These Brooklyn librarians have gone from shelving books to rocking out in a band.
The six librarians have formed a roving band called Lost in the Stacks – a jazz and blues band that plays at book festivals and branches all over the city.
The group is a far cry from the stern stereotypes of librarians.
“This gives the people another image of librarians,” said the band’s founding member, Jack McCleland, 65, the head librarian at the main branch at Grand Army Plaza.
“There’s this stereotype of librarians being this older woman with her hair in a bun shushing everyone. We’re not like that. We have a lot of very hip and very cool people.”
McCleland formed the band eight years ago after he was asked to perform for a longtime staffer who died.
The lifelong guitarist quickly scraped together a group of seven other librarians who had musical chops to play the impromptu gig and have performed ever since.
Lead singer Rita Meade, 31, – who works as a librarian out of the New Utrecht branch on 86th St. – said librarians are more artistic than people think.
“When people are surprised that we’re librarians I think we’re surprised,” said Meade. “There are a lot of us out there with hidden talents.”
Last year, the band released an album with original music currently going for $10 a copy on Facebook. The group also plays covers of jazz and blues standards like “All of Me,” “Stormy Monday,” and “Someone to Watch Over Me.”
The band has now grown to nine members – including a Queens librarian.
Matt Cole, 41 – the alto and baritone saxophone player who works at the Kensington branch on Ditmas Ave. – said the band shows how times have changed.
“We’re not your father’s and mother’s librarians,” said Cole. “A lot of us are the really creative types.”
The band of bookworms regularly play at a slew of promotional library events all over the city, including The Coney Island Blues Festival, the Literacy Banquet at the Central Library and in City Hall Park during National Library Week.
For now, the band is scraping together the cash to produce their next album. McCleland said he’s hoping audiences will grow beyond other bookworms.
“We’re expanding,” said McCleland. “Our reach is going beyond the library. It’s very satisfying.”
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