Torill Mortensen writes this lovely ode to a childhood librarian:
I think everybody should have a library close by, a library to love.However, much as I love the librarians at the library here in Volda, not many come up against the librarian of my childhood.
[…]
It was the first hint that people valued the reading of books, and the reading of books in a certain order. It was also the first time an adult had encouraged me to read a book since I had learned to read. And it was the first time I understood the power of librarians. Since then I have worshipped them.
I wonder if every academic has one of these larger-than-life librarian stories in their childhood. For me, it was the librarian at the Eastham Public Library in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The picture on their web site shows the front of the library, which used to be the sum total of the place—a small, weathered Cape Cod building. In recent years it’s been expanded, but they’ve retained the original front building.
Every summer when I was a kid we’d spend the last two weeks of August vacationing in Eastham. And as strong as my memories of beach and sun and salt spray are my memories of that little library, and of the grandmotherly librarian who—mirabile dictu!—remembered me every year when I returned. I’d walk in the front door, she’d smile in recognition, and immediately steer me to new books in my favorite series (I loved series books. From Cherry Ames, Nancy Drew, and The Happy Hollisters to The Prydain Chronicles and The Dark is Rising. I read so quickly, even as a child, that series books allowed me to prolong the narrative in a much more satisfying way than stand-alone novels.)
That’s not why I went to library school, but it’s definitely the archetypal image that I hold in my head about libraries and librarians. And I worry that my kids won’t have that experience, as libraries move inexorably online, and virtual reference and Amazon recommendations replace the warmth and sense of belonging that the librarian in Eastham gave me every summer.
I received email today alerting me to a competition for faculty and students to develop plug-ins using the Eclipse Platform. Never heard of it. So I went to the eclipse.org web site, and checked out the FAQ. Under “What is the Eclipse Platform?,” I found this:
The Eclipse Platform is an open extensible IDE for anything and yet nothing in particular. The Eclipse Platform provides building blocks and a foundation for constructing and running integrated software-development tools. The Eclipse Platform allows tool builders to independently develop tools that integrate with other people’s tools so seamlessly you can’t tell where one tool ends and another starts.
Huh? For “anything and nothing in particular?” Does this answer actually say anything? Or is it just a string of buzzwords, signifying nothing? I’m not willing to spend much more time poking around this site for information, but I’m curious as to whether any of the more technically-minded folks who read my site have any knowledge of or experience with this IDE.
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