Ernest T. Minky was the only librarian and dentist in the thirties in St. Olaf. He was known for being notoriously mean. Rose once said that in 1938, you could tell if somebody was from St. Olaf, they were illiterate and had teeth like Indian corn. However, that all changed one day. Rose decided to go to the library to get the latest Nancy Drew mystery and when she was checking it out, he got his tie stuck in the machine that checked out the books. Rose got her Girl Scout knife out and cut his tie, saving him. He was so grateful, he let her check out the book for a week (he usually only let people check books out for an hour, because as he said, "books belong in an library").