The Return of the Man in the Purple Shirt

Greetings, friends! It has been a long time since I addressed you from these pages. You are probably aware that the EnvisionWare Solution Revolution continues to sweep the land. Perhaps you have seen the fruits of our labor firsthand at ALA or at one of the many other library conferences where we've showcased recently. Perhaps you've even implemented one of our new products at your library. In any case, there are plenty of exciting new developments in the land of EnvisionWare, and I intend to explore those in greater detail over the next few months.

Meanwhile, the Man in the Purple Shirt and his wife are expecting their first child. While this is obviously THE most exciting development to emerge from EnvisionWare this year, I must report that we will not be offering the Baby in the Purple Shirt™ in the 2013 product line. Sorry about that. But don't be surprised if you see the latest addition to the EnvisionWare family peeking out from a photo or two in this blog come September.

(Full disclosure: there are actually several babies due at EnvisionWare this year, all equally wonderful. I just happen to have a blog so of course I had to brag on mine :) )

In other news: a couple months ago I finally realized a lifelong dream by traveling to Italy, Turkey, Croatia, and Greece. One particular site I visited--The Library of Celsus in the ancient city of Ephesus (located in modern Turkey)--may be of interest to readers of this blog. This formidable structure, erected in 120 AD in honor of the Roman Senator Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, once boasted over 12,000 scrolls in its collection. Unfortunately, the contents of the building were destroyed by a fire in 262 AD, but the facade was lovingly restored in the 1960s and 70s. This library appears to have been the cultural center of the city, as you can see from the photo below. The Romans had their priorities in order!

All roads in Ephesus lead to the library

I can only wonder if these ancient Romans also had their own version of EnvisionWare. What sort of Scroll Management® hardware did they utilize in the Library of Celsus? Were those Ionic columns actually proto-RFID technology? Sadly, these mysteries remain buried in the sands of time.

What does not remain buried is the cat family that currently occupies the library. Since there was no quaint bookstore nearby, these fluffy pals have taken up residence in the next best thing!