I’m particularly proud of that first book, because it was my first, because I know it helped get thousands of people on board for MARC–but also because I believe it helped turn the tide among smaller (and some larger) library automation vendors, from claiming MARC compatibility to actually understanding MARC and what being compatible means.

While Future Libraries: Dreams, Madness & Reality finally outsold MfLU (after 10 books in between), I’m still not sure which has had greater impact. (Will there be a new edition of MfLU? Not from me, I’m afraid…)

When I left DRA I thought I’d never go back to libraries and certainly not to library automation. Sadly, I got rid of my well used copy of MfLU. The pages were falling out of it and my marginalia was sometimes unintelligable.

Well, the joke’s on me. After 5 years as an I.T. manager at a social rehabilitation agency I’ve taken a job as a systems librarian at my alma mater, Creighton University. I’ll be running YALS (yet another library system), Sirsi’s Unicorn. And I bought a used copy of MfLU. Nice to see you, old friend. I expect we’ll be spending a lot of time together.

Thanks, Walt. You made my career A LOT easier! More than once your book helped me be a hero.