Groundhog Day is almost here. Feb. 2 is the day that Punxsutawney Phil pops out of his burrow to predict how much longer winter will last. Legend says that if the groundhog sees his shadow, we’ll have six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t, spring will be early.
However, word on the street is that Phil may have popped out of his hole early this year. Apparently, he was spotted in one of Grand County’s libraries applying for his first-ever library card. (All he needed to obtain his card were his photo ID and proof of his mailing address.)
With his new card, Phil decided to check out a copy of “Groundhog Day,” the classic movie starring Bill Murray. However, when Phil returned the movie to the library the next day, he seemed a bit upset, telling other patrons that he was worried the day would start repeating on Feb. 2, just like it did in the movie.
Fortunately for Phil, one of Grand County’s librarians was able to help him research the chances of such a thing actually happening. Phil was amazed to discover the vast array of information that his library card made available to him. The librarian showed Phil how to search the catalog to find books on physics. Phil decided to start with Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time.” Just for fun, he also decided to read H.G. Wells’ “Time Machine.”
Next, Phil learned how to use Kanopy, GCLD’s free video streaming service. He was intrigued to discover a PBS documentary series called “Genius.” One of the episodes was entitled “Can We Time Travel?” Phil was able to watch the episode on his smart phone while he stepped out of the library to visit the local coffee shop.
Upon returning to the library, Phil was introduced to RBDigital Magazines. Phil downloaded the latest issue of Popular Science to read all about time and space. He also browsed Britannica Online, GCLD’s free online encyclopedia, reading up on topics like “time,” “time travel,” and “groundhogs.”
After completing his research, Phil felt fairly reassured that he wasn’t going to be stuck in an endlessly looping day. However, the discovery that GCLD has a nice assortment of musical instruments available for checkout definitely made him feel better. If he was going to repeat the same day for years to come, he could use the opportunity to become an accomplished musician, just like Bill Murray did in the movie.
Phil thanked the librarian for her help and then used the library computer to print out a boarding pass for his trip home.
But as he walked away, Phil realized that he was a teensy bit disappointed that his chances of being trapped in a repeating day were very slim. He’d love to be stuck in one of GCLD’s cozy libraries, endlessly learning and exploring new ideas.