Summer 1996 riverrun by Bob Sawatzki

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500s: Science

Vol. 130 No. 2 Summer 1996

ALA:

Summer Camp for Librarians

2 2 ,000

librarians from around the world g a t h e r e d i n N e w Yo r k C i t y f o r t h e th 120 conference of the American Library Association— including 24 wide-eyed visitors from River Bend, Iowa. It was like summer camp for librarians as they attended panel discussions and poetry readings, hobnobbing with authors, workshopping concepts, exploring new paradigms, and networking like c r a z y, c e l e b r a t i n g a l l things library-related. Most librarians still found time for shopping, sight-seeing, and watching shows, both on and off Broadway—a road with 3 5 0 y e a r s o f h i s t o r y. The street that Walt Whitman compared to life itself is alive as ever, but changed in every w a y, n o m o r e s o t h a n at the intersection of Broadway, 42 nd Street, a n d S e v e n t h Av e n u e ; known since 1904 as Ti m e s S q u a r e . A f t e r View of Times Square at dusk. Photograph Copyright information... decades of decline, Ti m e s S q u a r e i s b e i n g r e - b o r n i n a c o n t r o v e r s i a l p r o c e s s known as “Disneyfication,” and the evidence was all around us. We came to know the neighborhood well during our week in the city. Thanks to a generous donation from our new partners at KeyCo, rooms were reserved for library staff at the fabulous Hotel Millennium.

river rafters B ro a d w a y , 1 8 5 5 Th o u p o r t a l — t h o u a re n a — t h o u o f t h e m y r i a d l o n g - d ra w n l i n e s a n d g ro u p s ! … Th o u , l i k e t h e p a r t i - c o l o re d w o r l d itself—like infinite, teeming, mocking life!

Editor: Jeremiah DiAngelo

Art Director: Jamie Petrie

Webmaster: Barney Rubble

— Wa l t W h i t m a n

Unix Guru: Stanley Livingstone

Vigilantee Coordinator: Stacey Cartwright

Managing Manager: Franny Andzoey

Preefrooders:

Merriam Webster Zelda Fitzgerald

Editorial Board: Keystone College: Dr. Jefferson Davis Dr. Steve Canyon

The Millennium Broadway Hotel West 44th Street, New York City

Dr. Mephistopheles

Library Director: Helena Montana

Printer:

AVATAR Press

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates announces the launching of “Libraries Online,” July 8, 1996. At right is New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. (AP Photo/Adam Nadel)

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Vo l . 1 3 0

N o . 2

Summer 1996

Ve x i m u s e s t u m e n r i v i e r a u r b i .

4 .

Tr i p R e p o r t

8 - 9 .

L I V E ! f ro m N e w Yo rk

10-11.

L I V E ! f ro m J a v i t s C e n t e r

1 2 .

Pe e - D e e - E f f i n g

1 3 .

‘Zines Scenes

Do-It-Yourself Bookmark

14. A Visit to the National Digital Library riverrun recommends W i e g a n d , Wa y n e A . Irrepressible Reformer: A B i o g r a p h y o f M e l v i l D e w e y. Chicago: ALA Editions, 1996.

D r u c k e r, P e t e r. M a n a g i n g i n a Time of Great Change. New Yo r k : H a r p e r C o l l i n s , 1 9 9 5 .

KeyCo® & Your Library River Bend Public Library was established in 1866 by a grant from munitions manufacturer Munificent T. Keystone for the Veterans of the Civil War and for the residents of River Bend, Iowa. Operated by the City of River Bend and partially funded by the Keystone Trust, the library is a wholly owned subsidiary of KeyCo®, the corporate entity now calling the shots.

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Melville Dewey invented the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system when he was 21 and working as a student assistant in the library of Amherst College. His work created a revolution in library science and set in motion a new era of librarianship. Dewey changed librarianship from a vocation to a modern profession. He helped establish the American Library Association (ALA) in 1876; he was its secretary from 1876-1890 and its president for the 1890/1891 and 1892/1893 terms. He also co-founded and edited Library Journal. A pioneer in library education, Dewey became the librarian of Columbia College (now Columbia U n i v e r s i t y ) i n N e w Yo r k C i t y i n 1 8 8 3 , a n d f o u n d e d t h e w o r l d ’s first library school there in 1887. In 1889, he became director o f t h e N e w Yo r k S t a t e L i b r a r y i n A l b a n y, a p o s i t i o n h e h e l d until 1906.

clip’n’save

D r u c k e r, P e t e r. Post-Capitalist S o c i e t y. N e w Yo r k : HarperCollins, 1993.

Melvil Dewey 1851––1931

All copyright rights in the Dewey Decimal Classification system are o w n e d b y O C L C . D e w e y, D e w e y Decimal Classification, DDC, OCLC and WebDewey are registered trademarks of OCLC.

h t t p : / / w w w. o c l c . o r g

1996

Trip Report Wednesday, July 3rd

597 Fishes

Trapped for two hours in a machine designed to process people while waiting for our connecting flight to N e w Yo r k a t S a i n t L o u i s I n t e r n a t i o n a l A i r p o r t , Te r m i n a l 2 . T h e r e ’ s a P i z z a H u t , a Ta c o T i m e , a s a n d w i c h s h o p , and a bar surrounded by parking garages and empty tarmac vistas. It takes an act of will to sit still and just be where you are. The steel ceiling beams sprayed with cheesy fireproofing, accented by lime green lighting. This is how fish must feel, trapped in an aquarium. 598 Aves

S i t t i n g i n t h e f r o n t r o w, f a c i n g backwards, watching people fly—packed together inside an aluminum tube.

As we take off, half the passengers lean back, closing their eyes, as if t h e p l a n e ’s f l i g h t m i g h t b e c a u s e d b y an act of their collective will. 540 Chemistry and allied sciences

Four of us shared a taxi from LaGuardia Airport. I was sitting up f r o n t w i t h t h e d r i v e r, A b d u l O s a m a from Istanbul. He was taking classes at NYU, possibly in political science. It was hard to understand because of his accent and the radio on full volume, tuned to news about the explosion at a fireworks stand: “ E I G H T P E O P L E K I L L E D AT A FIREWORKS S TA N D OUTSIDE C H I C A G O T O D AY, ” t h e r a d i o n e w s guy was announcing. “ H a p p y F o u r t h o f J u l y, ” s a i d A b d u l . “ B o o m ! Yo u ’ r e d e a d . A m e r i c a n s d o n ’ t know what to do with all their freedoms.” After he unloaded our baggage at Howard Johnson’s, Abdul pressed a card in my hand, s a y i n g , “ Yo u a r e n o t l i k e t h e others. If you want to know more about our organization, please, take this.” The first of the dozens of business cards I was to receive that week, it said: Al Qaeda Cab. There was a 1-800 number and an e-mail address: AbdulOsama@ aol.com. 572 Human races

Times Square by ____ Regnier, © 19__, used by permission.

We h a d a N e w Yo r k m i n u t e t o drop off our bags in our rooms, then we were hustled back out onto the street, dividing into a fleet of taxis for the ride to a dinner being hosted by our new f r i e n d s a t K e y C o . T h e Ty p h o o n

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Brewery lived up to its name. Sounds from the open air kitchen e c h o e d o ff g a l v a n i z e d s t e e l t a b l e s and mirrored walls while voices shouted to be heard in the rush hour atmosphere. Flames shot up from the central brazier where three cooks made performance art out of cooking over an open fire. As we sampled the five beers brewed at Typhoon, the menu—simple yet profound—was translated for u s b y S u n n y Y i n - Ya n g , Te c h n i c a l Services Librarian at River City Library. Born and raised in Thailand, Sunny explained the philosophy of food from her native land. “Five food group!” Sunny said, holding out her left hand and counting on her fingers, fairly shouting over the ringing din of the room, “Sawty! Sweet! Sour! Bittah! Hot! What you rike is who you are! Barance is key! Mix and match! Rots a ruck!” “ I ’ m s w e e t a n d s o u r. ” “I rike it hot.” “I rike it hot and s a l t y. ” “ Yo u ’ r e a salty dog.” “I rike it hot and salty and sweet and sour, with b i t t e r b r e w e d b e e r. ” “Try the green squishy s tu ff,” Marian enthused. “It’s great!”

meeting with KeyCo technicians, I was up till midnight reviewing strategy with our bookmobile d r i v e r, E m e r s o n B l a k e . A veteran of past ALAs, Emerson systematically worked through the telephone-book-thick conference program, highlighting special e v e n t s i n y e l l o w, s e c o n d a r y e v e n t s in green, and mandatory events in red. He stuck stickies marking each day and made sure he had ready a map of the city and a mass transit guide, along with a supply of business cards, pens, and paperclips. Then Emerson put on his pajamas and his black satin eyeshade and went to bed. Too excited to sleep, I went downstairs and down the block to the drugstore to buy a pocket comb. The street action continued unabated—it’s a b l o c k p a r t y e v e r y n i g h t i n N e w Yo r k . N o l i b r a r i a n s i n s i g h t . S o m e h o w, forgot to buy comb.

5 2 2 Te c h n i q u e s , e q u i p m e n t , materials

While Stanley Livingstone, Chief Te c h n o l o g y O f f i c e r, was at a special

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Cyber Cowboy, by _______________. S m o l a n , R i c k . 2 4 H o u r s i n C y b e r s p a c e : P a i n t i n g o n t h e Wa l l s o f t h e D i g i t a l C a v e , 1996. (With CD-ROM)

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4 th o f J u l y 577 General nature of life

Early a.m. taking the elevator down to pick up a comb from the concierge. Fully dressed, except hair looks like I h a v e j u s t s t e p p e d o u t o f s h o w e r, which is the case. Elevator keeps stopping as professionally dressed fellow librarians board and depart. “ I t h o u g h t I w a s u p e a r l y, ” I s a i d . “ A l l l i b r a r i a n s a r e u p e a r l y, ” o n e woman cheerfully ventured. “And we all work late. Librarians just never have any fun.” 573 Physical anthropology

Walked six blocks to the Millennium Hotel where I had coffee and tiny poppy seed muffins in the lounge while waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. A public walkway passes through the building, connecting West 4 5 t h S t r e e t t o We s t 4 4 t h S t r e e t , s o t h e traffic is constant and diverse. As the days pass, you get better at recognizing librarians. They are not those perfectly groomed mannequins in sleek business suits, and certainly not among those women in tight skirts, cut-off at mid-thigh or unbuttoned to the crotch and adorned with gold chains. By their canvas book bags and sensible shoes, you will know them—but there are more varieties of librarian than you might think. During the opening general session I was sitting next to a young woman who didn’t look like any kind of

librarian I had yet seen. She was wearing a short flounced skirt and high heels. When she spoke to her companion en francais, I began to develop a larger view of the world of librarians. There are motherly librarians and techy librarians and Lipstick Librarians. Academic librarians dress in tweedy suits, well-used and comfortablel o o k i n g . T h e r e a r e a l l d i ff e r e n t k i n d s of librarians, was what I finally had to conclude. The most reliable way to recognize a librarian is by that inner glow shared among these servants at the font of knowledge. That, and the fact that 82% of librarians are women. That’s a clue, for sure. 569 Fossil mammalia

We had to sign up for at least one tour before being released to our own devices for the remainder of the d a y. I c h o s e t h e L i b r a r y o f T h e a t e r History tour and took the opportunity to research The Music Man. It’s amazing how much Meredith Willson got right about small towns and public libraries. But so much has changed since then, I can’t help thinking—in this age of theater revivals—how cool it would be to do an update.

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New York Skyline, Circa ‘96 Photograph copyright information.

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534 Sound & related vibrations

Standing On The Verge of Getting It On “The natives there dressed in birds’ feathers of various colors, and they c a m e t o w a r d u s j o y f u l l y, u t t e r i n g l o u d c r i e s o f w o n d e r m e n t . ” — G i o v a n n i d e Ve r r a z z a n o , l a n d i n g o n M a n h a t t a n , 1 5 2 4

That description could also apply to George Clinton and the P-Funk A l l - S t a r s h e a d l i n i n g a 4 th o f J u l y benefit concert for Central Park Summerstage. There were up to twenty of them onstage demonstrating “the funk,” dressed in costumes of their own design. Bootsy Collins was re-united with Bernie Worrell, who kicked off the concert with a ten minute solo that ranged from gospel to jazz to funk, to psychedelic sonic nonsense and back again. Bootsy joined in for short riffs, shouting for “the whole damn building” to sing. Which was strange, because we were outside, on the lawn, the sun going down over

the heartland. The weather was dodgy with periods of partial clearing. I was dancing w i t h D j u n a , B e t t y, Ve r o n i c a , C o d y, and Marian when the rain started pouring. I w a s h e a d i n g f o r t h e s h e l t e r, b u t Djuna grabbed my wrist. Her other wrist was being held by Cody while his other arm was linked in the arm o f M a r i a n . M a r i a n w a s t i p s y, t i l t i n g , laughing, linking arms with Betty and Ve r o n i c a . M a r i a n s e e m e d t o w h i p saw us all around her pivot point and the rain was really coming down. We just kept dancing. They were playing S t a n d i n g O n t h e Ve r g e o f G e t t i n g I t On and the rain was coming down.

Central Park at Night by Adolf Dehn, 1934. Craven, Thomas, editor. A Treasury of American Prints: A Selection of One Hundred Etchings and Lithographs by the Foremost Living American Artists. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1939.

Ten Women by Peter Lindberg, 1996 Schirmer/ Mosel, 1996. http://www.peterlindbergh. net/publications. html

A u t h o r M i c h a e l Wo l f : “The Internet is similar to what the library was one hundred years ago. It represents who we are, how we act, transact business and engage in relationships. The Internet is about information empowerment. I think it will change world culture.” – I n v e s t o r s B u s i n e s s D a i l y, 9 / 2 1 / 9 5 C h a s e , E l a i n e R a c o ; W i n g a t e , A n n e . A m a t e u r D e t e c t i v e s : A Wr i t e r ’s G u i d e t o h o w p r i v a t e c i t i z e n s s o l v e c r i m i n a l c a s e s . N e w Yo r k , N . Y. : Wr i t e r ’s D i g e s t B o o k s , 1 9 9 6 .

R o c k e f e l l e r C e n t e r, N e w Yo r k C i t y , c o p y r i g h t 1 9 9 6 S e a n D o u g h e r t y. h t t p : / / s e a n . d o u g h e r t y. o r g / e x h i b i t 2 . h t m l

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Recommended Reading

LIVE! From New York

B a r l o w, John P e r r y. “A Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace.” Electronic Frontier Foundation, February 8, 1996.

http://homes.eff.org/~barlow/ Declaration-Final.html

Jacobs, Karrie. “Utopia Redux,” WORD.com, April 18, 1996. www.word.com/textword/machine/ Jacobs/index.html

To p : M e d i a Wa l l a t S I B L , S c i e n c e a n d Business Library, New York City, formerly the B. Altman Department Store, built in 1919 and remodeled for $85 million dollars. w w w. n y p l . o r g / r e s e a r c h / s i b l / Above, left: Entrance Hall, SIBL. Above, right: Javits Center B o t t o m : S t e v e P e r l m a n , C E O o f We b T V, i n t r o d u c e s h i s c o m p a n y ’s n e w p r o d u c t i n N e w Yo r k We d n e s d a y, J u l y 6 , 1 9 9 6 . ( A P Photo/Mark Lennihan)

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545 Quantitative analysis

506 Organizations & management

B o a rd B o o ks A re B i g

“Kids are the fastest growing market for just about everything,” said the Minnie Mouse lady at the Disney booth. She wore a Minnie Mouse blouse and a polkadot skirt with a silky black tail attached that she twirled absent-mindedly as she chatted with us. “Baby Boomers are re-living their childhoods through their kids,” said Ve r o n i c a L a k e , C h i l d r e n s D e p a r t m e n t , R i v e r B e n d L i b r a r y, w e a r i n g a n I H E A RT NY tee-shirt, sensible walking shorts a n d r e d R e e b o k s ®. “But with way cooler toys and books,” said a librarian wearing a formidable collection of buttons and badges from previvous ALA conventions attached to h e r d a r k g r e e n j u m p e r. L i k e a m i d d l e aged Girl Scout at summer camp, she wore sandals and ankle socks, short, s e n s i b l e h a i r, a n d w a s s t u ff i n g s o u v e n i r s into an enormous bookbag. “Indulging their kids’ every whim and c a p r i c e , ” s a i d Ve r o n i c a , c o n s u l t i n g t h e events schedule. “Well, what’s next? Te a W i t h E l o i s e a t t h e P l a z a H o t e l ? O r do you want to check out Fun With Dick & Jane at the Grande Marriott?” “What’s ‘Fun with Dick and Jane?’” I said. “It’s a Smithsonian exhibition, said Ve r o n i c a , “ a n d i t ’ s c o m i n g t o R i v e r Bend for six weeks in the fall.” “I don’t suppose you have Eloise yet in a board book?”, the Girl Scout librarian asked Minnie Mouse. “We could use a dozen copies.” “Board books are big!”, Minnie Mouse enthused. “Eloise isn’t available, but we’ve got a whole series with movie tie-ins. Sign up for the set and we’ll throw in free tickets for a matinee performance of The Lion King.”

A t t h e Key C o ® Booth

“So where’s the home office?” I asked. “Redmond, Washington? Or Silicon Va l l e y ? ” “ W e ’ r e f r o m a l l o v e r, ” J a s o n s a i d . “More virtual than actual.” Jason was wearing the KeyCo golf shirt and sport coat combo over your b a s i c b e i g e D o c k e r s . H e h a d g r e a t h a i r, and he mentioned that he was missing h i s k i d s ’ AY S O s o c c e r t o u r n a m e n t t o b e i n N e w Yo r k f o r t h i s g i g . “KeyCo is an on-line presence with a back office in the outback,” Jane explained. Jane had Peter Pan hair, big red plastic frames on her glasses, and a pin-striped business suit with an apricot scarf. “Australia. New Hebrides. Republic of Brunaire,” Jason shrugged. “It changes as conditions change. That’s the beauty of satellite transmission and fully networked peer to peer computing.” “I still don’t get what it is that KeyCo makes.” I said. “We don’t make anything,” said Jane, squinching up her n o s e d i s t a s t e f u l l y. “We’re enablers.” “Suppliers of demand.” “Brokers of information retrieval and dispersal systems.” “Whatever you want—we can get it for you wholesale, networked, and crossplatformed.” “Open U-R-L and intero p e r a b i l i l t y. ” “Innovative interfaces are what we’re all about.” “When the needs of your customers go beyond the book.”

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518 Numerical analysis

Q: Have you heard of Microsoft Explorer?

544 Qualitative analysis

LIVE! From Javits Center Q: Is content King? Or is it all about the internet portal? “ N e t s c a p e r u l e s . I n l e s s t h a t a y e a r, i t h a s a c h i e v e d u b i q u i t y. ” “What else is there besides them and AOL?” “AOL is the suckiest, and I mean that l i t e r a l l y. ” “ Ya h o o , E x c i t e , I n f o s e e k , C n e t a n d Prodigy…” “ Ly c o s a n d A l t a Vi s t a , M e t a S e a r c h a n d B i g f o o t , t h e e - m a i l d i r e c t o r y. ” “Don’t forget e-Village, the Apple web c o m m u n i t y. ” “Community from another planet is what Apple users are.” “I like the new simultaneous search engines, such as NlightN and Infonautics’ Electric Light.” “Who-the-what-the?” “Those guys down at the end of the hall? Looks like they just started up this week.”

“Netscape may rule now, but once E x p l o r e r t a k e s o ff i t ’s g o n n a b e l i k e The Empire Strikes Back.” “The Microsoft booth is thirty feet long on both sides of the aisle. They’re passing out free CD-ROMs w i t h W i n d o w s N T a n d E x p l o r e r. ” “What I hate is all the damn banner ads on websites. I wonder if you could have the option for ads—but only if you want more info?” “How hard would it be to create a search engine based on algorithms t h a t t r a c k m o s t - c i t e d s i t e s ? Yo u know? A reference tool of mostreferenced sites? Listed in order of relevance?” “ Yo u ’ d g e t a g o o g o l - l o t o f answers for each question, that’s for sure.” “What’s a googol?” “A flock of geese?” “No, it’s the number one followed by a hundred zeros” “ Yo u c o u l d c a l l t h e w e b s i t e Googol!” “That’s a silly name.” “So is Yahoo, but they’re worth three h u n d r e d m i l l i o n d o l l a r s n o w. ”

526 Mathematical geography

Q : D o y o u o f t e n u s e P a t h f i n d e r, t h e Ti m e s - Wa r n e r w e b s i t e p o r t a l ? “Oh yeah, whenever I have a tricky reference question you know I always click on Pathfinder first. NOT!”

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501 Philosophy & theory

Pe e - D e e - E f f i n g “Pee-dee-effing is the way to go if you want a publication with downloadable text and embedded graphics,” said the first sales rep at the Adobe booth. “That’s the general idea,” I said. “We want an on-line serial publication with discrete chunks of pictures and text. We’ll have reports from current events mixed in with an ongoing narrative and references to our library collection.” “One picture’s worth a thousand words, but they eat up megabytes l i k e c r a z y, ” s a i d t h e o t h e r s a l e s r e p . “ G o a h e a d . Ta k e a p i c t u r e . ”

“ Tw o - p o i n t - t h r e e m e g a b y t e s f o r that photo,” said the other sales rep. “ Tw o - p o i n t - t h r e e m e g a b y t e s w o u l d h o l d t h e e n t i r e w o r k s o f To l s t o y, because—hey—all it is is text.” “You’re suggesting that one picture of the Javits Center today is worth a l l t h e w o r k s o f To l s t o y ? ” “ N o , I ’ m s a y i n g t h a t i f To l s t o y w a s h e r e t o d a y, ” s a i d t h e f i r s t s a l e s rep, “he’d be pee-dee-effing his pamphlets and religious tracts on the internet. Those essays that he published in his later years, such as My Confessions are just the kind of stuff that PDF does best.”

8 : 4 3 a . m . , S a t u r d a y, J u l y 6 , 1 9 9 6 : A L A e x h i b i t o r s s e t t i n g u p a t J a v i t s C e n t e r.

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528 Ephemerides

About seventy of us were jammed into the room at the Marriott Marquis Hotel and we all had our own ‘zines. The panel discussion was moderated by Chris Dodge, a part-time cataloger at the Hennepin County Library public library and part-time editor of the Minnesota Library Association Social R e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s R o u n d Ta b l e N e w s l e t t e r . What is a ‘zine? was the first question to be addressed by the panel. “A ‘zine is what you do for yourself—it becomes a magazine when you start considering what the reader wants,” responded panel member Chip Rowe. Chip is an assistant editor at Playboy magazine and publisher of Chip’s Closet Cleaner, a ‘zine of pop c u l t u r e , h u m o r, t r i v i a , a n d f u n . A s Chip explained, “It’s subsidized by a large American corporation. Hef won’t mind. That’s how he started.” Chip has experienced the dilemma of being too successful. After contracting t o h a v e h i s ‘ z i n e d i s t r i b u t e d n a t i o n a l l y, all unsold copies were returned to him with their covers carefully ripped off to ensure they were not sold by a n y o n e e l s e . “ S o m e h o w, t h a t t o o k t h e fun out of the publication,” said Chip. Gr a d u a l l y, C h i p r e a l i z e d th a t h e w a s changing the content of his ‘zine, adding items of general interest to make it more p o p u l a r. H e d e c i d e d t o q u i t n a t i o n a l distribution and return to publishing only what was truly important to himself. No longer worried about making a profit, his goal now is just to break even. “‘Zines are a form of folk art,” said Chip. “It’s an easily learnable skill that people practice for their own amusement. Like folk art, the quality of the production is extremely variable. Ve r y r a r e l y, a c t u a l f i n e a r t m a y b e t h e r e s u l t . M o s t o f t h i s s t u ff i s c r a p . O u t o f two hundred ‘zines, only one is Nancy’s!” Chip was referring to Nancy’s Magazine, published by fellow panelist Nancy Bonnell-Kangas of the Columbus, O h i o M e t r o p o l i t a n L i b r a r y. N a n c y ’ s Magazine started twelve years ago in San

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“About ten years…” “About ten years,” said Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft, in response to the question of how long it will take until Internet Explorer has total control of the world wide web. (AP Photo/Adam Nadel)

“ Z i n e s a re a f o r m o f f o l k a r t , ” s a i d C h i p.

‘Zines Scenes

Francisco, hotbed of underground publishing. As she recalls: “‘Zines were appearing, breeding like bunnies and roaches. But there was no publication that called my name.” So she started her own ‘zine and it has changed her life. “It’s like a chain letter that works!” Nancy exclaimed. Nancy supports her art by working as a librarian. She started out p u b l i s h i n g m o n t h l y, b u t a s t h e i s s u e s got bigger and better and circulation increased up to 1,200 handmade copies, she had to cut back her rate of production. “About one issue every two years is t h e c u r r e n t s c h e d u l e , ” s a y s N a n c y. S h e once produced a Dewey Decimal issue in which each article received its own classification. For the Ground issue, Nancy i n c l u d e d s e e d p a c k e t s i n e v e r y c o p y. F o r t h e Tr a c t i s s u e , N a n c y d i s t r i b u t e d envelopes containing no sequential pages.

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High school girls learn the art of automobile mechanics. Left to right: Grace Hurd, Evelyn Harrison, and Corinna DiJiulian, with Grace Wagner (under car), at Central High, Wash. D.C., 1927, National Photo Company Collection. Item in album: p. 17, no. 41024. photographic print. LOT 12299, vol. 1. REPRODUCTION NUMBER LC-USZ62111 3 5 9 D L C . http://hdl.loc.gov/loc. p n p / c p h . 3 c 11 3 5 9

527 Celestial navigation

A V i s i t t o t h e N at i o n a l D i g i t a l L i b ra r y Our guide led us upstairs to a gallery where we could observe the scholars and credentialed visitors s t u d y i n g i n t h e Wr i t e r ’s R o o m o f t h e N e w Yo r k P u b l i c L i b r a r y. F r o m t h i s inspirational vista, we crowded into a n a n t i q u e c a r g o e l e v a t o r. T h e r e were about a dozen of us, and when no more of our group could fit in t h e e l e v a t o r, o u r g u i d e s a i d , “ P u s h t h e C E L L A R b u t t o n . We ’ l l m e e t y o u down there!” The elevator seemed almost as slow and old as the one back in River Bend in which all of us had spent so many meditative minutes, but after a long, creaking descent, it finally settled down to the ground f l o o r. T h e r e w a s a d r a m a t i c p a u s e , then the doors rolled back to reveal a d a r k , g r a y c o r r i d o r. “It looks like my basement,” said Merriam, sounding kind of pleased t o s e e s o m e t h i n g f a m i l i a r.

“It smells like...like a fishburge r,” said Djuna. “Somebody’s been down here e a t i n g f i s h b u r g e r s , ” s a i d Ve r o n i c a , in a singsong voice. We waited, and wondered if we h a d g o t t e n o f f o n t h e w r o n g f l o o r, our group cohesion dissipating as some were ready for a lunch break and talking about where to eat, when suddenly our guide came rushing past, leading a pack of librarians, rather like the White Rabbit leading Alice into Wonderland. We had no choice but to follow her down, down into the maze of tunnels underneath the streets of Manhattan. “Follow the fishburger trail!”, s a i d B e t t y, g e t t i n g a b i g l a u g h . Our tunnel soon joined a main underground thoroughfare with beige walls and ceiling, bustling with librarians, security guards, and maintenance workers. Overhead were

riverrun

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1996

exposed ducts and great skeins of wires and fiber optic cables. We t u rned right at an exit sign for Bryant Park, passing by a cafeteria a n d a n e s p r e s s o b a r. W e w e r e c r o s s i n g 4 2 nd S t r e e t u n d e r g r o u n d , headed toward the general vicinity of Grand Central Terminal, being led to a building whose exact location I am not allowed to reveal. In the e v e n t o f a n a t i o n a l e m e r g e n c y, t h i s secure command post will serve as America’s lifeline to freely distributed online information. No natural light intruded into the auditorium, a square room with glass walls three stories high. It was eerily like being inside an aquarium. S o u n d b a ff l e s , c a r p e t s a n d p a d d i n g with aquamarine colors made for an under-water like silence. On the other side of the glass were corridors

and offices and sometimes people p a s s i n g b y. W e s p r e a d o u t a c r o s s the seats, while on the small stage a woman introduced herself as Laura White, our digital tour guide Laura stood at the side of the stage using a computer whose image was projected for the audience. Sh e demonstrated how to navigate the N a ti o n a l D i g i ta l L i b r a r y w e b s i te a n d then began selecting items from the American Memory collection. Using w e b - b a s e d “ s t r e a m i n g t e c h n o l o g y, ” Laura created a multi-media production by combining an audio recording from 1912 with a film from 1903 of a d a n c i n g l a d y. “In the very near future people w o n ’ t n e e d t o g o t o t h e l i b r a r y, ” said Laura, “because the library will come to them.”

C i t y H a l l P a r k p a n o r a m a , c i r c a 1 9 1 3 , c o p y r i g h t ; I r v i n g U n d e r h i l l , N e w Yo r k . N o . M - 4 8 . A i r p l a n e s i n s k y a n d t a l l b u i l d i n g a t right spliced into negative. Photographic print: gelatin silver ; 17.5 x 33.5 in. LOT 12475, no. 9, Panoramic Photographs, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pan.6a36608

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Non-profit Organization U.S. Postage Paid River Bend, Iowa Permit #1234

Mr. & Mrs. John Q. Public 1776 Live Free or Die Avenue River Bend, Iowa 54123

The NEW Times Square

KEYCO

Another fine KEYCO product

e - m a i l T h e V i r t u a l L i b ra r i a n : M a d a m e L i b ra r i a n @ R i v e r B e n d L i b r a r y. c o m

24-hour “Hotline”

South Town Center Branch Library 101 Cornets Avenue Rolling Hills Branch Library 1010 Rolling Hills Road Bookmobile Call 555-5555 for current route information.

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