Every once in a while, something in the library surprises folks — even those of us who spend our work days here surrounded by the books, videos, art works, and other odds and ends that make up our collection. Ken Irwin, Reference Librarian, was working with a member of our education department faculty earlier today and stumbled across something rather unusual. Now, they were looking at our Curriculum Resource Center (CRC) materials which contains more out-of-the-ordinary items than our main collection. Since the CRC is used by education majors there lots of “manipulatives” in the collection to help children learn. Usually these are things like blocks, protractors, puppets and the like. However, other items can also be used as teaching aids such as the 12.5ft preserved python skin rediscovered by Ken this morning. Current library staff do not know the origins of the skin, but it has been in the collection since at least 1995. It is located in the CRC on the third floor with the call number QL666 .O6 P97.

Karen Balliet and Ken Irwin pose with python skin found in library's collection.