It seems that August is anniversary month to me.
August one is my wedding anniversary. Twenty-one years now. Hooray for my wife and I.
August seventeen is my date hired anniversary. In these last few years of economic slumping, I'm appreciative of that anniversary as well. Twenty years now. See a pattern? I don't either.
When I was first hired at Chattanooga State, I was involved with a branch library. My first time walking into the branch library, a room 48 feet long and 30 feet wide, was disbelief. Not a single bookshelf was up. Pieces of bookshelves and chandeliers were scattered everywhere on the floor. There was no office (and would never be one). Not a single book. Back then in the early 90s, libraries were primarily books.
August 17 was that date. Classes were to begin around the end of August. Never had I seen an empty space, a former church sanctuary no less, be transformed so quickly to be ready for classes.
In came bookshelves and beautiful chandeliers. In came boxes and boxes and more boxes of books. In came tables and chairs; computers for staff and students. It was an amazing transformation.
But it was a 48 X 30 room. Many years went by and it remained a 48 X 30 room but with an added general-use computer lab connected by a doorway.
Nowadays, that branch library no longer exists. A victim of changing educational needs and objectives at branch college campuses. Library services changed considerably during that time too.
Happily and fortunately, I was reassigned to the main campus before the branch library closed, so I have no direct connection to its demise. I suppose some day I will go over and visit; it's been a few years now since I've been there. I'll visit when I finally feel comfortable doing so. Whenever that might be.
