About…

Site History…

Library Monk was started in May 2003. I chose the name Library Monk in part, because yes I have been known to dress as a monk on occasion. Ask anyone who in the summer 2002 Genre Fiction class at UT’s School of Information Sciences. The reason I was dressed as a monk then was to talk about my favorite book, A Canticle for Leibowitz.

Canticle tells the story of a post nuclear war world. People have turned against science and learning and life has reverted to a medieval existence. And as they did in the Middle Ages, Roman Catholic monks preserve what scraps of knowledge remain. It’s a very rich and complex work, as evidenced by this study guide.

The name Library Monk is a homage to that book and grateful acknowledgment of the fact that if not for those monks in the Middle Ages, libraries in Europe and the Americas might not exist. Western Civilization is built on the work of those monks.

In the acknowledgment to Canticle, Miller thanks, among others, Rev. Alvin Burggraff, C.S.P., a Paulist priest. John XXIII Catholic Center at UT is a Paulist parish, and thanks to Fr. Eric Andrews and Fr. Terry Ryan I officially became a Catholic there at Easter 2002. Tying back into the monk theme and further connecting me to Canticle , here’s a picture of me standing next to Fr. Terry dressed as a monk.

Site Design…

The current site design is a highly customized version of the Spirit WordPress theme and uses valid XHTML and CSS. The design also attempts to conform to WCAG and Section 508 guidelines.

The logo/mascot for the site is a woodcut of St. Jerome and his lions by Albrecht Dürer (1471 - 1533). I’m currently using a version of that woodcut that was colorized by Domenicus Rottenhammer around 1600. The original woodcut is still used on the 404 error page. The background of the header image is a section of an image from the Codex Amiatinus, depicting the scribe Ezra. The font used in the header graphic is Baldur.

The Author…

Currently an IT Technologist III / web designer in Library Technology Services at the University of Tennessee John C. Hodges Library. More information on my professional life can be found at greeneweb.com. I’m married to Stephanie and have a daughter named Lisa. Pictures of us, our pets, etc. can be found here.