Man, keeping today to five photos is brutal. Brutal! But I did it.
Today was the switchover day; I moved from Jenna’s place to Sara and Shawn’s place. (You might know them from their very cool blog Pike Schemes) Before I left Jenna’s place, I wandered down to the C & O Canal. That canal is pretty small. I’ve always felt that the canal got the short shift in transportation history. It seemed like by the time they got them built, we had moved on to a better method of transport.
At any rate, walking down to the canal gave me more chances to take pictures of Georgetown houses. I loved this group of houses, because each house had different ornamentation. Each of these doors was very different from its neighbor.
The dome in the main reading room.
Tori explains something to Sara and Shawn. She was incredibly enthusiastic about her building. She showed us where her first desk in her first job was, and told us how, during the great renovation, the librarians would wait until the construction workers left for the day, and then at 3:01 they would run down to see what had been uncovered. Most of the library, when she first started working there, was horrible 60s drop ceilings and linoleum floors.
At some point in my past, I watched a filmstrip or an educational film about the Library of Congress. I can clearly recall seeing footage of their “modern” book moving system. It isn’t so modern any more, but I was thrilled to see it in person, then to get to go downstairs and see it from below. Other things we saw: the stacks, the old card catalogs and all four galleries, even the ones that aren’t open to the public.
It was such an amazing day! AWE-filled! Breath-taking in the absolute literal sense of that idea! Thanks for sharing it with me. I cannot think of another person that would have been more fun, and library nerd good, to spend this day with! -S
PS-Woo-hoo you are in July! Even more woo-hoo you are to your trip here! Can't wait to see your side of the story! -S