2.22.2006

In which Piers realizes just how much older he is than his students

Conversation in my office today:

"So, where do I find books on Brook Farm?"
Have you looked at the library?
(we look up a few sources)
"So, can I just go, and, you know, take the book out of the library?"
(pause as I try to decide if this is a joke)
uh, yeah, just give them your card. . . you've never done research in a library, have you?
"nope"

And to think I remember a time, when I was in college, where even the Mosaic browser was a novelty. I can only imagine my parents' bemusement.

2 comments:

hermance said...

Hi Chris! I just wanted to let you know I stopped by! I know I owe you an e-mail, but the job market...well, you know.

And now for another tune you probably remember: I should get back to my dissertation so that I can defend by April.

It's great to "catch up" with what you, Weslee, and the boy have been up to.

hayumbone said...

I can still remember the paper card catalog at Auburn. They had switched over to the computer system but had kept the paper cards "just in case," I suppose, given that the library had just been designated one of the country's few research institutions. (And was far, far better than UNC's ever was.) I loved using it -- you know, tangibility over technology -- but it does seem weird now.

I can't imagine the library -- a library -- not ever being a familiar place. But that was one of the first places to which my mom introduced me, and today's youth (oh, jeez -- betraying my age there) isn't exactly a reading-intensive generation.