved or exasperated. This was a fun look back, and I imagine I may check out the other collections. I don’t think there’s anything quite like Unshelved today, which is a shame. Modern libraries—where the likes of Dewey would be expected to function as social workers, teachers, and cops —are fairly wild places.