What’s Geek The Library all about?

It’s a movement that was made possible by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The idea is very simple and yet brilliant at the same time: focus on what individuals are passionate about AND then highlight how libraries can support these passions.

We all know how people tend to look down on libraries. They’re boring places. They’re not cool. But if you think about it, libraries are the physical manifestations of cool things such as the Internet!

In spite of my natural tendencies to “not like” Bill Gates, I cannot help but admire him for pushing this initiative. With this kind of movement, people just might pay more attention to libraries and see their significance. Oh, and I love how they turn “geek” into a verb: Geek the library! What do you geek?

Yeah, tell me, what do you geek? I geek the library!

Love him or loathe him, Bill Gates and his unstoppable tech-machine Microsoft is not going away. Well, Microsoft isn’t anyway. It has been announced today that the chairman of Microsoft and one of the world’s richest men is stepping down from the day job of running the company.

Gates has decided to devote part of his time to charity work. Amazingly, as a teenager, Gates had visions of the personal computer in every home. This was a thought that of course not only came true but has moved one step beyond – people have computers in every home along with hard drive recorders, DVD players and much more technology related to computing. We’ve also seen such developments as the iPod becoming ubiquitous in popular culture.

Microsoft was set up by Gates and his childhood friend Paul Allen. Their big break came when a deal was signed with IBM to produce the operating system that became known as MS-DOS. Gates became the youngest self-made billionaire at the age of 31 – a quite incredible achievement. Looking at some of the other rich people in the world, it could be argued that few have had so much global impact as him.

Now 52, Bill has decided to concentrate on the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. He will remain on the board as chairman of Microsoft and his time will be spent (whilst there) on special projects. In the meantime, he will continue to assist in funding beneficial activities such as the creation of new medicines and vaccinations.

Mr Gates, we salute you – though please ensure that your future operating systems are as resource-light, secure and fast as possible, without dumbing them down too much for the average person. Please also promise to keep offering up new updates on these ‘special projects’!