Martell, Charles R.

Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship Repository

Editorial Reflective Conversation For some, no trip to Baltimore would be complete without a side trip to Washington. My side trip lasted three days. It ended on the bus to Baltimore and the conference after a major derailment between the two cities halted rail traffic. The ACRL Fourth National Conference was a success. The papers rewarded the listener, and the host city was a delight. The real surprises of the conference, however, were two superb theme papers delivered by Alan C. Kay (sometimes referred to as the Father of the Personal Computer and now with Apple Computers) and Maya Angelou (author, play-wright, stage and screen performer, and singer). These papers helped to make the confer-ence something special. · Their content dealt mainly with abstractions. Angelou spoke of librarians not as custodi-ans but rather as transformers of our yesterdays so we can have ecstatic tomorrows. Kay spoke of images and symbols .. Before personal computers can become effective human tools, according to Kay, we must understand how people think. We were shown evidence of how our logic systems can be fooled by shifts in the type of sensory input we receive. We saw how sound can be used to influence intuitive reflexes in order to bypass our logic (rational) systems, thus improving learning. As an example, we were shown a 1940s film clip in which a large, nonathletic fifty-year-old woman in a muumuu learned the basics of tennis in thirty minutes, much to the chagrin of Harry Truman, who had been trying to learn tennis for years. Angelou spoke about the role of libraries in transforming lives. She spoke about her childhood and how books, often from libraries, had helped to transform her life. In the process she transported us into another realm beyond the logic to which we are accus-tomed at work or at conferences. She told us a story about a thief whose major problem was not how to steal the chief's bugle but where to blow it . Afterward I felt like bugling her message to everyone. Others may have felt the same way. The applause was literally thunderous. These theme papers, in which the cadence, rhythm, and dramatic rendering of the spo-ken word were connected with the nonverbal understandings of the human mind, brought me back to Washington and a short trip down a narrow walkway as fifty thousand names on black granite hovered silently above me. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial says nothing, but reaches deeply. So the silent words in our books reach beyond the logic that we as librarians impose on our charges. CHARLES MARTELL 313 -On microfilm ... from Research Publications The Golden · Age Spanish Theology, History and Literature from 1472 to 1700 Spanish Rare Books of the Golden Age offers the opportunity to research the wide variety of literature written in Spain or composed in Spanish from 14 7 2 to 1 700. Spanish Rare Books of the Golden Age includes drama, works on jewish and Christian theology, medicine, and classical texts written in Latin and vernacular translations. Spanish Rare Books of the Golden Age represents the writings of Boscan, Luis de Leon, Borja, Cervantes, Aleman, and others. Based on a collection at the Library of the University of Illinois, Spanish Rare Books of the Golden Age encompasses the development of prose and poetic styles from a period rich in religious, literary, and political works. · Divided into units of approximately 50 reels each, the standing order unit price is only $3,000 per unit (over 15% off the individual unit price). Prices for U.S. and Canada only. Shipping and handling charges will be added. To order, or for more information on Spanish Rare Books of the Golden Age call or write: Research Publications 12 Lunar Drive/Drawer AB VVoodbrldge,Ct06525 (203) 397-2600 Toll-free: 1-800-REACH-RP TVVX: 71 0-465-6345 FAX: 203-397-3893 Outside North and South America P.O.Box45 Reading, RG 1 8HF England nL: 0734-583247 RLEX: 848336NADL G research publications® 

Reflective Conversation

IDEALS @ Illinois

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/40884/crl_47_04_313_opt.pdf?sequence=2

Reflective Conversation

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IDEALS @ Illinois