Indianapolis Marion County Public Library’s new Central Library building will be having its grand opening to the public in a little over an hour from now. I got to see it Friday at a reception for friends and family of employees, donors and friends of the library. It is spectacular and gives any public library anywhere in the world a run for its money, with its resources for children of all ages, its atmosphere, and even the technology used by employees for communication and other purposes. It is state of the art. There have already been letters to the editor of the Indianapolis Star questioning both the architecture and the large investment of money that was required to bring this about. But as an academic who knows that Indianapolis at times has a hard time attracting and keeping the best candidates for jobs here when such individuals are used to the cultural life, including libraries, of cities like New York, I can say that the new library is worth it. I hope the people of Indianapolis will enjoy this wonderful resource and put it to good use as an opportunity to expose themselves to great literature, information, music and education. I hope it instills in our city’s children an excitement about going to libraries, reading books, and learning. Thank you, Indianapolis Marion County Public Library, for making this resource available to us. I am already trying to figure out how much time I can spend working in the inspiring surroundings you offer in the new central library. Thank you!
In other news, there seem to be so many interesting astronomical discoveries making headlines lately. New Scientist announced that the earliest galaxies seem to have already held the building blocks of life, and this is but one story in their Special Report on Astrobiology.
Jim West has, among other tidbits, a follow-up on April DeConick’s New York Times op-ed piece on the Gospel of Judas.
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