"The library is not...

...a shrine for the worship of books. It is not a temple where literary incense must be burned or where one's devotion to the bound book is expressed in ritual. A Library, to modify the famous metaphor of Socrates, should be the delivery room for the birth of ideas - a place where history comes to life."

So goes the blurb on the front of the flyer advertising the mix-and-mingle celebrating of the completed renovation of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library. I didn't make the social gig, but I have spent some time recently in their delivery room being that I am now a card-carrying, borrowing-privileged local clergyperson.

I particularly appreciate the breadth and depth of the periodical holdings and the friendly staff, not to mention that the lunch-hour walk to VDS from my office takes all of 27 seconds. Its a real swanky joint now that the renovation is finished. Swanky enough, in fact, to burn some literary incense.