New Utrecht Librarian’s Jazz Band Gets Funky

New Utrecht Librarian and former Stoop Stories interviewee Rita Meade was profiled along with her band, Lost in the Stacks (LITS), by the New York Daily News.

LITS’ band members are all  librarians at various branches of the New York Public Library.

They’ve played festivals and events like the Coney Island Blues Festival, Service for the Aging, the annual Book Drive and many others.

“This gives the people another image of librarians,” said the band’s founding member, Jack McCleland, 65, the head librarian at the Grand Army Plaza branch. “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 play to honor a friend’s passing.

“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.”