Wednesday May 3, 2006

For Henriette D. Avram, a systems analyst who “had to enter the mind of the library cataloger, a profession whose arcane knowledge– involving deep philosophical questions about taxonomy, interconnectedness and the nature of similarity and difference– was guarded like priestly ritual.” — Margalit Fox in today’s New York Times

Mrs. Avram died on April 22.

For related material on priestly ritual, see

• the Log24 entry of Easter Monday, April 17: Sub Specie Aeternitatis
• an emblem, Finis Coronat Opus, linked to from that entry’s image
• a poem, “The Wreck of the Deutschland,” that may or may not have been influenced by that emblem.

Finis Coronat Opus