"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore"

Yesterday's Division of Libraries All Staff Meeting was a great reminder, I thought, of our libary's mission and our place in helping that mission to succeed. We all get so bogged down in our individual work that these reminders are vital.

On that note, here is one of the animated short films that's been nominated for an Academy Award this year. It's described by its creators as "a story of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favor."

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore Trailer from Moonbot Studios.

At the All Staff meeting, Dean Mandel touched on the concept of the library as a place, how that powerful iconography still speaks to people even in the context of the modern information age. Although as a research library, we are mostly hosting users engaged in scholarly pursuits and not reading for pleasure or escape, of course our concept of the book as object remains equally powerful. Thus, this fanciful short film might also help remind many of us just why we wanted to work in libraries in the first place.

I hope it will inspire you as we go forward with our new Strategic Plan!

Bonus confession: I totally teared up at the end.


via PhiliBiblos