SydneyPLUS Thanks for Thanksgiving (US)

SydneyPLUS staff librarians working in our headquarters in Vancouver, BC, Canada are fortunate to live in such a beautiful place, which is evident by this photograph from Jeff Xerri, SydneyPLUS Implementation Consultant Librarian on his way to work. We wish all our US-based clients who wish to celebrate Thanksgiving a Happy Thanksgiving! Hopefully many of you will have the opportunity to visit us during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, or perhaps you will see a rainbow when visiting us at the SLA 2014 conference to be held in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

SydneyPLUS Thanks for Thanksgiving (Canada)

With the (Canadian) Thanksgiving Day on Monday, October 12th, we thought our members may want to take a break from reading about SydneyPLUS products and services, and reflect on an inspiring story about a William Kamkwamba, a windmill, and the positive role of libraries.

Here is the inspiring story:

William Kamkwamba was born August 5, 1987, in Malawi, Africa. Something remarkable happened to him at the age of 14. While poverty made him drop out of school at that age, he built a windmill to generate electricity for his home in a country where only two percent of the population can afford it. Where did he learn to build a windmill? A nearby library.

Movingwindmills.org, an official site with more information, affirms the role of the library:

"Armed with curiosity, determination and a library book he discovered in a nearby library, he embarked on a daring plan—to build a windmill that could bring his family the electricity only two percent of Malawians could afford."

You can read William's autobiography this Thanksgiving as it was recently released worldwide on September 29, 2009.