new invention: a combined library and ice cream parlor. i'm going to be so rich.

There's been a bit of coverage lately regarding libraries and librarians. I for one am a big fan of libraries. Another reason why I liked The Time Travelers Wife (yep, and I read Harry Potter). If Brooke and I are in a new town and we drive by a library she usually will make mention and I will respond "Hmmm...that looks like a very nice library." Unless it's not. Then I pout.

One downside of our neighborhood is the library nearby stinks. Stinks bad. The selection is poor and I need to be visually pleased. This one looks like a bad looking library and I still find it hard to compete with Holland's Herrick Districk Library.

Next door to our library, though, is a great ice cream shop called Scooter's. Best ice cream we've found here. They even give doggy cones, which, isn't weird in the city but apparently is in Holland. Brooke gave Sadie a little ice cream and we hear "EEEEEEEWWWWW GROOOOSSSS..MMMMMOOOOOMMMMM!!" from a little blond 6 year old girl. Like she doesn't wish her dog eats ice cream and needs a blanky to fall asleep.

Anyway...here's some recent library related material for your enjoyment.

The Freakonomics blog ponders the question "if there was no such thing today as the public library and someone like Bill Gates proposed to establish them in cities and towns across the U.S. (much like Andrew Carnegie once did), what would happen?" Since my early days of Napster usage I've always wondered whether or not there will be backlash towards libraries and their willy nilly handing out of books and media.

The New York Times spins librarians in a hipper light...hipster to be exact. Interestingly, this was the most emailed article yesterday (down to #5 today) and is found in the style section (odd). Librarians and style used to go together like me and style in the 7th grade but I guess things have changed...unlike the tshirt I still wear from Sleeping Bear Dunes '94.