Consequences:

The endless chatter about how the calendar would be received by family, colleagues and communities didn't begin to prepare the desperate librarians for the roller coaster ride they're on. A brief encounter with a reporter from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and someone at the Wisconsin Library Association has brought more attention to the Desperate Librarians than they could ever have imagined. They're giddy, baffled, pleased, overwhelmed, and extremely excited. Sure, they've had a few critics but fans far outnumber them.

The calendar is getting the message out: libraries are facing enormous challenges right now and the next few years will be crucial for many of them across the United States. When writer John Steinbeck's hometown (a city of over 150,000!) can't keep its library open you know America's libraries are in trouble.

We take our libraries for granted and well we should not. If you don't think libraries are a cornerstone of democracy, think about the places that don't have them. Desperate times call for desperate measures and the Desperate Librarians have certainly illustrated this point.