Let your inner Byronic* tendencies run wild and compose an ode to Horizon, a sonnet to Summon or fill a folio with fulsome words for FOLIO. Help us bid farewell to our old library systems and welcome in the new.
Competition dates:
Opens: 21 February 2024
Closes: 21 March 2024
How to enter: Compose your poem and submit via comments to this Counterculture post.
Judging Criteria:
- Originality
- Structure
- Relevance to library systems
Competition Rules:
- Unlimited entries
- No backsies
- AI and other tools are permissible
Prize: Your poem read out at the Farewell to Horizon/Welcome to FOLIO event, bragging rights and some chocolate
Why Participate?
- Polish your poetic prowess
- Immortality (of a sort)
- Chance of delicious chocolate treats just before Easter (re-gifting is allowed)
[*insert your poet of choice]
Honour to Horizon and Felicitations to Folio
Somewhere beyond the Horizon,
Great new possibilities beckon,
That’s what we’ve been keeping our eyes on,
That’s what some of us reckon,
But others of us have been nervous
As we farewell our trusty old friend
Nearly three decades of service
Have finally come to an end.
Right now we’re in uncharted waters
It feels like we’re in need of new maps,
As we try to recall what they taught us
And negotiate Folio’s apps.
And amongst us there have been some fears
As we start to do business with Folio
That soon it will all end in tears,
And we’ll be in a real imbroglio!
Yet there is no need for such terror,
As we learn to embrace these new ways,
Of course there will be the odd error,
After all, it is still early days!
But soon we’ll all over the worst,
And will navigate Folio with ease
All the things that seemed complex at first
Will quickly become ‘just a breeze.’
So let’s give to Horizon its due
For the years of good service heretofore,
But we’ll celebrate Folio too,
And look forward to what is in store.
typo in penultimate stanza: first line should read ‘But soon we’ll be over the worst.”
Thanks for your submission Joanna! Typo noted.
On the fifteenth of August, nineteen ninety-five,
Our Horizon library system finally went live.
Now we could use Windows to check -in, and print labels too,
While using many functions that URICA couldn’t do.
Our old Kardex cabinets were no longer seen,
As Kardex cards gave way to computer screens.
Acquistions, Cataloguing and Circulation too,
All became automated and easier for users to view.
Over the years, there has been a really big change,
With electronic resources becoming all the rage.
We have used Horizon for nearly 29 years,
But now it’s time to replace it, without any fears.
As the sun is setting over Horizon at last,
A new dawn is leaving it behind, in the past.
Now FOLIO is seeing the light of day,
And it is ready to show us the way.
Into the future, together we will go.
What problems we will face, we really don’t know.
But for now, let us bid Horizon “Hāere ra”, “Goodbye”,
And welcome FOLIO with a big “Hāere mai!”