"Library Technology Musings" Becoming "Mentat"

I've been struggling with the fact that I spend so much time commenting on things other than library technology on this weblog. The problem is the name of the blog, not that I really wish to change the balance of topics being addressed.

Therefore, I've decided to change the name of the weblog to "Mentat."

I'm inspired by Richard Hunter's book World Without Secrets in which he references Frank Herbert's Dune. In Dune, a mentat is a thinking machine that can assimilate huge quantities of information and analyze them rapidly.

Hunter uses the word "mentat" as follows:

• Mentats provide frameworks we use to interpret the world (or a piece of it) based on a shared set of values
• Mentats make decisions and assist others in making those decisions
• Mentats filter out as much information as possible, so what remains is the "good" stuff
• Mentats inform us when something important has changed that requires us to reconsider our ideas and frameworks
• Mentats provide a basis of personal trust to resolve the claims of competing information.

When I read Hunter's definition of mentat, I was struck by how much it sounds like my idea of librarian. The point of mentats and librarians is to help people sort through the glut of information and make sense of it.

My use of mentat for this blog refers to my desire to help people make decisions on a wide range of topics from calendar software to presidential candidate to library policy . I hope to provide good, high quality information and to advise my readers when something important has changed (or needs to change).

Mentats serve a community of people with shared values. I define my community as all librarians, everyone who believes in the importance of civil liberties, everyone who helps protect the environment, and anyone concerned about the role our government plays in the world. My community also includes people who love and respect animals, who believe that love and family comes in many shapes and sizes, and people who always try to do the right thing just because its right, not because God says so.

If you've been reading my blog, I suspect you are indeed part of my community. I hope you find your visits insightful and useful and will continue to come by.