old library days musings

Sometimes I sure miss "my" old library,

what with all their online resources...  tons of databases (should see all the databases just for music, art and dance), and website guides, tons of cool programing, and of course the tons and tons of books, videos and such so handy. (I say tons is the word of the day.) And, a lot has changed since I lived and worked there.

Now there's this neat looking Library-To-Go setup (an automated system away from the library branches), ...

...library by mail, downloadable audiobooks and videos....

They even have an author's podcast now... (though my branch's manager had started with newspaper topic articles and had even began radio interviews while I was still there)

Wow, they have even taken the summer reading program online with links, lists, reading log and the kids can write book reviews to share. ...

Every once in a while I have to check out their website just to see what might be new.

Aw, and I never got to see the new genealogy center...

 maybe someday if I make it back to Independence/KCMO for a visit.

It's only been, what... 6 years.

MCPL The Mid-Continent Public Library consists of 30 branches serving Clay, Jackson, and Platte Counties in Western Missouri. It was established in 1965 (though its roots go back further to 1892) and is now one of the largest library systems in the United States.

Hmmm... I wonder how the old libraries in Illinois are doing? Elgin's Gail Borden (that I barely remember since I was so young) and Springfield's Lincoln Library.

What a parking garage

Pushing the Bounds of Sanity: Strange and Bizarre Structures from abcNews

An awesome parking garage is almost an oxymoron, but the unusual facade of the Kansas City, Mo., Public Library's garage remains a distinct symbol of artistic architecture. Featuring popular books like "Huckleberry Finn," " The Lord of the Rings" and "Romeo and Juliet," each book spine prominently displays a title in a 9-by-25-foot rectangle on the exterior wall. The garage is the highlight of the Kansas City's library district and sits across from the Central Library. The entire complex was opened in 2004 and cost nearly $50 million.

(Courtesy Kansas City Public Library)

That's the year I moved away and I never got to see this neat parking garage. It's got to be one of the most interesting looking parking garage in the KC area.

Missouri News

Since I lived there for most of my life, I found this article rather interesting.

Teen offenders find a future in Missouri

• The Missouri model uses small, therapeutic groups to treat juvenile offenders


• Juvenile residences don't have barbed wire or require uniforms


• A handful of other states are trying to replicate the Missouri model


• Studies show only ten percent of Missouri's youth re-offend

"While in one of Missouri's juvenile facilities, Barkley became editor of its student newspaper, captain of the football team and made the honor roll.
'I wanted something different for myself or I'd end up in Kansas City doing nothing. I knew I could do something,' said Barkley, who is the first in his family to go to college.
Now he's a sophomore studying criminal justice at the University of Central Missouri."