what's in a name?

Here's something I wish I was making up, but it's actually true. We have a new administration building on campus. I know times are bad and budgets are scarce, but I guess they'd started the building before the economy tanked. Anyway though, what cracks me up is that they're calling the building "DBD," an acronym that doesn't mean anything. Everyone on campus knows that the building houses Administration and Student Services and that the real acronym for it is ASS. Kind of fitting too, because right now the biggest project coming out of there is the Campus Re-Accreditation Plan (CRAP). With the obvious genius that goes into naming things on my campus, I'm glad that the library is just called "Library."

biblio burro

Do you remember the bookmobile? There used to be a time when crowds enthusiastically awaited the arrival of the big shiny bus, and children greeted the librarian on board like Santa Claus. Unfortunately, in an age of getting what we want at the speed of a mouse click, the bookmobile has become a faded relic of a slower past. But there are people still interested in this type of service. Here is an absolutely charming article from the New York Times about a Colombian man who delivers books on his two donkeys. I love this kind of stuff: Acclaimed Colombian Institution Has 4,800 Books and 10 Legs.

flowers for algernon

One of the reference desk interactions today:

Student: I'm looking for a biology book. I think it has a picture of a flower on it.

Me: We have a lot of books at this library. Can you be more specific?

Student: I think it's a periwinkle.

Well, I gotta hand it to her, that certainly was more specific!

WTF?

Teenagers don't talk in full sentences anymore. It could be a result of texting, it could be that everyone is in a hurry all the time, or it could just be that we are all getting stupider--I don't know the answer. But I had a kid come to the reference desk the other day, look at me, and say "internet?" The one-worded question sounded so random that I said the first random one-worded answer that came into my mind: "Chinchilla!" I replied. I could see that the kid was thinking hard because the look on his face conveyed WTF? The non sequitur went right over his head, but I guess he was shocked enough that he repeated his question in a full sentence, sort of: "Where can I get internet?" I showed him where and we've been BFFs ever since.

let's start at the beginning

So you're wondering about the title of this blog. Well have you ever heard anyone call the library a "liberry?" That's where my title comes from. Now that you know why I chose this, can you guess what the tone of my blog will be? Yes, there might be a little cynicism involved, haha!