Scan Side Effects

One of the side effects of working on publicizing the OCLC Environmental Scan is that you start to see applications everywhere you turn.
 
For example, this past weekend, I made a conscious decision to just take the weekend off. My wife (Joyce Leahy---she's the one on the left if you happen to link to this picture) and I are hosting two high school students in our home in July. Sophie is from France and Berte is from Spain, and two nicer young people you've never met. On Saturday, Sophie, Berte, Lace (a friend of the family, a fellow librarian, and a baseball fan, unlike my wife), and I drove down to Cincinnati for the game between the Reds and Cardinals. (As it turns out, Sophie and Berte happen to be baseball fans, and each had played softball at her high school.) Sitting in the Great American Ball Park, my mind wandered to a time when baseball stadiums were not shopping malls with a diamond attached. Oh, don't get me wrong, the place is gorgeous, the sightlines are wonderful, the sound system actually works, and there's enough leg room between the rows. But there are ads everywhere, from the outfield walls (to be expected) to the cupholders in front of you. All of the concession stands are branded. It's not just a hot dog stand, it's The Skyline Chili Coney Stand. In other words, baseball parks are no longer a third place for me --- they are just another commercial space trying to grab walletshare. I'll still enjoy baseball, but for a third place, it's back to Northwest Library.
 
Then last night, rather than watching the repeat of The Simple Life 2, I retired to my room to read The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. This book has nothing to do with aggregation versus disaggregation, or third places, or the death of the balanced collection, but it is a wonderful novel and I highly recommend it.