Aunt Gladys

My grandmother was named for her father's younger sister, Aunt Gladys. In 1972, my grandparents visited my family and a plan was hatched to visit Aunt Gladys. We piled into my grandfather's Lincoln and were off to visit Aunt Gladys in Florida. I remember visiting a very old woman who was too sick to get out of bed. The mosquitoes in the everglades, the rides at Disney World, and the Spanish fort at Saint Augustine.

Recently, I decided to see what I could find out about Aunt Gladys. First, I found out she was married to a cover artist for magazines  - she was his model for some covers. Paintings of her are kept in art galleries. And she was a pin up girl during the teens and twenties. I discovered she was an actress - she appeared in plays on Broadway, and Silent films. Her mother was also on Broadway. Who knew?

She has connected me socially to the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. For example, I am separated from the Civil War by two degrees because I met her - her father was a Civil War veteran. There are only two degrees to Rudyard Kipling - she appeared in a play he wrote. What else will I find looking at old newspapers from New York?

Cheers!

The Data Driven Librarian

I am a spreadsheet junkie. I like data. I also subscribe to the paradigm that data isn't information until it has context. Information isn't knowledge until it can be used for something. In that light all the data cleaning, analysis, and charting is really an attempt to make information out of data. Once the data is information, it can be used to make decisions and take actions.

Using data in this way sits well with my constituents - mostly Engineers and Scientists. I want to know what people are using, what is costs. I want to know what people want. I want to know what is being taught and what is being research and what is interesting. Ultimately, I'm trying to make the best decisions I can.