We are staying at the Grand Hyatt in Washington Center - the complex directly above the Metro Subway Center Station. It is a grand hotel with rooms starting at $212 a night - but I just couldn't stand to part with $20 a day for Internet service - when the Martin Luther King Library is next store and it offer free wifi access. The library doesn't open until noon - but the wifi is fine sitting on the sidewalk bench right near the employees entrance. Whenever the garage door opens - I get a nice blast of cool air. A librarian coming to work just drove by in her new navy blue Cadillac.
Just a block north of me is the Convention Center where 20,000 librarians are meeting to plan the future of library services in our schools and towns on an ever dwindling share of your tax dollars. Few of the librarians from the convention will get to see the inside of Martin Luther King Library - and I am guessing an equal amount of the librarians in the trenches here will get to the convention.
Inside the library are two gigantic murals showing scenes from King's life in the civil rights movement. The patrons are generally minorities and it seems the three top library services they are seeking are: rest rooms - a cool place to rest - and access to a row of computers connected to the Internet.
Someone should be running a bus tour from the Convention Hall to this library. Excuse me - it is almost noon - and I need to use the bathroom.
