At the “Legacy of Sharing Knowledge” celebration of the life of Fred Kilgour where OCLC CEO Jay Jordan is giving a biographical talk about Fred’s life. Very nice attention to the NYTimes obit for Fred which ended with a wonderful funny and illustrative bit about finding Fred’s book in WorldCat.

Jay ends with a quote from Longfellow‘s “Pslam of Life.”

Now a video of Fred speaking (late in life) about how he was inspired to work on sharing of catalogs between libraries and amongst book owners. He increased the number of available copies of “Gone with the Wind” by asking Harvard alums to contribute copies of that book.

Now an overview with testimonials. Appropriate since Fred was feisty and occasionally testy. Fred is now describing Google books and Amazon Search Within the Book without naming them directly as something to which he aspired. He wanted to deliver information directly to the readers based on their needs.

Joe Hewitt, former UNC Librarian, is giving a personal tribute to Fred.

Following Joe is Rebecca Vargas head of Special Librarians Association with her personal memories of Fred and of his birdwatching. Rufus Hummingbird was sighted on bird count day at Fred’s house. A rare sighting in the Eastern US. The Rufus is also described as feisty…

Gary Marchionini now speaks of his research discussions with Fred. “Fred didn’t talk to you but with you.” Fred as father of digital libraries.

Now Barbara Moran, who was Dean of the School of Information and Library Science, when Fred came to UNC. “Fred was splendid.” Fred always said he was splendid, himself. He quietly established emergency loan funds for SILS students at Schools across the country.

Next the current Dean, Jose-Marie Griffiths, is speaking about the Kilgour Faculty Development Fund and about her meetings with Fred including his talk about electronic information at the British Library.

Break then Michael Tiemann will speak.

“Sharing Knowledge, Multiplying Value” by Michael Tiemann. I’m not a very good slide blogger, but the talk is being recorded so you can watch it later. Michael makes many points and in particular ends by recommending The Generous Man: How Helping Others is the Sexiest Thing You Can Do