“For stories in wondrous locations;
For resources; for inspiration;
For questions advisory…
We’re drawn to the library:
A welcome site, found in translation.”
The 6 April 2025 Bluesky limerick celebrated the start of National Library Week with an allusion to a specific type of molecular motion called translation.
“For stories in wondrous locations; /
For resources; for inspiration; /
For questions advisory… /
We’re drawn to the library…”
National Library Week generally runs in mid-April, so it often lines up well with April’s National Poetry Writing Month routine, as it did in 2025.
The poem’s first four lines celebrate the many ways I have found libraries to be welcome resources in the many places I’ve lived, over many years of teaching and learning; they house a wealth of books and resources, accompanied by librarians’ wide-ranging areas of expertise.
As in many of these previous April routines, I note that such a theme requires little explanation, relative to the typical chem poems; “libraries are great!” is a straightforward and celebrated concept.
“A welcome site, found in translation.”
The fifth line is the one that links National Library Week to a scientific theme.
In a chemistry context, translation means molecular motion in three-dimensional space (we can think of a molecule of oxygen sailing through an open room, for instance). Translation contrasts with vibration and rotation, the other two types of molecular motion, which involve internal motions of the molecule itself: stretching or compressing its bonds or spinning on its internal axes, respectively.
Since we travel geographically to a different location (“site”) when we go to the library, the library is “found in translation.” (I also liked the more hopeful contrast that this last image sets up with the common phrase of “lost in translation.”)
Chemphasis 