Rotations October 28, 2014

Bob Heely kicked off the meeting with "Hail to the Redskins!" followed by "Sing out a song of Rotary" and finished up with our perennial favorite (#80). President Sigur led us in the Pledge and then Bob Latimer stepped up with an invocation filled with thanks for our many blessings--not least of which is the right to vote next week. Our elementary school of the week is Sewell's Point. Ed Lilly noted in his Visitation Report that two of our members were back from their illnesses: Kellie Dickerson and Laurie Harrison. The Honorable Joe Massey is recovering rapidly from his injury, however, Jack Magee is moving slower since his surgery (he is at Harbor Point and can have visitors).

We came to the part of the program where guests are introduced. Cy Grandy was so far from the podium that his journey was longer than his announcement. Dick Gresham, a frequent visitor from the Hampton Roads club, was our only guest.

Many announcements were noted by President Sigur. There will not be a meeting next week so we can all go vote. The Golf Tourney committee had a meeting as did the Holiday Social committee. Diane Wallach delivered a report on the Fall Planting; it seems we have finally finished planting a buffer around a pond after multiple years. There was a good turnout and a good time was had by all. The Interact Club from ODU also joined in the effort. President Sigur then informed the members that the Flea/Antique Market fundraiser is cancelled for this year. There were scheduling issues at ODU that precluded getting optimal dates as well as other considerations. The Board will consider other alternatives at its next meeting (Nov. 10th at Kaufman and Canoles). Finally, it was noted that It would have been Jonas Salk's 100th birthday. (For very young members Dr. Salk was instrumental in creating the polio vaccine.)

Happy Bucks and Fines were the next order of business. Alan Nelson, a Cowboy fan, contributed to the kitty. Chuck Spence donated in honor of his grandson, Spencer McGraw, for his football skills. Susan Donn tried to persuade us that she was a child bride because she celebrated her fiftieth anniversary in New York City recently. Lisa Chandler donated happy bucks as she ran into one of our long-time parking attendants (Bonita) who used to take our tickets after the meeting. Sharon Laderberg confessed to having her photo in a local paper again. Dean Thomason contributed because his company was featured in Hampton Roads Business. Bryce Burton rejoiced in his alma mater's win over Virginia Tech. Irv Wells relayed that John Chittick spoke to a Rotary club in Niger where the membership was thirty-five percent women. Ed Lilly had some happy bucks for his son who got to see Steve Wozniak (techies and nerds were impressed). Jim O'Brien confessed to being on the public TV channel talking about Healing Waters. There may have been more happiness that I failed to capture but it certainly should have been a good day for our Charities fund.

The Rotarian of the Day was Chip Finch. Chip joined the club in 2006 and has been unfailingly helpful with our IT needs. No surprise that he works for the IT department of the city of Norfolk. Chip serves on the website and public relations committees but has served on a variety of other committees during his tenure. Chip introduced his boss, Dr. David Sullivan, the Chief Information Officer of the city of Norfolk. Dr. Sullivan went to ODU and did his graduate work at Cambridge University. He is one of the 50 most popular IT guys on Twitter.  He opened an impressive Powerpoint slide show to enable us to appreciate how advanced our new public library buildings will be (when they open in January).

First, Dr. Sullivan acknowledged our own Norm Maas: the visionary who got the whole library project going. He asserted that the new Slover Library will be "a library unlike any other." At a cost of $64M ($42M from private donations especially from the Batten Family), the new library will have the most technologically sophisticated systems available. The complex is actually composed of three sections: the Seaboard building, the second floor of the Selden Arcade, and a new building. The actual photos and architect's renderings were excellent at conveying the beauty of the complex. There will be digital access to the Sergeant Memorial Collection (over 100K photos and negatives of historical significance); there will be touch sensitive displays that will assist patrons with visual searches; as many as fifty researchers could be accessing the collection at once. Card catalogs will of course be digital touch screens at the end of the stacks. Yes, Virginia, there will actually be books in the library also. Because of the numerous rooms, passageways, floors, etc., there will be digital 'wayfinding' stations to help the patrons find everything. The basement of the Seaboard building will hold sixty computers for public access as well as community rooms for meetings.

Dr. Sullivan indicated that much of the building has been completed and the library staff is now engaged in unpacking and shelving. They bought a half million dollars worth of new titles (five tractor trailer loads)--not to mention books they already have in storage. The Children's Portal will have controlled access and a downsized entrance so it will be welcoming to the little ones. There will even be a restaurant.

The Courts Complex is also nearing completion, but only of Phase I. They are looking at mid-January for moving in with the Circuit Court going first. One-half the courtrooms will have a full technology suite including built-in overhead projectors. Although it is nine months behind schedule, the difficulties can be attributed to the density of the construction site and traffic patterns. The quality of the construction was deemed very high, according to Dr. Sullivan. Finally, there were many questions from the Rotarians. One particular question involved whether citizens of other cities could access the library. Except for e-books, others can indeed obtain access to the other resources in the collections. We will all be looking forward to opening day on January 9, 2015.

In an entirely random event, Norm Maas won the daily raffle!  President Sigur reminded us not to come downtown next week and then concluded the meeting. It was definitely an entertaining program!