Exploring Downtown Philadelphia

Here is my mission for today

  1. Find good Coffee
  2. Buy some Aveeno products for Manaia
  3. Don’t get lost
  4. Explore the area around Market Street – tons of things to look at there
  5. Get to bed at reasonable time .. have to be at the airport by 5am at the latest tomorrow.

So far, Ive found good coffee, in this great little Italian cafe called Hausbrandt, on Walnut Street. I also found a CVS Pharmacy and got some stuff for Manaia.
On to the rest of the list.

NYC Libray Camp Session 3

Green Librarianship

Started with introductions.

People talked about their frustrations.

  • Recyclables disposed of trash
  • Packaging, rolls of paper wrapped in plastic
  • Aerosoles.
  • Web based products, but backed up with printed manuals
  • Organization not conscious of the environment, styrofoam cups etc.
  • Printers that won’t print double sided.

Suggestions

  • Free research guide, practical but also tying into Philosophy, connecting with global community
  • Engage the profession at large, use existing networks/organizations
  • Reusable coffee cups, Columbia Health sciences library gave out free coffee mugs.
  • Fresh Aire initiative – Fresh Aire
  • Programs/Collections based around being green
  • Charges for printing
  • Myth of the paperless Office – Book
  • Use a wiki instead of printing out your drafts
  • Freecycle
  • Materials for the Arts mfta.org
  • Allow patrons to bring in used printer cartridges, return them to a refill place for a discount/free refills
  • Green Line Paper
  • A green library wiki
  • More conferences like this, or even virtual conferences.
  • Rebrand book sale into reread sale .. its not just about books its about recycling.
  • Partner with other recycling agencies
  • Energy Star
  • Low or No VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) for furniture or paint (improves air quality)
  • Report bad air condition to OSHA
  • Use the biggest resource, the patrons. Allow green groups to meet in the library.
  • Use some of the existing networks, like Palinet, Incolsa etc to leverage buying power
  • Kilowatt meters – Kill a watt
  • Optional date due slip
  • Freegans might be willing to use unwanted items Freegan.info>
  • Set an example, influence the culture of an organization
  • Screensavers on reference computers

Green Librarian Organization

NYC Libray Camp Session 2

Library Thing for Libraries

Second Session of Library Camp

  • What is Library Thing (social cataloguing too)
  • Library thing for libraries, they sell the data to libraries. (They reserve the right to do this, when you sign up as a library thing user).
  • Danbury Library first Library to use Library thing for Libraries
  • Works with any ILS
  • Possibility of licensing or providing data for free, rather than the web services.
  • Better for public libraries, not as good for special
  • Licensing data to aqua browser

Interesting, not really discussion, more a sales pitch, but interesting nonetheless.

Library Camp NYC – Session 1

Open Source Desktop

Talking about general open source, not just desktops.
Talked about Howard County and how they went to OSS
Talked about Games – FreeCiv
Talked about locked down access, how to restrict.
Talked about Koha – Asked about libraries using it
Talked more about Koha, the history of it. And case studies.
Touched on vista
Talked about ILS that can run on open source operating system.
Talked about OpenOffice, and Ubuntu how its creating a groundswell.
Greg from NYPL using OSS stuff for webwork.
User needs analysis should be the driver

On the move again

After a really productive 10 days in Athens where we got tons of work done on Koha, I’m off to Philadelphia. First to help Nicole move house, then to Library Camp and Princeton.
It should be a lot of fun. I plan to take a bunch of photos, so I’ll upload them when I have.

Oh and in the that’s cool basket (well maybe only if you are a geek), I committed a couple of fixes to file permissions from down by the pool last night and formatted a patch and emailed them once I got back into wireless range. Yay for Git.

Things I have eaten in Athens, Ohio

  • Hanger Steak … what is it? I dunno, tasted good though
  • Strawberry Sorbet
  • Ice Cream sandwiches
  • Cinnamon and Chocolate twists
  • Bob Evans pulled Bob-b-q (no not a typo thats what its called) Pork sandwich
  • Taco’s
  • Turkey Sandwich
  • Strawberry yoghurt with bits of chocolate in it

And yet im still losing weight, I cant eat enough to replace what the heat is sweating out of me.