“This time, this information age? This is our age.”   -R. David Lankes, The Atlas of New Librarianship, p.135

I am a sucker for a good call-to-arms style speech. My favorite movies (which mostly come from great books) all contain rousing pre-battle speeches. William Wallace rallying his fellow Scotsmen at the Battle of Stirling, Henry V inspiring his troops prior to the Battle of Agincourt, and Aragorn spurring his army to attack the Gates of Mordor–each of these inspires me. The conviction they inspire in me is this: That I am able to affect real change in my here-and-now; and that in life we make choices to either be active participants or to later regret that we weren’t.

I realize that I have just revealed my penchant for epic movies, as well as my idealist tendencies. Quite simply, I think you should leave things better than you found them. I embrace the idea that as an involved and accessible librarian in my community I can affect change to improve society. That idea makes me want to roll up my sleeves and get to work–right now.