Follow the footsteps to Hectic Pace at OCLC...

I'm proud and happy under the OCLC banner. But I would be remiss if I did not thank a few people, including the people who don't like to be thanked!

Thanks American Libraries. You've been a great home.
Thanks Leonard Kniffel, for talking me into doing this.
Thanks Beverly Goldberg, for helping me make sense when I was only making sense to myself.
Thanks OCLC, for giving me a new platform from which to blog.

And thanks faithful readers, and I hope I have not had an empty RSS feed for so long that you won't follow Hectic Pace to OCLC.

Yes, I am still here. Thanks to so many of you for the virtual cards and letters that have accompanied my transition from NCSU to OCLC.

Today marks the end of three full weeks at OCLC. It has flown by. 'Hectic' has new meaning for me, as I learn the ropes of a new job, settle into a new home, and try to make things as comfortable as uprooting and replanting can be for a family of four.

For those of you who were wondering what would become of my writing, I do have a plan. Some of you may have seen my last Technically Speaking column in American Libraries. That chapter is closed. But I do plan to keep blogging.

Some time in the coming weeks, "Hectic Pace" will appear under the OCLC banner as a new blog with an old name, and some different content. When that happens, I will post the link here.

Twas the night before migration, when all through ‘brary
Not a creature was stirring, not even Homeless Harry.
The doors were all locked and the reading room bare,
In hopes the IT department soon would be there.

The good books were nestled all snug on their carts,
They seemed random to those without library smarts.
With Starbucks in hand, the IT crew stood tall,
The director had retired to sleep through it all.

When up at the front desk there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the server room to see what was the matter.
Away from my command prompt I flew like a flash,
A sprint down the stairs—a librarian dash.

The monitors on the new glass-topped tables did glow
Like the lights on the stage of a cheap Vegas show.
When what should appear as I wandered the stacks,
But a fancy new Prius, and eight geeks with Macs.

With a spanking new system, all open and slick,
I knew in a moment it must be a trick.
More rapid than vendors their improvements they came,
The geeks whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

“Now Facebook! now, Flickr! now Tagger and Mash-up!
On, MySpace! On, NextGen, on Filter and Pop-up!
To the top ARLs! to the Publics and all!
We’ll launch this new system and the others will fall!”

As old systems that before the new one comes in,
Make new things look sexy, and cool, without sin.
So into the ‘brary this new system came,
With facets and word clouds and nothing the same.

And then, with a sense of unwilling surrender,
I heard through the door the sound of our vendor.
As I shrugged to the others, and was turning around,
Through the side door the CEO came with a bound.

He was dressed in light khakis, and golf shirt with logo,
In his ear was his Bluetooth, on his belt some new gizmo.
An iron-clad contract he held in his hand,
And he looked like a hustler, all cap-toothed and tanned.

He feared not the new system, though to him it was strange,
He relied on the fact that all staff hated change!
With his droll little mouth drawn up like a bow,
I could have sworn that he whispered, “Pshaw two point oh.”

The strength of his system, he defended till death,
It would do us just fine till we drew our last breath.
He’d fix all of our problems. What—tape, string, and glue?
But we’ll wait months and months and then pay for them too!

His demo was snappy and hot off the shelf,
But I wept as I watched it, in spite of myself!
A twitch in his eye and the cock of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had something to dread.

We’d be stuck with his system, till nigh kingdom come,
And we’d wait for the features, but I stood deaf and dumb.
With a pat on my back and what looked like a wink,
I’d agreed to his upgrade before I could think.

He sprang to his Hummer, to the geeks gave the finger,
But they would not go lightly, for years they would linger.
But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy upgrade to all, and to all a good night!”

Happy Holidays everyone!

See last year's "The Grump Who Stole Libraries."

There's nothing especially special about the date December 12, but this one was my last day at NCSU Libraries. It was a hard and happy last day. Hard to leave. Happy to see all my friends and colleagues join the department for food, fond memories, and farewells. Rarely at a loss for words, I was moved by the send-off given to me by NCSU. I am going to miss my colleagues greatly, but am confident that I will see them often at conferences and on trips back to Raleigh. The relationships and accomplishments that I have enjoyed with my friends and co-workers at NCSU have set the bar high for the rest of my career.

Here's a brief look back on my last nine December 12th's

Dec 12, 1999
I was busy setting up netlibrary account creations for remote users. Hey, we were early adopters!

Dec 12, 2000
After 14 months as Assistant Head, I applied for the Head of Systems job at NCSU Libraries. Boy, was I scared and excited.

Dec 12, 2001
I announced the finalization of the merger of Sirsi and DRA to library staff. A year later, we would be Unicorn customers.

Dec 12, 2002
Finished prepping the DRA Web2 catalog interface to work with Sirsi Unicorn. This is about the time I decided that dressing up the OPAC was like putting "lipstick on a pig."

Dec 12, 2003
Found out that "Dismantling Integrated Library Systems" would be LJ's cover story in Feb 2004. Next step . . . putting things back together again.

Dec 12, 2004
Scheduled a meeting with ARL reps to talk about the challenges of metasearch. Boy, sure am glad that's all solved. Ahem. Cough.

Dec 12, 2005
Finalized the order in which we would present Endeca facet refinements in our new catalog interface. We're still debating them.

Dec 12, 2006
Finalized schedule for a second round of interviews for Associate Head of IT. I am pleased that the job went to Emory's Maurice York. I am doubly pleased that he has been named interim department head.

Dec 12, 2007

Andrew's going away cake.

Now, forward. Ever forward.