Fame.

This afternoon, I noted that traffic to this site had spiked ridiculously....more than 100 visitors just since 1 p.m. After some brief research, I discovered the cause: two local websites with links to yesterday's post about the Bates Reading Room:

1) Just Giblets:

Came across this blog post today. Got me thinking about how differently her experience would be if we had online communities on the library web site. As Web Services Manager for the Boston Public Library, its something I think we really need, but I sure hadn’t considered the direct user interaction she’s got in mind! Maybe we need to provide chat rooms too.

The BPL Web Services Manager reads my blog? Might I also note that he applied the tag "whacky people" to his post. As in, "persons who whack off?(!)"

Should I write back and assure him that, at present, I have done no such thing in that space?

2) Universal Hub, a blog site that (by its own description) tries to "capture the best writing from the hundreds of bloggers in the Boston area", then picked up the Just Giblets shout out. Which inspired reader comments about how soliciting dates in the library has a history in the restrooms, in a Larry Craig sort of way.

Oh, the tangled, tangled (world-wide) web.