Issue Intro: Back Into the "Ordinary"

In Harper Lee's classic To Kill a Mockingbird, following a tumultuous summer where an innocent man, Tom Robinson, is tried and sentenced to death, then shot while trying to escape fearing no possibility of appeal, school started that autumn, and life slipped back into the ordinary. So it is for many students in storm-ravaged southeast Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, who now try to piece their lives together, after the destruction Hurricane Katrina left in her wake.

In this issue of BiblioTech, we examine what one library is doing to share what it can, and learn about library recovery efforts following another disaster in the southeastern European nation of Bosnia-Herzogovina.

We then drill into the world of incredible techno tools designed to simplify your school and private life, with little effort and at no cost (that really work). Next, we lighten things up a bit with one library student's stirring account of life in the fast lane guiding power librarians at the UA summer Library Institute. Finally, we get an excellent primer on what to expect at the October Symposium Presenter's Workshop courtesy of our own Dr. Malone.

None of these accounts would have been possible without the priceless contributions of your fellow students, already living life "on the fly." Thank you Bambi, Christina, Bruce, Jennifer, and also Dr. Malone. You inspire us! Thank you to Monica, co-Editor extraordinaire, with whom I alternate editorship, for her invaluable, and often witty comments and suggestions for fine-tuning.

In the next issue of BiblioTech, more cool technology, librarianship in the sultanate of Oman, and more, all in the capable hands of Monica, who will be taking the reigns next time. Signing off for now .....

Nancy Bronte-Matheny

Editor's Note: Hurricane Rita making landfall at southeast Texas, as this issue of BiblioTech is published.