Harry Potter madness!
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007Indeed, this was the weekend of Harry Potter. Devotees lined up at bookstores everywhere to pick up their copies at midnight. Many readers stayed up all night and then some reading the book, sometimes only stopping for food and bathroom breaks. “NO SPOILERS!” signs are popping up on blogs and discussion forums all over the web, for those who are taking the slow and scenic route, savoring every last moment of the final chapter in the story.
Public libraries were right there with the fans to celebrate the 7th canon. The Allen County Public Library coordinated a huge evening chock full of activities and music at their new library on Library Plaza, which you can read about care of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinal online (they also have a listing on their home page in the scrolling news graphics for a house elf clothing drive, which is very clever). Thanks to All Things Web 2.0 for the tip via your post! You can also peruse their entire photo set devoted to the party on Flickr.
By the looks of several Flickr photostreams, there were lots of libraries that had a really good time Friday night:
- Olds Municipal Library (Canada): Dumbledore, book reading, trivia, and more
- Kettleston Memorial Library (Alaska): potion mixing, quiz by Professor Trelawney, prophecy reading, and more
- Rancho Cucamonga Public Library (California): the “storm,” house elves, Hagrid, and more
You can also see library events on YouTube. Wellesley Free Library (Massachusetts) had quite the celebration, and you can see it all edited up quite nicely into 4m30s by video blogger Wellesley Townsman (a.k.a. Brad Reed). In a play on the epilogue of the book, you can watch Harry’s future as a library employee at the Hays Public Library (Kansas) battling the evils of vending machine vandalism and book theft.
I leave you with a video of the magical 2 minutes at the Land O’ Lakes branch of the Pasco County Libraries (Florida), when they opened the box at midnight:
Did your library have an event on Friday night? Post links to your photos, videos, articles, and more in the comments on this post! And, don’t forget a link to your library’s web site. 
