Leaving Footsteps

Let me preface by saying that the lack of privacy online is appalling! But let me add, that I find our site meter addictive. Not only can I see how many hits our blog is getting and how many pages are viewed per visit but I can see how our readers get there: the referring URL, the search engine, the search words, the entry page and the exit page. I can organize the data by location and see the domain, IP address, continent, country, state, and city. I can recognize the regulars – the readers from our community, the ones who enter from our RSS feed on Classrooms on Elm Street, others who might have us as a feed. Some days are quite intriguing! Like, the past two days. We have had a slew of visitors from Australia: 13 from Victoria, 5 from New South Wales, 2 from Queensland, and one from the Australian Capital Territory. The search terms have been “history boys”, librarian, poet, headmaster and the engine was google.com.au. One searcher even typed in the question “in the history boys, which librarian and poet worked at the university the headmaster attended?” So, who is researching this? Is it an online course? A trivia contest?
The Pesky Library blog came up in the search results because I blogged on a conversation I had with a former student regarding reading and used a quote from The History Boys movie. I think the question’s answer is is Philip Larkin who was an assistant librarian at University College, Leicester and the librarian at the University of Hull until his death (although which was the headmaster’s alma mater I can’t hazard a remembrance!)So does this lead anywhere but to acknowledge the footsteps we leave when we are online? Not really. BUT, I learned something in my truly favorite fashion – serendipitously! The inspiration for Lucky Jim (FIC AMI) came to Kingley Amis while he visited Philip Larkin and saw the common room at Leicester University. Lucky Jim is a comic novel which serves as a wonderful introduction to Amis