Welcome to the NorthStar Academy Library column!
What? Library? Yes, it exists! For the second year in a row, North Star has had its own little online Library, modestly tucked away inside the Student Café. The little blue library is full of classics in e-copy: from Hans Christian Anderson to H.G. Wells, from poems to full-length novels.
When Matthew Wicker, who's now what we call “De Boss” (Father Matthew) of the NSA Library, contacted me about working for the Library, I was slightly astonished. What use in the world, I thought, can there be for an online library? Could I go there and study? Is there anything worth reading in there? I mean, come on. An online library?
As you can see, I kind of reconsidered. Well, actually I had a bit of an about-face. I turned and turned about. I swiveled, I twirled, I jigged. I somersaulted right into the job, and here I am before you now.
Now I know you're thinking: Why? Whatever made you turn and turn about? Let us not forget to mention that Father Matthew can be very convincing at times. But more importantly, I realized something. I remembered how much I missed having libraries around for easy book access. I remembered hearing about great books and never being able to get my hands on them, due to our stranded location. And I realized how much fun it would be to take a dying thing with so much potential, and help breathe it back to life.
So what is the library? If you were to go in there right now, you'd see a delightfully blue, rather medium-sized, very empty box. Yes, very empty. Then you'd see the Librarian's office, Bookshelves, and the List of Books. Let's visit each in turn.
Come with me over here, into the Librarian's office. You're not supposed to come in here, but I'll let you for this one time. This is De Boss's head quarters, the birthplace of all those ideas we're hoping will transform the Library from an empty box into a thriving book-center. The staff—a grand total of three of us—uses this place to brainstorm, discuss plans, and yell at each other.
Over here, this room is called “Bookshelves.” This is the core of our Library, where we, quite obviously, keep our books. Our selection, for the time being, is delightfully limited to those old classics, which are like oatmeal: being thick and wholesome, they stay with you for a long while afterwards. If we peek in here to letter “S,” you'll see we've got any Shakespeare you'd ever want, Anna Sewell, and even the great Sir Walter Scott. Wow, those are all worth reading, and they're all right here in your library! And that's repeated for every letter of the alphabet. (Okay, I admit there's nothing und er Q, but that's only to be expected, right?)
How about the “Booklist”? Well, there's a bit of a surprise there. It's a list of books. Sometimes Father Matt's ingenuity is astounding! This is where you can come if you've heard of a book you want to read, or are just checking to see what we have stocked in the Library right now. You can right-click and hit find to locate a certain book. Even if you can't find a particular book, stay and look around—you might find something else you like.
But this meager description of our current state is only a wee foretaste of the Library-To-Come. We've got lots of plans up our virtual sleeves, not all of which may now be disclosed. All of them, though, are going to help change the empty blue conference into a real living Library.Logan“JOAT” R.-
Staff profile
Birthdate: ---------------------
Home: Newbern, North Carolina
Why joined the Library: “Cause it looks good to the colleges XD. I thought it would be great working with the library… I [originally] wanted to be a reviewer.”
Favorite book: Saint by T. Dekker
Interesting facts: Plays trumpet, guitar, and lacrosse.Favorite quote: But maybe if we pulled together, We could change a million lives for the better. And maybe if we prayed a little more, We could stop living in fear from the storm. -Thousand Foot Krutch
“Father” Matthew Wicker-
Staff profile
Birthdate: -------------------------
Home: Ulan Ude, Siberia
Why joined the Library: “Because it looked fun…;-)”
Favorite authors: J.R.R. Tolkien, Victor Hugo (currently in the library!), and C.S. Lewis.
Recently read: Hamlet by William Shakespeare (currently in library!)
Favorite quote: "Gentlemen, I know what has outraged you. You find it arrogant in a simple priest that he should be mounted like Jesus Christ. Let me assure you that I do it from necessity, and not from vanity."
-Les Miserables, Bishop of Digne
What's on our agenda? We've still got lots and lots of books to find and add to our collection to maximize our potential for serving you all. This is primarily Logan Roberts and Matthew Wicker's job, and they're diving into it as we speak. We've also looking into a review staff for book reviews (apply to Logan Roberts!), a study area where kids could come and discuss their schoolwork, get tips from each other on classes, and discuss the books they've been reading. We're working on a Student Council position for the Library, and we've got more ideas too. As you can see, the Library is looking at some serious resuscitation.
But this isn't just the Triumvirate's job. We want to hear from you all as well. Let us know what books you all want to have in stock; feel free to email us about books you hear about and would love to read. For those of you who, like me, don't have any access to a library with books in English, this is a major plus. Also, give us your feedback as we continue to try to get things going despite a busy school year. As different conferences open, I'll be right here to let you know all about what's happening in the Library, and we really want to know if any of our work is helpful to you all.
Now, some of you may be rightly and slightly paranoid-ly wondering just how we have weaseled our way into books that must have copyrights somewhere. Remember what I said above about our holding rather aged volumes? There's a reason for that. What the staff has cleverly done is scoured the web for books whose copyrights have expired . Because a copyright usually doesn't expire until quite a while after a book is published, most of our books are rather ancient. Never fear, however. There is much we can learn and enjoy from reading books that were written a while ago, just like we can enjoy time-period films.
Finally, I'd urge you all to keep a look-out. Whether or not the library is open to the public by the time this gets published, keep checking in to see what's going on. As we work on more installments, books, and maybe even a staff review, don't hesitate to let us know what you think. We'd love to look through the booklist for you, or even go find a book that's not in there. Also, keep checking in to see the new features as they come up! Until next issue,
Ellen Cline
Scurrier & Courier '07