Every university has rumors about sex in the library. In Michael Griffith’s novella “Bibliophilia,” the rumors manifest themselves to the chagrin of Myrtle Rusk, who was hired to nip the PDA crisis in the bud.

Myrtle, an aged librarian, lost her job at a prestigious law library to a computer. After being hired at the Louisiana State University library for what she presumed was a circulation desk job, Myrtle is surprised to find that her charge is to break up and discourage clandestine trysts within the stacks.

Armed with a large flashlight, a bell and frustration over her lot in life, Myrtle monitors the stacks diligently and with little incident, save a perverted miscreant with an odd passion for fruits and vegetables.

Myrtle’s coworker, Seti, is an Egyptian exchange student studying hydrology at the university. Seti, shy, reserved and perplexed by American sexual mores, is in love with Lili, the flirtatious but seemingly innocent daughter of the library manager.

Seti dreams of anything but returning to Egypt and being a hydrologist. Instead he would rather marry Lili and be a construction worker, or a deep-sea diver, or hot dog vendor and live out the American dream of prosperity and freedom.

After discovering Lili engaged in an unauthorized anatomy lesson with her boyfriend in the library, the lives and hopes of Myrtle and Seti are both shaken to the core in ways neither of them suspects.

“Bibliophilia” is only the title novella and is collected together with several short stories.

“Zugzwang” is a heartwarming but predictable story about a landfill manager and his confusion about his son’s interest in chess and subsequent disinterest in taking over the family business.

In “Hooper Gets a Perm,” a man tries to free an abused monkey from an amusement park, only to be locked in the cage by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals activists. Hooper is led to reflect on his life as a superficial English lecturer and his attitude toward monkeys.

The fact that his parents — who are visiting him on the eve of his unexpected detainment — will find out that he is gay if he doesn’t get back to his apartment in time to remove his sex toys and elf candles makes Hooper’s ordeal much more complicated.

The stories collected in “Bibliophilia” are imaginative, yet they are also predictable. Griffith’s focus seems to be on character study instead of plot development. Fortunately, he does this well.

Myrtle and Seti at first seem to be stock characters, but Myrtle’s conflict with her job and Seti’s secret passions and dreams make them salient and three-dimensional.

The same goes for “Zugzwang,” in which the father-son relationship is the main theme, the characters are interesting in spite of the mediocre development of the story itself.

This is not to say that the only redeeming quality of Griffith’s writing is his rendering of character. Griffith is witty and playful with the themes of sex, friendship and culture, among others, and even though the stories aren’t surprising, they are certainly memorable.

“Bibliophilia” showcases a variety of different narrative and formative styles. Griffith pulls off adequately the shift from novella to short story, and writes with a voice that has a unique levity about it; the stories themselves, along with the author, seem to be continually smirking at the reader.