10 JAN 05: AT THE PALACE

The grand opening was last Monday, but the official "dedication" of the new Columbus Library occurred over the weekend. It included Cottonmouths hockey players reading to children - which had to be a bit different. In ice hockey, a "checkout" can mean hip-checking your opponent over the boards.

Have you visited the new $50 million library? I went there a few evenings this past week - and you'd think for that much money, they would have installed an escalator to the books on the second floor....

You either have to board a small elevator or walk up a lengthy flight of stairs to reach the library's second floor, which has most of the books and magazines. So if you're going to sit around and read, at least you have to exercise a bit to do it.

From the inside, the Columbus Library reminds me a lot of an old-style college library. There's plenty of open space, there's marble all around - and if the RiverCenter ever has a power outage, the Columbus Symphony can perform in the round in the rotunda.

The staff at the Columbus Library reports circulation system-wide is up since the new building opened. Given the roundness of the rotunda and the second-floor walkway, certainly circling is up....

The Ledger-Enquirer's articles in the last month left the impression the Columbus Library might not open on time - and apparently some finishing work still is underway. I was amazed the staff went ahead and opened it, without any of the nice signs identifying the corporate sponsors.

Several rooms at the new main library have corporate names on them. AFLAC has a room, as does W.C. Bradley. TSYS brings you the "e-commons" area with public access computers. So don't be surprised someday if the parking lot is scattered with JayMaxx car specials.

(Before you ask - no, I don't think W.C. Bradley's section of the library has the Chinese-language books.)

But no signs were on the library's rooms at all for the first couple of days last week. That meant visitors had to walk all around the building, to find what they were after. Who needed to check out a detective novel, when readers were searching for real clues already?

One disappointment I have with the new library is that some of the old books from the Bradley Library are gone. They disappeared in the last year, and I thought they were set aside early for the move. Instead, reference books are lacking in the 200's - you know, the religious books which claim to have all the REAL answers.

Back in the "e-commons" room, there are more than a dozen retro-looking new H.P. computers with flat-screen monitors. But the library system still has things set up so visitors can't "right-click" anything to a diskette. I don't want the information about Jennifer Aniston's break-up - I just want the pictures of her! Really!

(Hmmmm - no right-clicking? Well, libraries DO have a reputation for being ultra-liberal with freedom of speech....)

There seems to be plenty of room for growth in the new library - and that could pose a problem. A friend of mine mentioned the other day Auburn University's Library actually sunk into the ground an inch of so, under the weight of so many books. Well, at least it wasn't because of heavy football players spending all their time there.

All kidding aside, I'm impressed with the new Columbus Library - and it seems to me they did things right. This building will be a great selling point for future business. At least, there still are some rooms available for sponsorship....

E-MAIL UPDATE: A reader in Atlanta (I think) offers more of an explanation on Sunday's topic, about patches showing a "backwards" U.S. flag:

Hello, I didn't know if you had found the real answer to the right to left flag issue, so I'd thought that I'd share what I know. Apparently, it's because when the flag is put the correct way on the solder's shoulder, it makes them look as if they are retreating. They changed it the make it look like they're pushing forward in battle. I know that sounds a little odd, but that's what I remember.

The conversation I had about it was years ago so the details are a little sketchy, but that is the basic ideas. I've been and avid reader of your blog for a while now! I love it!

sincerely,

anne

Thanks for your help, Anne, as well as the nice words. But I'd imagine the military wants to push forward so fast that the enemy never notices the details of that flag patch. They'd rather it be a reddish-blue blur.

Now let's look in all directions for other Sunday topics:

+ The high temperature in Columbus again was around 70 degrees F. - and WRBL reported Brewster's Ice Cream on Whittlesey has much more business, compared with last January. But don't you wonder how many executives at Atmos Energy are losing bonuses?

+ Oxbow Meadows held a "Second Sunday" presentation on coyotes and foxes. Sadly, I've been waiting for a nightclub to have a theme program like this....

+ Pro football's "wild-card weekend" ended with Atlanta scheduled to host St. Louis next Saturday night. Isn't this timing
convenient? St. Louis rap stars such as Nelly can march in Columbus for justice in the morning, then drink themselves silly at the Georgia Dome that evening.

+ In college basketball, my beloved and somewhat injured Kansas Jayhawks won at Kentucky! Can I go ahead and declare Rupp Arena under the Burkard Curse? [17 Oct 04]

(I'm frankly surprised K.U. beat U.K. on the road. When Minnesota's pro football team scores 17 points in eight minutes and Kansas's basketball team only scores 15 points in 15 minutes, that's usually not a good sign.)

+ Instant Message to Swords of Fire International Church: About that "destroy the curse conference" you're having late next week - which member of the Boston Red Sox are you bringing to town as guest speaker?

COMING THIS WEEK: An e-mailer's concern about whether Columbus really is a safe place....

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