Melbourne trip

A couple of weeks off, so I decided to travel down to Melbourne for a little while.

Visited some great local attractions, including the state library. Liked their beautiful reading room.

Also saw this interesting old poster about "Pharos", which was on one of the historic displays currently on show.

Watched some street performers juggling with fire & a chainsaw, down by the Yarra river, enjoyed the local coffee shops.

User group was great!

That was a wonderful user group experience. Learnt a lot about the new software, got advice from other customers & the vendor. It was good to see the performance of the software at Wagga, as well as their RFID system (a different brand). Enjoyed the company of the other delegates, made new friends & refreshed old friendships. The drive home was a bit quicker. (I didn't visit any libraries)

Driving to Wagga

On my way to Wagga for the Libero user group meeting. It's been a good day. Visited libraries at Goulburn, Yass & Gundagai. Yass & Gundagai have old buildings, tucked away from the main street, but their collections & facilities are great! All the libraries I've seen today have plenty of books, PCs, reading & study areas, plus specific collections & areas for various user groups, be they children, youth, or aged. And the staff are always friendly, visible & accessible.

It would be nice if the libraries were more visible from the main streets, but the good news is they are all well signposted, so it is easy to find them. Only one library I saw today was closed (it only opens limited hours). The rest were all open & serving customers.

I was particularly impressed with some of the collections I saw today, with one exception, none of the libraries appeared to have strong reference [not for loan] collections. Most appeared to have been absorbed by the non-fiction lending collections. Hmmn.. I wonder if we really need our reference collection to be quite so extensive (and spacious)? Especially as so many people are now depending on us for internet access.... and a place to do their homework? Things are changing. We have noticed a sharp increase this year in the number of people using our free Wifi access. ....free? Hey! Just remembered, as I write this, I'm using Gundagai McDonald's free WiFi access! Makes a lot of sense. I like the way you can login immediately, without any password. Maybe we should do that on our Wifi, certainly makes it easy & convenient for people.

User group

Hey! I had forgotten what a great bunch of people the Libero user group are! Checked into the motel & walked to the nearby library, where the 'delegates' were all starting to arrive. Evening refreshments were being served, as we all got re-aquainted. I had not seen most of these people for at least a year, and it was really nice to catch up. The software vendor was wonderful to talk to, as always, and there were a few new faces too. Sadly, our buddies from Canterbury couldn't make it, but we had a great meal at the pub together tonight. Tomorrow the conference starts in ernest. I am keen to see the latest enhancements & directions the system is taking.

Online slideshows etc

I'm real happy with the online versions of software I normally use on my own computer. The fact that there is no cost to use them is a plus. But more significant is the usefulness of being able to save your files on a shared server, without the responsibility of ownership of that server, is amazing. I saved about 50 photos in jpeg format on the Picasa site, while on holidays, as a backup to my own netbook. Those photos are still there, several weeks later. Being able to edit files & photos, and then save & email them, all without personal software or local email accounts, is a real bonus. The question in my mind: what's in it for these websites, if the users are not paying any money for the service?

Blogging 2.1

Since I finished the 2.0 course, I've been adding blog posts here as the mood takes me. A natural use for the blog was our trip to Cairns. I was able to upload photos & write commentary while we were away, which was great. The other thing I found useful was an online photo storage site "Picasa", where I made a backup of some of the photos we took while we were away. Have a look (attached).
I do like blogging. I guess it is a way of getting thoughts out of my head, & down onto the computer - a bit like keeping a diary (although I've never kept one before). There is something therapeutic about it. Plus of course, it gives me a record of what has been happening in my life, so I can go back over it later if necessary. So far, I haven't found other blogs that I read regularly. Just the odd one that pops up in a Google search on a specific topic of interest. Yes, I have commented on someone else's blog, but only once or twice. I think I find blogs a bit too personal, whereas message boards on specific topics I participate in quite regularly.

Creative

I think the various style options are great! They enable a lot more creativity, and I was very happy to find a "bookshelf" background for my blog. Suits me fine.