tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4525950303354825302024-03-17T16:57:41.375+13:00Library Mattersthings worth sharingJoann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.comBlogger200125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-78993029492060113912022-11-24T09:58:00.001+13:002022-11-24T09:58:41.476+13:00Eulogy for Rosalie<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyzFmZiTkC0pc0eabr4_z8efD4BxBVCzdeLGZHldghOaoWGOYbWltBec5kXCgOMeAs35g3p6GqXpdZEkfk4ixa7vRS5zC8QS-IKOD0r7FJWV5kpCx8L8jgnsD-RjCmwbjOgwE9PVcn46dotu90WwjN4U0LGYbR6UnXOD8J_ldry7Foo0-TbO6_ZMvH/s2880/Rosalie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2880" data-original-width="2160" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyzFmZiTkC0pc0eabr4_z8efD4BxBVCzdeLGZHldghOaoWGOYbWltBec5kXCgOMeAs35g3p6GqXpdZEkfk4ixa7vRS5zC8QS-IKOD0r7FJWV5kpCx8L8jgnsD-RjCmwbjOgwE9PVcn46dotu90WwjN4U0LGYbR6UnXOD8J_ldry7Foo0-TbO6_ZMvH/w300-h400/Rosalie.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I have been asked to say a few words about Rosalie’s
professional life culminating in her being awarded a Queens Service Medal in
2010. Her citation reads:</span></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><i>“Rosalie Blake has been a leader in libraries
in the Horowhenua district for almost 30 years. She has worked to advance the
number, management and services of libraries in Horowhenua and nationally. She
showed foresight in helping to identify the potential value of computer systems
to library work when computer technology was still rudimentary. When it became
clear that commercially available library management systems were financially
unviable for smaller libraries, she assisted with the development of KOHA, a
purpose-built system using open source software. This cheap and efficient
system was soon acquired by other small New Zealand libraries and by more than
1,000 libraries and institutions around the world. She has been a strong
proponent of library trusts, and has been an active representative on various
district council committees. Ms Blake has further contributed to the Horowhenua
community as a Justice of the Peace and has been a widely respected pottery
tutor.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Rosalie would be fanning me away with her hand for starting
with the QSM as the most important thing to talk about so let’s step back a
bit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>Rosalie interviewed me for a library assistant role in
1985</b> and after chatting for a while she asked why I hadn’t brought my art
portfolio in with me – this was the first indication that I’d love working for
her.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I spent 23 years growing up with Rosalie - more than
the 19 years I’d spent growing up at home. It is safe to say she was very
influential in my life and shaping me into the librarian I am today.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: 14pt; text-indent: -18pt;">I learnt to say ‘Yes’ – not ‘yeah’ or ‘yep’,</span></li><li><span style="font-size: 14pt; text-indent: -18pt;">I learnt grammar – omg – her red pen ….</span></li><li><span style="font-size: 14pt; text-indent: -18pt;">My love of a good spreadsheet,</span></li><li><span style="font-size: 14pt; text-indent: -18pt;">I learnt to compose assignments in a word processor –
essay planning folks – sections, word counts allocated to each - then write to
the word counts – very economical approach.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; text-indent: -18pt;">And I got to do art! Remember our Christmas tunnel
Jeremy? We made a 2 story paper mache rock face with ‘brick’ interior and
tinsel and Christmas lights. It was the backdrop to a Christmas party with
Santa. Unfortunately the Christmas Fairy fainted and the tunnel had become a bit
stinky when we finally had to pull it down.</span></li></ul><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I’ve been able to transfer my skills, all learnt under
Rosalie’s tutelage, to community development, construction, a DHB and now back
into libraries and community centres. I owe my career to her and I know I am
not the only one as I look out at a few of my former work colleagues.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I think about her mentoring all the time; just last
week I found myself asking ‘what would Rosalie do’.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>Rosalie’s way of doing business was values driven.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The word Rangatiratanga springs to mind – doing the
right thing even when it’s hard, and true leadership – we all wanted to follow
Rosalie - and she always treated those around her in a mana-enhancing way. I remember
her advice to never force people into corners – always allowing them a way out
with their dignity intact. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Another word: Kotahitanga – it’s all about relationships
and being connected and working together: ‘you go faster alone but further
together’.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>She was an early adopter of library technology</b> leading
us into a ‘computerised library’ in the late 80s – glamourous aye. Our first
computer had a 1 megabit hard drive I think.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We lasted on that DOS system until the late 90s when we
forced to shift to a different system.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Thanks to Simon’s IT interest (understatement of the
year) we were running a fabulously cheap, dial up system between Foxton, Shannon
and Levin where we could stay connected all day for a single 30 cent phone
call. True story.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The RFP process was done thoroughly – but it was all ‘too
much’: too much paper, too costly, too engineered and yet didn’t do all the
stuff we wanted it to do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In talking with Simon, Rachel and Chris – that famous
quote: “how hard can it be” was uttered and out of that came Koha. They decided
to develop a library management system using the new web technologies (that’s the
internet), open source development tools and open standards and they would give
it away for free so that other libraries could have it and improve it and share
it forward.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Koha was the world’s first open-source library management
system and is now used all over the world in thousands of libraries. Entire
countries run Koha and most University libraries in America, some public
libraries and many government departments in NZ.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Koha has changed communities particularly in
developing countries where public libraries are the doorway to literacy and
literacy changes lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The Koha road trip in 2010 to mark the 10 year
anniversary of Koha was such a thrill. Rosalie and I collected our
international guests, Paul, Katrin, Brooke and Magnus to name a few, from
Auckland and drove them back down to Wellington for the annual Koha Con. We
know many in the Koha global community are watching the service today and I was
thrilled last night to read that the next Koha release will be named in honour
of Rosalie.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><b>Rosalie was decades ahead of her time in many ways.</b> Elegant,
appropriately sized solutions that were affordable and sustainable were her
forte. And living lightly on the earth – a buzz that libraries and Councils have
caught onto now but in Horowhenua we have been minimising waste for decades; we
all knew to cut up paper that had been only printed on one side into notelets
or glued into pads. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We owe Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-po to Rosalie. Not for Rosalie
a brand new building – it was her idea to repurpose the old Woolworths supermarket.
For years – maybe even a decade – she wrote papers to council urging them to
upgrade our 1960s library to a be a fit for purpose, modern public library. She
considered her work ‘done’ once it got the go ahead and felt able to retire
leaving her protegees: Ema, Wendy, Barbara and I to bring it through to
fruition with our colleagues at Council. She loved Te Takere – loved how it
looked, felt and functioned.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><b>Rosalie was incredibly proud of her boys</b> and their
partners and her grandchildren – you guys were ‘everything’ to her – always - well
except for that period of time when you called her an ‘old trout’ – she did not
like you then. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">And she picked up others of us along the way: Nick, Kim,
Tania – to name but a few. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">So Rosalie was an all-round good egg</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The best human being</span></li><li><span style="font-size: 14pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Values driven</span></li><li><span style="font-size: 14pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Treading lightly on the earth</span></li><li><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Growing those around her</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Loving her family</span></li></ul><p></p><!--[if !supportLists]--><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Which brings me back to the QSM and her library
career.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">She started in special libraries, but took to public libraries
like a duck to water. Horowhenua was too small for her really but she served for
many years as a Councillor for LIANZA – the nationwide professional body for
librarians – including as President. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">She was central to ‘the most notorious Library Week
ever’ – a quote from NZHistory.govt.nz <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In 1992 LIANZA organised a campaign in association
with the Friends of National Radio called the ‘Great New Zealand Television
Turn-Off’. This encouraged New Zealanders to turn off their televisions
during Library Week and instead read and take part in other activities. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Television broadcasters had no fear of the campaign.
TV3 saw it as ‘silly’ while TVNZ described it as ‘bizarre’. Paul Holmes described
it an ‘insult’ to hardworking broadcasters’. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">During the turn-off campaign the average 24 hour
viewing audience fell 10% – but more importantly it got people
talking about libraries and books and reading and spending time as a family.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Rosalie was made a LIANZA Fellow in 2008 for: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 8.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><i>“her
sustained and energetic contribution to the development of public libraries,
for her innovative leadership and contribution to the world of open source
library information systems and for outstanding contribution to the profession
during her long career”.</i></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Rosalie was awarded the QSM in 2010 for services to
libraries after a stellar life of professional service. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-top: 6.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But she was so much more than that and I will miss
her.<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-88511470034191918372016-11-16T10:48:00.001+13:002016-11-16T10:48:49.317+13:00Interview with Bywater at the end of Koha World Tour 2016https://youtu.be/vloTvcmR3fMJoann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-6449822416185217122016-11-13T07:39:00.003+13:002016-11-13T07:46:31.298+13:00Portland<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
"Take me somewhere pretty, Brendan, somewhere clean and green".<br />
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Portland Oregon - that is where it is at folks. Look at that countryside: just like in the movies: green grass, a cabin in the woods and a horse!<br />
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By the time I got to Portland, after a freezing but fun week in Montreal, I was craving the outdoors again. I was also craving puppy-hugs and a home environment. Boy did Brendan deliver!<br />
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Not only did Bywater Solutions sponsor most of the American leg of my Koha world tour but Brendan took me home and allowed me to be part of his family with Sonja, Ginny and Aloo. I have loved travelling and the hotels and the restaurants but sometimes it is just so nice to be part of a family, eat simple food like the delicious scrambled eggs I had with Christine in Vermont and sleep with a dog on the end of the bed.<br />
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Being in Portland was the perfect way to finish my Koha World Tour. The trip was thus 'bookended' with Bob and Irma Birchall sending me off on my way from Sydney and Brendan wrapping it up with me in Oregon.<br />
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Spent about 6 hours in a car on our way to and from a users group meeting out at the coast and it was really good to reflect on the last 3 months and the themes or issues which have emerged. They will make a blog post on their own as I feel the need to write down what I have seen and heard; not quite a state of the Koha-nation but I think I have had a unique opportunity which has given me a global view.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6b5_iGs0iUjLR0z4A6OmK5nFqhIEXATyFyQ4RAM-HJ66aym3SED4hA3kCjdDUSWZfYd-oZATWFhVkx4aW0_G2DRzT6bNri2Bg89CY9M6sbbfEombEyTcb0qvbB8l8t_m147MojH5M-3k/s1600/20161104_144029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6b5_iGs0iUjLR0z4A6OmK5nFqhIEXATyFyQ4RAM-HJ66aym3SED4hA3kCjdDUSWZfYd-oZATWFhVkx4aW0_G2DRzT6bNri2Bg89CY9M6sbbfEombEyTcb0qvbB8l8t_m147MojH5M-3k/s400/20161104_144029.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lenora and Brendan</td></tr>
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We also visited Lenora Oftedahl from a fisheries research library in Portland. Brendan and I think she might have been the first Koha or 2nd library in the USA - very early in any case. Got it up and running themselves. It was a real pleasure meeting this wonderful lady and a real bonus was a stunning First Nation's craft fair. I could have spent a fortune because sadly, once you have fallen in love with a $300 handcrafted necklace everything else pales in to significance.<br />
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Did a fair bit of socialising in Portland too: great brewery visit, superb afternoon drinking cocktails from the 30th floor looking over the city, the best BBQ ribs I have ever tasted in my life and pizza for breakfast with Sonja's dough (that we couldn't fit in the night before).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Portland, Oregon.</td></tr>
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-67439625966605182752016-11-04T11:50:00.000+13:002016-11-12T12:10:07.395+13:00Kansas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtzG7GFK-u95hc6jhGg0Fr6ATCO5nkdDNl-Zf69Fs230C83ZymSvUbrN3b4hyphenhyphenpvLbI0A2vJ_8z6j4CGPxNl_8LRWNIbA72hTzH7MV4vW1efOPs4SIsWHcXFBGY_pb4R90qdIR4rE1mx-g/s1600/20161101_164257.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtzG7GFK-u95hc6jhGg0Fr6ATCO5nkdDNl-Zf69Fs230C83ZymSvUbrN3b4hyphenhyphenpvLbI0A2vJ_8z6j4CGPxNl_8LRWNIbA72hTzH7MV4vW1efOPs4SIsWHcXFBGY_pb4R90qdIR4rE1mx-g/s400/20161101_164257.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kansas: big and flat and open; imagine what those early pioneers felt heading West.</td></tr>
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From Montreal I flew to Kansas but had a massive 8 hour delay in Chicago. This was because the plane which had caught fire as it was taking off was still on the runway and Chicago, one of the busiest hubs in USA, had been running 2 runways down for a day or so. The wing was gone - like melted off. I am just so glad that it wasn't airborne when it happened and thus no one was hurt. It could have been catastrophic.<br />
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So poor George in Kansas joins a very select group of Koha alumni who had middle-of-the-night pickups: Esmael in Malayia, Ketan and Kirti in Mumbai. I really did try to arrive at reasonable time folks but I am so grateful that you so graciously met me instead of being tucked up in bed.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cake tin collections!</td></tr>
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<b>NEKLS and SEKL</b>S<br />
I had to go to Kansas because this place is a hotbed of Koha consortia!<br />
<br />
I stayed in Lawrence and was hosted by George from NEKLS and Jason from SEKLS. This was so cool as I got to cover a lot of ground, met a lot of librarians and see a lot of libraries. I have realised, after visiting Vermont and Kansas, that much of heartland America is populated by many small public libraries with the occasional big one - like Lawrence. The funding models are very different to NZ and quite complicated so I'm not even going to try and explain but I gather that philanthropy has a major role to play and the general 'wealth' of the area. Which means, actually, that the communities that need libraries the most and whose citizens have the most to gain tend to be more poorly funded. This sucks.<br />
<br />
I saw two libraries in 2 small towns and one had a huge new library with everything imaginable while the other was squeezed into a tiny space which was crammed with kids. One town had been gifted a huge donation to build a library while the other was struggling on an annual budget of $28k which had to cover everything from wages to rent to power to collection development.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Money just pumping out of ground<br />
everywhere you looked - but poorly<br />
funded libraries</td></tr>
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The library in this small impoverished town was probably the only place in the whole town that kids could go for free. Imagine if a local employer of most of the town's working-folk would financially support this facility with an annual grant of say $30k doubling their budget, imagine if the library could relocate into one of the many bigger empty places on main street, imagine if there was room for books AND people AND tables AND chairs AND computers AND space for programmes. The librarian was wonderful; clearly making the most of what she had - but she needed so much more. Maybe those neighbouring libraries who had great gorgeous collections that desperately needed weeding because their shelves were groaning could share with their more-poorly resourced neighbours through the provision of rotating loan collections. Maybe a rich town with generous benefactors could partner with their poorer neighbours - I don't know - but I do know that the inequity of the differing levels of service really upset me.<br />
<br />
I used to cop flack that the Youth Space at Te Takere was full of poor brown kids; you know what: great! I don't care. The kids who had warm homes that they were actually allowed to go into after school, who had nice furniture and every technogadget imaginable, and the luxury of enough space to hang out in and relax didn't need the youth space as much as the others.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmCXoyX2oKc-wlnq0SbfIprtCBGBjBZzQdS666TDCn88xxB7_0H4PKZNcKoX5oQvSwC8Eh_5gBviWQDhgyKIpzYEZ_suKw41yw-aITjdYX05y3m_yBrpwOdSDH1fv625Djy40YOO1PMyI/s1600/20161102_094708.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmCXoyX2oKc-wlnq0SbfIprtCBGBjBZzQdS666TDCn88xxB7_0H4PKZNcKoX5oQvSwC8Eh_5gBviWQDhgyKIpzYEZ_suKw41yw-aITjdYX05y3m_yBrpwOdSDH1fv625Djy40YOO1PMyI/s320/20161102_094708.jpg" width="180" /></a><b>Lawrence Library</b><br />
The last library I visited was in Lawrence and it was beautiful and modern and friendly and welcoming and such a lovely place to be in.<br />
<br />
It was a big renovation project which basically 'wrapped' a new building around a brutalist 1970s bunker - spectacularly well.The signage was beautiful - such a light hand - but so clear and helpful and the collection was also beautifully managed; 2/3rd full shelves with lots of display.<br />
<br />
There was also a very large touchscreen 'station' for downloading ebooks and audiobooks. The display was enticing - with all the covers - and it really showcased the 'other' collections that were available.<br />
<br />
Also saw the sexy bibliotheca 'ipod' self issue stations with neon lighting. I wanted those so badly for Te Takere but we went with something else.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Library collections done right right according to Jo. Lots of space, lots of covers, no clutter.</td></tr>
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-67099831717786000592016-11-02T11:00:00.000+13:002016-11-12T12:06:21.963+13:00Montreal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Francois in Montreal - we met in Mumbai in 2011</td></tr>
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I was hosted in Montreal by Eric, Serge and the InLibro team. I travel to the other side of the world, walk into an office and find someone I know: Francois!!<br />
<br />
I love this about Koha; the global nature of the movement / project / community means that you never know where people are going to turn up or which vendor they are working for.<br />
<br />
A real selling point for libraries considering switching to Koha is that it is vendor agnostic. Vendors are selling a service; the code is free - anyone can download it for free and get it going and run their library completely independently of any vendors.<br />
<br />
Many of us though, choose to use vendors for a bunch of reasons. For me the reason was Koha doesn't need a lot of staff time and it was silly having that resource on staff sitting around when I could just buy in the few hours a year when we needed support. So if the code is free it is the service you are buying and if you aren't happy then change vendors. It does not mean you have to change library management systems. The best thing for Koha is do have many vendors all running thriving businesses in co-opetition with each other: commercial competitors in the market-place but cooperative partners in development. This is actually a thing and does work. It is also one more powerful reason to make sure that you are running as close to trunk as possible.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hockey at the Bell Centre</td></tr>
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<br />
<b>Hockey</b><br />
One of the things I really wanted to do was see a hockey game in Canada and the InLibro did me proud taking me out to a fantastic game at the Bell Centre. It was great; so much more immediate than a rugby game because the rink is so much smaller and you are sitting right there. The arena was huge 3 or 4 tiers and the crowd was so rowdy; it was great!<br />
<br />
<b>Sightseeing</b><br />
I spent a couple of gentle days sightseeing after developing a list of must-sees with the InLibro folk following a user group establishment meeting (which was great by the way). There is definitely a movement within the Koha world to form user groups and I am quite excited by this as an opportunity for us to figure out a way to channel that local 'voice' into the international 'voice'.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Anyway, sightseeing: the Notre Dame Cathedral absolutely breathtaking.These buildings are so important in our cultural heritage and must cost a fortune to maintain. I'm happy to pay an entry fee as my tourist-tax to help.<br />
<br />
The archaeology museum was fabulous and made such good use of multi-media to provide a whole bunch of ways using different senses to 'get' the story. I'm really bad at modern museums; I am linear (it turns out) and want to see everything chronologically, in the right order. I really struggled with the Smithsonian evolution hall and also the History of German History in Berlin because I couldn't find the beginning and then step through in an orderly manner. I recognise I'm old fashioned and out of sync with best practice.<br />
<br />
I also spent hours in art galleries, particularly Inuit art, and purchased a beautiful dancing polar bear carved from a piece of dark serpentine stone. I have basically bought 3 main souvenirs: a stunning tablecloth in Malaysia, a beautiful porcelain dish in Czech Republic and this dancing bear which weighs a ton but I don't care. When I bought the dish Bohdan asked was I seriously going to carry it around the world for the next 2 months; yes I was and I have and ditto the bear.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was Halloween while I was in the States and the photo for this entry is from an amazing decorated garden in Montreal.</td></tr>
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-72315877813927732132016-10-31T11:01:00.005+13:002016-10-31T11:01:50.637+13:00Notes to future Jo re travelling<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Below are notes to self next time I am planning to travel:<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Travel</b><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>you hate early starts so avoid early flights,</li>
<li>you don't sleep well in planes so avoid overnight flights too,</li>
<li>you don't much enjoy airline food so eat before you board,</li>
<li>you are perfectly happy to watch 4 movies on end so just relax and enjoy a whole day sitting on butt in a plane,</li>
<li>you don't enjoy reading on an ereaders,</li>
<li>take several disposable books; the trashier and chit-litty the better,</li>
<li>you will not want to read nonfiction while on holiday even though you think you do,</li>
<li>you like moving to a new place every 4th or 5th day,</li>
<li>you like meeting new people and crave human company and conversation after about a day so make sure you build in opportunities for human interaction eg tours,</li>
<li>tours are a great way to see a lot in a short period of time - and to talk to people,</li>
<li>trip advisor and viator are great,</li>
<li>google maps is brilliant for negotiating public transport,</li>
<li>eat fresh vegetables every day because you will feel shit after about 3 days otherwise,</li>
<li>you have never been let down by Uber or had a bad experience,</li>
<li>'checkin' regularly on twitter or facebook to leave digital footprints especially when going somewhere a bit off the track.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Hotels</b><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>use booking.com; it helps you find hotels quickly, use the filters, you can cancel without penalty, it managers all your bookings and their contact details in a handy dandy list, sends you reminders, has information about the best way to get there,</li>
<li>you are perfectly happy in 3 star hotels,</li>
<li>'chic, 'designer', 'urban', 'modern' are all ephemisms for 'tiny', 'uncomfortable' and 'high tech',</li>
<li>you hate high tech rooms where you can't turn on lights or operate showers,</li>
<li>old hotels don't generally have lifts and you hate carrying luggage up lots of floors,</li>
<li>you don't much enjoy hotel breakfasts so don't pay for them,</li>
<li>you prefer to sleep late and miss breakfast then have a great brunch / lunch and then eat again at teatime,</li>
<li>get a hotel close to a metro station,</li>
<li>pay more for a hotel close to major sights you want to see, </li>
<li>remember to always ask for a room on a high floor, not facing the road, away from lifts,</li>
<li>only book rooms with free WiFi,</li>
<li>you like room service,</li>
<li>post your photos on facebook in case you lose your phone,</li>
<li>buy sim cards in each city rather than use roaming data.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Clothes</b><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Pack everything in luggage organisers and use them fanatically: tops, bottoms, underwear,</li>
<li>Unpacking / packing time if you do so: 5 minutes,</li>
<li>Pack 2 white and 2 black bras so you have 1 to wear when the other is in the laundry,</li>
<li>You are really good at doing hand washing every day so you will reuse the same clothes over and over and over so don't overpack,</li>
<li>all of the clothes should go together in different ways,</li>
<li>the long sleeved Swazi top is the one to take; forget about the short sleeved one: you either need a Swazi layer or you don't,</li>
<li>you will not wear sandles no matter how hot it is because you don't like slippery, sweaty soles,</li>
<li>2 really comfortable pairs of walking shoes - one of which can double as formal shoes,</li>
<li>you love your Swazi coat; it is not too hot if you wear a light layer underneath, it is a great snuggly blanket on flights so carry it on board and it has huge pockets which can take about 10kgs of luggage if you need them too,</li>
<li>find a source of lightweight silk underwear rather than cotton; you love wearing cotton but it takes ages to dry and you hate synthetic underwear, </li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Accessories and stuff</b><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>forget jewellery - you are too lazy and only wear your gold chain,</li>
<li>take 1 multi coloured scarf that goes with everything; you like them when its cold and it changes an outfit,</li>
<li>pack a light coloured collapsible umbrella in your handbag; use for shade when its hot and for drizzle protection,</li>
<li>pack a woolly hat and gloves if you are going somewhere cold,</li>
<li>forget about a sunhat and sunblock; the only country you ever get burnt in is NZ,</li>
<li>forget about makeup - you are too lazy to put it on,</li>
<li>except for lipstick - you like lipstick,</li>
<li>and perfume - one 50ml or 75ml bottle of great perfume,</li>
<li>hair plucking tweezers,</li>
<li>liquid laundry soap,</li>
<li>toothpaste and brush are great stain removers,</li>
<li>a bathroom with inroom temperature control and humidity extractor makes a great overnight drying room if you set it to 30 degrees,</li>
<li>a heated towel rail will dry clothes overnight,</li>
<li>knicker liners are the best invention,</li>
<li>pack your own personal hygiene products because you will not be able to find the right brand when you are away and having your period is NOT the time to figure this shit out,</li>
<li>you hate hotel shampoo so take enough special shampoo for the entire trip,</li>
<li>forget a toilet bag; pack everything in ziplock bags and double bag shampoos and deoderant,</li>
<li>you will not be arsed blow drying your hair so just embrace your lego-lady look,</li>
<li>eyeglass cleaning wipes,</li>
<li>ear plugs,</li>
<li>multi-zone power adapter, multi box, usb charging box and corded usb cables,</li>
<li>a mouse for your computer</li>
<li>a soft across-the-body bag that can be thrown in a suitcase is better than a formal handbag,</li>
<li>a nice wallet doubles as an evening bag.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>First aid kit</b><br />
<div>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Berrocca is your go too drug - pack 1 for every single day,</li>
<li>pack diarrhea, anti-naus and electrolytes for 10 days, </li>
<li>pack cold sore ointment and patches because if you don't pack them you will need them,</li>
<li>strepsil throat spray because your throat is your weak spot when you are run down, </li>
<li>cough drops,</li>
<li>10 days of Coldral cold tablets will get you through 2 bouts,</li>
<li>blister gel pads and plasters - and use them before you need them,</li>
<li>toe nail clippers.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-81440953630256263442016-10-29T09:41:00.000+13:002016-10-31T11:04:28.754+13:00Boston<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I read a lot about New England and Salem and Boston when I was studying for my English degree; my favourite paper of all time was American short stories. I was therefore really keen to come to Boston and have a poke around.<br />
<br />
I am really starting to feel tired now so I reverted to my post-Asia routine of sleeping until I wake, leisurely late brunch then out and about from early afternoon followed by an early tea and bed.<br />
<br />
I am loving this trip but I have realised that it is a pretty relentless schedule heading off to a new place about every 4th day (though sometimes 3rd and very occasionally 5th). I had booked in a rest week in Ireland and one in Boston but the opportunity came up to visit Vermont - and I wasn't missing that for anything - and Ireland was a crazy obsessive - but productive - genealogical marathon.<br />
<br />
I love meeting people in this wonderful Koha community and I want to meet everyone and talk to everyone and drink beer with everyone and accept every offer of hospitality and see and experience everything in every city BUT this does take energy, energy I need to start managing a bit better ..... although I could just sleep for a week when I get home I guess :)<br />
<br />
So, leisurely starts, gentle days and early nights should just about get me home I think - plus 4 days eating BBQ, drinking beer and generally solving the problems of the universe with Bywater-Brendan in Oregon. <br />
<br />
Back to Boston ....<br />
<br />
The Duck Tour - every itinerary said to do the Duck Tour first so I did. Brilliant - corny - but brilliant. All the main spots on land then a harbour view as well. Tours like this are great don't take much energy - just kick back and enjoy.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2FgftixigcSW9tkkG05Dv26tQ4WWYFiGv83OZG6UmzaaxlRZ0zcXj1yLPi9ivCuGbsyZWw42IT_ulKsPdBrsB_gvfa4HXLiV_Tzxf5pPgEvcOitR4zLGc0KRbAQCdXdcDNlgyOZgnJAk/s1600/20161023_134939.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2FgftixigcSW9tkkG05Dv26tQ4WWYFiGv83OZG6UmzaaxlRZ0zcXj1yLPi9ivCuGbsyZWw42IT_ulKsPdBrsB_gvfa4HXLiV_Tzxf5pPgEvcOitR4zLGc0KRbAQCdXdcDNlgyOZgnJAk/s320/20161023_134939.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trinity Church, Boston.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The key, I have discovered, to seeing a place is learn to use the metro immediately and google maps. In fact technology has been of priceless value to me. I loaded all my bookings into an app - correction: <a href="https://www.tripit.com/" target="_blank">Tripit</a> gathered up all my bookings from my email account - and that was a great way to have all my flights, transfers, accommodation and tourist attraction bookings in one place. <a href="http://booking.com/">Booking.com</a> was another awesome tool which made it so easy to find accommodation quickly (use the filters) and book it. I did reviews too because I found those really helpful when choosing places to go. I stayed at one place after ignoring the 30% of bad reviews and that was a mistake because those bad reviews were all correct right down to the mouse in my room, arrogant staff and exorbitant 'facility fee' extra that is charged on arrival. <a href="https://www.uber.com/" target="_blank">Uber</a> was brilliant - I used it in cities where I couldn't be bothered trying to master public transport and just wanted to get from A to B as quickly as possible (generally when I had loads of luggage and couldn't face escalators and metros).<br />
<br />
The gamechanger though was google maps which I used extensively, everywhere. It was brilliant for telling me how to get from A to B and the metro info in every city was bang on; it tells you what station, what platform, what direction, how many stops and what it will cost. The only trouble I had was knowing what direction 'north-west' actually was etc but a compass app soon solved that but I quickly learnt that if you position yourself on a corner with the streets in the right alignment it all falls into place.<br />
<br />
Back to Boston ...<br />
<br />
Many of the tours were closed for the season but Christine from Vermont, who had worked in Salem, told me just to catch the train out there - easy peasy - and it was. I don't know about Salem. It kind of felt like a themepark and the story of Salem witch trials and those silly hysterical naughty girls is actually hideous and it didn't sit right with me seeing this glorification of witches and the Disneyfication of Salem. Maybe its because everything was ramping up to Halloween but I just didn't get it. I was interested in the history of it, the social conditions that prevailed at the time and created the environment for it to happen but the tacky fortune tellers and witches potions and related stuff just didn't do it for me.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.M1354edafde84381357b675f60c4fdd51H0&pid=15.1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.M1354edafde84381357b675f60c4fdd51H0&pid=15.1" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The House of Seven Gables, Salem.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I loved the Nathaniel Hawthorn house down on the harbour front - that was way cool - and the House of Seven Gables (built in 1668 and the title of one of his novels) was a fantastic tour. This whole complex was set up to teach skills to immigrant children by a remarkable woman called Caroline Emmerton.<br />
<br />
I made a mistake in getting to the Boston airport 3 hours before I was due to fly. I have an Air Canada club card and since I was flying Air Canada I figured there would be a nice lounge I could relax in, have breakfast, drink champagne, read a magazine and perhaps write a blog post. Nope. You pass straight through security into a 'lounge' that feels like a Dr's waiting room with a crappy cafe cart system and that's that. It was a long 3 hours I can tell you.</div>
Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-28159525850488954082016-10-25T14:08:00.001+13:002016-11-12T12:05:44.763+13:00Vermont<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNODfNy8H5kHkWNVk4_hNdwhQWSvlY8qOGEeAdJHbBF4WXzAth8kf2nGnmmRP0-Z6hSE4K510Ic8MlZHs3xF-Nn-bB-WR1NKjxCKRVLT-nbBXE64satk_2RebchL6l8CPJx5FiFVc8Ivo/s1600/20161019_161239.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNODfNy8H5kHkWNVk4_hNdwhQWSvlY8qOGEeAdJHbBF4WXzAth8kf2nGnmmRP0-Z6hSE4K510Ic8MlZHs3xF-Nn-bB-WR1NKjxCKRVLT-nbBXE64satk_2RebchL6l8CPJx5FiFVc8Ivo/s400/20161019_161239.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I arrived in Vermont in the nick of time for the gorgeous autumn leaves; one good wind and they'll come tumbling down.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After my frantic 2 days in New York I took a leisurely 9 hour train trip to Essex Junction where I was hosted by VOKAL - a consortia of 58 Koha libraries in Vermont.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDMMINu0-50yjoAGiyExgFQliBje65TTJImnOkhU_eFQWs6pc4k_gUwuwVteVgPiWDVomsUGUclr3NES5q2NCEjfDX9q08VgvwE2R2bidlajQK5LaBRtAd_2rZmdNQJI3fIQepq8LWoTM/s1600/20161020_111022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDMMINu0-50yjoAGiyExgFQliBje65TTJImnOkhU_eFQWs6pc4k_gUwuwVteVgPiWDVomsUGUclr3NES5q2NCEjfDX9q08VgvwE2R2bidlajQK5LaBRtAd_2rZmdNQJI3fIQepq8LWoTM/s320/20161020_111022.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Essex Junction library takes 'living room' of the town to<br />
a whole new level; the fire is gas and much loved.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Travelling by train is so easy and so comfortable and it was such a nice relaxing way to get from point A to point B. I arrived about 8.30pm and was met by Wendy Hysko and Lara Keenan. I stayed with Lara and her husband Andrew for the next 2 nights and it was so great. I love the way I keep meeting awesome interesting people who transform from complete strangers into friends within about 10 minutes! I really do think there is something about this open source Koha library community that just attracts the right kind of people. Anyway, I really am enjoying the homestays on this world tour.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ705jHER7f_3WelyB4sgKDZYaoZBvs_cz9t-dajVqdAK4yX1o7YN8aRtd8NfrhNMfevdC59w8GTngvWf9QKUVzSNO4Wt43aRhpnlvsv3Ih0umEG8bDLlawDbEVIFGNeyEpgxsL-s7Ti0/s1600/20161020_192739.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ705jHER7f_3WelyB4sgKDZYaoZBvs_cz9t-dajVqdAK4yX1o7YN8aRtd8NfrhNMfevdC59w8GTngvWf9QKUVzSNO4Wt43aRhpnlvsv3Ih0umEG8bDLlawDbEVIFGNeyEpgxsL-s7Ti0/s320/20161020_192739.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard, Wendy, me and Kim enjoying <br />
Ben and Jerry icecream (made in Vermont)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The train journey was such a great way to finish my insanely busy New York visit and my advice to anyone is don't try and 'do' New York in 2 days; it was just as impossible as trying to 'do' London in 3.<br />
<br />
<b>Road Trip</b><br />
The next day I joined the dynamos behind VOKAL for a tour of 5 different Vermont libraries. Richard, Kim and Wendy were such good company and so inspirational. They are the drivers behind the consortia of 58 public libraries in Vermont which comprise the VOKAL consortia. This consortia is a great model; they have a shared install but each library can implement its own lending policy ie loan period lengths, fines etc.<br />
<br />
I get so tired of librarians in NZ saying that you have to give up something to join a consortia; because its not true. With a Koha consortia you don't and I really hope that someday enough library managers in NZ will say 'enuff' and we can get a significant shift towards the nationwide Koha consortia which is starting to be developed by the existing Koha libraries.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigfDun4VjXrtlANvKUAZWEbW2bBNw9Ur4E5eyeL3h0xDucbHX35eb9uD-ZhLb_XgdzW88uk6mqPJPZA7jmmUePT66SrIBbyFYlVQgIcDrys0P5ElcYRstR45PJHurQgZ_edRj74nDwGCs/s1600/20161020_150043.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigfDun4VjXrtlANvKUAZWEbW2bBNw9Ur4E5eyeL3h0xDucbHX35eb9uD-ZhLb_XgdzW88uk6mqPJPZA7jmmUePT66SrIBbyFYlVQgIcDrys0P5ElcYRstR45PJHurQgZ_edRj74nDwGCs/s320/20161020_150043.jpg" width="179" /></a>Anyway, enough of that rant and back to Vermont! VOKAL is comprised of many small towns and library communities and I picked up lots of really cool ideas. The 'Books on Tap' programme is a book club for blokes that meets at the local pub - thats cool! And several libraries had display cases for displaying private collections of residents - including kids - but adults too. I loved the silent auction of beautifully crafted library book bags made by the local quilters and embroiderers that were being auctioned to raise money for a building extension. I also loved the beautiful friends of the Library booksale 'cupboard' which squeezed into the tiniest space imaginable but was so attractive.<br />
<br />
<b>VOKAL User Group Meeting</b><br />
I felt so privileged to be invited to speak about my work establishing and operating Te Takere as Horowhenua's new library, culture and community centre. I am so proud of all that the staff and I achieved and it was so great to be able to share our story. I also squeezed my 40 minute presentation on the origins of Koha into 15 minutes!<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrzXpVij3TjZC22l_gxOwGTqk7wZB5N92rjXO8DgyIQEDOMug4Wx7xJ8fSpNlnwV2SAOEjiv7jIqiEXYI9NEyIuQHJWM-0p2Q-h79TSIYe9iVlSf7CuxPbOxdpy4BzYOGSqgwuwNcXRkc/s1600/20161021_150154.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrzXpVij3TjZC22l_gxOwGTqk7wZB5N92rjXO8DgyIQEDOMug4Wx7xJ8fSpNlnwV2SAOEjiv7jIqiEXYI9NEyIuQHJWM-0p2Q-h79TSIYe9iVlSf7CuxPbOxdpy4BzYOGSqgwuwNcXRkc/s320/20161021_150154.jpg" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nick Clemins from Bywater looking<br />
pretty stoked with his purchases.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Some links</b><br />
All the libraries I visited, and I think pretty much all public libraries in USA, are run with Boards of Trustees - like Horowhenua was. There are common challenges that directors face including managing that divide between governance and operations, preparing / shifting staff for 'the new model' and managing performance. I mentioned several tools and documents which I am happy to share:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Stephen Bowman - <a href="http://consciousgovernance.com/" target="_blank">conscious governance</a></li>
<li><a href="https://clearimpact.com/scorecard/" target="_blank">Results Based Accountability</a> and an <a href="http://app.resultsscorecard.com/Scorecard/Embed/14044" target="_blank">example</a> from Horowhenua</li>
<li>My <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/jransom/surfing-101-managing-for-change" target="_blank">Surfing 101</a> workshop on preparing staff for change</li>
<li>Performance Appraisal <a href="http://kete.library.org.nz/site/topics/show/115-performance-appraisal" target="_blank">templates</a></li>
</ul>
After the user group meeting we had lunch at the Von Trapp estate; yes - Sound of Music Von Trapps who retired to Vermont! We shared a lovely lunch, actually some of us shared a lot more than others (because don't you just want to try everything when you are somewhere new?) and then headed down the mountain (NZers: not really - more like foothills) to allegedly the best brewery in North America.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLJeg9uBkNmgdc-2gnvgI5HQ-HvSosmqDAXrgdELknL9LjzAkdB34EiglcZtM7YcwwPPcMwER_RK3qrrMl_JDmi7EtJRgkcza-vsOGI3x-oxqXPoZulrK3Jq9PA1hLiqQgcdSeQbqBNJY/s1600/20161022_102734.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLJeg9uBkNmgdc-2gnvgI5HQ-HvSosmqDAXrgdELknL9LjzAkdB34EiglcZtM7YcwwPPcMwER_RK3qrrMl_JDmi7EtJRgkcza-vsOGI3x-oxqXPoZulrK3Jq9PA1hLiqQgcdSeQbqBNJY/s320/20161022_102734.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cornish-Windsor Bridge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Christine Porter then drove me to her forest home for the night where I played with her three gorgeous dogs (I so needed that - I've missed my one terribly) before driving me to Hanover for a bus to Boston. On the way we passed the longest covered, 2 span, wooden bridge in the world!<br />
<br />
I can't believe how much can be squeezed into 2 days when you really set your mind to it and I am so grateful to Bywater, who sponsored this USA leg and VOKAL librarians for being so generous and hospitable!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfsqcMg5GVSjPIc5FXrNofBA0w9U6Bm3PsMZb-d0Q5uONtSfMHLYKE-2PPzbCtaDEph07BiCYHCBPwQXCDUidMqK7TzK6DyVORR9kLARB_3IUkHf_sX3KVMB0yw5QHa7DlYTCix9MgcPg/s1600/20161021_134717%255B2003%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfsqcMg5GVSjPIc5FXrNofBA0w9U6Bm3PsMZb-d0Q5uONtSfMHLYKE-2PPzbCtaDEph07BiCYHCBPwQXCDUidMqK7TzK6DyVORR9kLARB_3IUkHf_sX3KVMB0yw5QHa7DlYTCix9MgcPg/s400/20161021_134717%255B2003%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Post VOKAL User Group meeting lunch; an awesome bunch of people whom I feel so privileged to have met.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-65504037163006145552016-10-23T15:59:00.005+13:002016-11-12T12:07:25.435+13:00New York, New York<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking downtown from<br />
the Empire State Building</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
You've heard of speed dating right? Well I just had a massive speed date with New York City: 2 days!<br />
<br />
When time is tight I find tours are a great way to cover a lot of ground really quickly - so I did one each day<br />
<br />
<b>Day 1</b><br />
I booked a New York highlights VIP tour months ago and had forgotten what it involved so it was a mystery tour on the day! The best part was a very early start, no queues and first up / first on. It was remarkable value: 7.30am start and finished about 1pm.<br />
<br />
The tour included the Empire State Building - what a cracker! The view was extraordinary! Then a quick bus trip to the Space, Sea and Sky museum. The Enterprise space shuttle was there and a whole bunch of planes and things. We then caught a ferry down to the tip of Manhattan Island and had a walking tour around the financial district etc before visiting the 9/11 memorial site.<br />
<br />
The day finished with a trip on the metro to Greenwich Village and dinner with the lovely Jarod Camins-Esakov. Everyone I met in Marseilles who heard I was going to New York said I had to contact Jarod and meet him so I did and we did!<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOGfZhi0SGf29lSK6GpyS8kSIzg8Y-sIXHh24Gw51u4mmoKQOXKufNuIbebvFI9qmdmWDr5wW9nxK_khRrO7EHyCKkuGeBq3hSKYE_IGPRxrRaiLY5RCzIs7Yg963zPJM09u7Q2gks4Gs/s1600/20161018_155655.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOGfZhi0SGf29lSK6GpyS8kSIzg8Y-sIXHh24Gw51u4mmoKQOXKufNuIbebvFI9qmdmWDr5wW9nxK_khRrO7EHyCKkuGeBq3hSKYE_IGPRxrRaiLY5RCzIs7Yg963zPJM09u7Q2gks4Gs/s320/20161018_155655.jpg" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another awesome piece at MoMA</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Day 2</b><br />
Another early start and straight down to Battery Park on the metro to catch a ferry out to the Statue of Liberty and then on to Ellis Island.<br />
In the afternoon New York Public Library and MoMA before finishing off the day with New York cheesecake and Jamesons whiskey (which I have been carrying around for nearly a month and which I really must drink!)<br />
<br />
I found MoMA quite overwhelming; so many of my favourite artists and works in one gallery. The galleries were arranged roughly in decades and it was an exceptional collection. I didn't know most of the newer and contemporary artists and I have mostly visited classical collections on this world tour so it was brilliant being exposed to new works and artists. I'd been told it was not to be missed and I am so glad I went.<br />
<br />
I didn't get to the Met but that will have to wait for another trip.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0wveCj6caQFKyv1mASIUEsrHGza3q9cZDC2vT53AMiLBC_FeMbjclXSCOB8MSI2BbQ5kmB2z9xy30CCfFtArNQPhZnKmrLlfg9sSKjDj_Hqy7G3KVJ4VuG12-PGb-viQeDJ_a4jBOJwg/s1600/20161018_160058_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0wveCj6caQFKyv1mASIUEsrHGza3q9cZDC2vT53AMiLBC_FeMbjclXSCOB8MSI2BbQ5kmB2z9xy30CCfFtArNQPhZnKmrLlfg9sSKjDj_Hqy7G3KVJ4VuG12-PGb-viQeDJ_a4jBOJwg/s400/20161018_160058_001.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wall of 1960s pop art at MoMA</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-71878022225110353982016-10-20T08:50:00.000+13:002016-11-12T12:08:09.907+13:00Washington<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqFellMUVqZWo3yNUS0yjxQuUjbzNJ0xpoArifh74r0aNeopHnb6G4MNgZXYvyfcr-Io0dUI4o15nPhJFW9zD-JZRQS2luhz-MKT87XKrfYgJ55su1xNTvaS9BYLjGCHjl1HqpSg0ADZI/s1600/20161014_173502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqFellMUVqZWo3yNUS0yjxQuUjbzNJ0xpoArifh74r0aNeopHnb6G4MNgZXYvyfcr-Io0dUI4o15nPhJFW9zD-JZRQS2luhz-MKT87XKrfYgJ55su1xNTvaS9BYLjGCHjl1HqpSg0ADZI/s400/20161014_173502.jpg" width="225" /></a>I stayed in Annandale, DC and was hosted by Brooke for 4 days. I am so appreciative of the effort and generosity of people like Brooke, and Magnus and Mirko etc, who took time off work to escort me around their cities.<br />
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Brooke was a bit horrified at my choice of hotel because it was cheaper and not in a great area but I loved it! The room was enormous (and I have been squeezed into some cupboards this trip), the bed was comfortable (not a blimmin futon) and the local colour was great fun!<br />
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The lift was always an adventure. There was only 1 working lift and about 18 floors and it could only carry 6 people at a time took forever to get anywhere so you learnt pretty quickly to relax into it, chat in the queue, forget about trying to get anywhere in a hurry. The clientele were not well heeled, although there were a few startled tourists who were possibly booked here by accident. Lots of elderly, black-americans, teenagers, blue collar workers and dogs - you could have your pet to stay.<br />
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My approach is always to greet everyone in a friendly manner and be polite and really gets you through most situations. I don't know what Brooke thought the morning I hopped in the car reeking of pot because I'd shared the morning lift down with young men wearing gold grills and hip-hop clothes and speaking a 'street' dialect that was just fabulous. They were so joyful and full of brash confidence and had obviously been 'preparing' for their day. Anyway - I loved it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Triceratops at the Smithsonian; they were always my favourites as a kid.</td></tr>
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We had agreed early on that we weren't going to race around like idiots and try and see everything and that we were going to relax and enjoy gorgeous food in great restaurants. Brooke and I had travelled in India a few years ago and both enjoy delicious food so I knew I was in good hands. We had fried green tomatoes and BBQ. If you ever need a food guide in DC; hook up with Brooke - 10/10 would use again!<br />
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Oh - and MASSAGE!! She booked us in for Thai massage on the first morning and after being told a gazillion times 'relax please' I actually did relax and it was possibly the best 1.5 hours I've spent yet. So funny though: Brooke wanted the works and I wanted relaxation; she came out like an energizer bunny (which lasted 3 days) while I came out like a lazy cat looking for a windowsill to curl up in.<br />
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In addition to seeing all the awesome buildings and landmarks, including the memorials, we got to the Smithsonian natural history museum and saw the dinosaurs and rocks and also managed to connect up with Phil Shapiro out at Takoma Park.<br />
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It was so great to spend time with Phil, visiting his turf, meeting his boss who proudly supports open source software - and yes they run Koha (all the cool kids do).<br />
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There was an amazing project in the hallway of the new community centre extension: a collection of portraits by Carollyn James showcasing and celebrating the diversity of the Takoma Park library community.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phil Shapiro and the Faces of Takoma portrait wall.</td></tr>
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-60682131371854548582016-10-20T08:18:00.004+13:002016-10-20T08:18:48.411+13:00Reflections on flying<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I flew premium economy from Marseilles to DC. I had upgraded the 4 long legs of this tour (as in flights of 6+ hours) because I am a large woman and a tall woman and while I can fold myself into coach for a few hours it's no fun for anyone. I was also flying a lot of Lufthansa flights and while Air NZ is quite spacious I've flown Lufthansa coach before and it was sooo bad. Los Angeles to Frankfurt with my knees jammed in sideways, hard against the seat in front left me crippled for about a week. This wasn't about my weight but about the length of my actual bones. Anyway, I reckon on this Lufthansa DC flight about half the length of the plane was business and premium-economy - which is a lot. Which tells you something about how airlines have made flying coach so blimmin awful that anyone over 5ft10in needs to be a contortionist.<br />
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The other thing I noticed is how hard it is to travel if you are older or have mobility issues; not full-on wheel chair but any kind of impaired ability. One of my connections required me to walk as fast as I possibly could, using every single travelator and walking fast on those too, from gate A69 to gate Z69 to make a connection. It took a solid 20 minutes of fast walking and I was the last person on the plane - sweating like a sweaty-thing and out of breath. This would have been impossible if you had a sore leg or foot, or a breathing condition or had short legs. I didn't see any obvious means of getting assistance unlike Washington where a bevvy of red caps were plane-side with wheelchairs and friendly smiles to assist.<br />
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And baggage carousels! I watched a lovely group of older women enjoying a holiday together try to collect luggage in Sweden and it was so hard for them to manhandle their bags off the conveyer belt. I helped of course, as anyone would, except no one else had offered to help. Having a fit young thing along with them would of course have helped but it would have changed their lovely holiday from 'a girls weekend' to an 'escorted trip of oldies'.<br />
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With our population getting so much older proportionately, and so much of the wealth in the hands of the babyboomers who are now retiring, and able to spend it, air travel might have to rethink itself. I can definitely see how cruising has so much appeal.</div>
Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-45614175602264205152016-10-19T15:46:00.002+13:002016-11-12T12:09:16.499+13:00Hackfest in Marseilles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bywater crew at the pancake place</td></tr>
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To finish up the Europe leg of my world tour I went to Koha hackfest in Marseilles for 2 days before heading off to Washington - and it was totally awesome. I think there might have been 66 people attending over the week which is amazing!<br />
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Hackfest is like an unconference where all the attendees say what they want to work on and then a programme is put together. Lots of conversations, lots of bug fixing, lots of shared knowledge and lots of socialising.<br />
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What I especially loved were the greetings; it was like the movie 'Love Actually'. A bunch of us met up in the square with delighted hugs and handshakes; some were meeting in person for the first time after years of talking online (like me and Owen), others were old and new friends reuniting (me and Katrin who havn't met since KohaCon10) and me and Mirko (who I saw only a few weeks ago).<br />
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We went to the pancake place and over the next 3 hours as people arrived that scene was repeated and again the next morning at the BibLibre offices as people arrived.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">International cheese lunch</td></tr>
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I spent my time developing a Trust Deed for a new Trust that will take possession of the Koha assets that will be passed over with the winding up of Te Horowhenua Trust. This is because the Trust needs to vest its assets before it is wound up following Council's decision to no longer fund THT to provide library services in Horowhenua.<br />
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An infamous part of Hackfest is the cheese lunch and by crickey - it was astounding. We all ate too much and I can say for the first time in my life I was 'cheesed-out'.<br />
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That evening 15 of us went out to a beautiful French restaurant that Paul had suggested and most of us went for the Chef's menu of 5 courses - of his choice. What a wonderful way to finish my hackfest.<br />
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I kept my head down in Marseilles and got a lot done but by about 3pm on my last day I realised I hadn't sat in the sun and drunk wine by the harbour - so that is what I did!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marseilles harbour - old town</td></tr>
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-23255554443354463952016-10-19T13:19:00.001+13:002016-11-12T12:08:44.639+13:00Marseilles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Szw9sT5bwT9nBeF1BObqU6reTzrCNY8dinCeNKfGtXHD1I9hM4oibHdiTjxLiDXizlxy6DsLxe3ygrix6iYVl1tzCfmlM8ay80NmMJiMuxCm2kxhyphenhyphenHexskPjeKobxKQxiHFXOC6VEXs/s1600/20161008_103656.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Szw9sT5bwT9nBeF1BObqU6reTzrCNY8dinCeNKfGtXHD1I9hM4oibHdiTjxLiDXizlxy6DsLxe3ygrix6iYVl1tzCfmlM8ay80NmMJiMuxCm2kxhyphenhyphenHexskPjeKobxKQxiHFXOC6VEXs/s320/20161008_103656.jpg" width="179" /></a>I spent the weekend before Koha hackfest with Sophie from BibLibre and her family about 40 minutes out of Marseilles, near Aix en Provence.<br />
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You would think living in hotels and eating in restaurants every meal would be glamorous - and it is for a while - but there is nothing nicer than being embraced by a family and living normally. The best thing of all is that the home was full of beautiful contemporary art and they like gorgeous food as much as I do :)<br />
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We spent Saturday being tourists and Provence was everything that everyone has ever told me it would be.<br />
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Sophie and Eric were the perfect hosts / tour guides and the first stop was a total surprise: Paul Cezanne's studio! It was just as it had been left and has been in the family ever since. It is now set up as a lovely low key museum with his props and paint brushes and also letters and papers.<br />
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We then spent a few hours wandering Aix including the church - with a baptismal font dating back to the first century (not a typo). There was also a fabulous front door that is only opened 20 minutes a day - and we got to see it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhffPJhRNVXmRwpbRXKqR-7gp6PLOGLi3W4zfpdEHqfIYZTHFSxdcvPpknnDRpZQLUD_hpC9d21d7XjVhLIaeuuXDzTkKxqQZuda9FYLsBWtNBdBKI3skOqjDQD97rTNIfkfzk91wXq_EQ/s1600/20161008_150337.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhffPJhRNVXmRwpbRXKqR-7gp6PLOGLi3W4zfpdEHqfIYZTHFSxdcvPpknnDRpZQLUD_hpC9d21d7XjVhLIaeuuXDzTkKxqQZuda9FYLsBWtNBdBKI3skOqjDQD97rTNIfkfzk91wXq_EQ/s320/20161008_150337.jpg" width="180" /></a>The market was probably a typical French market with gorgeous looking tables loaded with spices, olives, cheeses, salami, veges, spices, mushrooms but I found it charming and wonderful and took loads of photos. I also tasted a lot and bought salami and nougat as a small contribution to the wonderful food that I knew we would eat later in the weekend.<br />
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We also went to an old Cistercian Abbey. This Abbey is completely austere, devoid of ornamentation and absolutely beautiful. That term a 'religious' sense of awe; well that is how I felt walking around. I am constantly amazed at the engineering and craftsmanship employed by the cathedral builders back in the day. <br />
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We visited a few galleries and drank wine and ate tarte tartin and bought linen and then headed time to ignore each other for a few hours before the most wonderful home cooked meal where we ate cheese and salami and bread and olives followed by a succulent veal casserole. Brunch on Sunday was the best meal I've had in weeks including the fluffiest lightest pancakes made by Sophie's daughter that one can imagine. It sounds like we ate all weekend and actually we pretty much did - in between wonderful sightseeing. As far as hospitality goes and all round experience I rate 'Sophie's' as a 5 star establishment!<br />
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-21066908955543585722016-10-15T17:09:00.002+13:002016-10-15T17:09:44.142+13:00Gothenburg, Sweden<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj13pcxSZ599vUbicm9HYo3fCqKFAqKBRFJcaE-FC3RYYJI6fs-lhEcZL6oBfyVd-dMmDIToZH6OGRyHVL9C5kBgPeRCZ4RNgXWqLZs5UKifceV1LoZS6dtYKZKSoYo4XY7Q55kF2BQHE/s1600/20161006_113633.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj13pcxSZ599vUbicm9HYo3fCqKFAqKBRFJcaE-FC3RYYJI6fs-lhEcZL6oBfyVd-dMmDIToZH6OGRyHVL9C5kBgPeRCZ4RNgXWqLZs5UKifceV1LoZS6dtYKZKSoYo4XY7Q55kF2BQHE/s320/20161006_113633.jpg" width="180" /></a>Last Summer we were so lucky to host 2 exchange students from Switzerland and Sweden in Horowhenua . They had a few meals at our house; wandering home after a long day at the beach patrolling as life guards. Karin's family called in briefly at the end of her trip and it was a such a pleasure to stay with her and her Mum in Gothenburg for a flying visit before leaving Sweden.<br />
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More stunning scenery; we started the visit with a gorgeous lunch and then a boat trip out to see the small islands out of f the harbour.<br />
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Next day we went for a tour of the Volvo factory that Anna-Maria organised for us! Robots welding is a magnificent thing to see; no photos though - top secret.<br />
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Karin then took me into Gothenburg city for a look around. The Church is amazing: built in mid 1800s in a gothic style but it is painted so really different but really gorgeous too. Even the wooden pews were painted a lovely soft green which worked with the arches.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoWH6ZAzsOo8A1D2OITYwifzJe3bWpnw9QXZEXoVdEvlMh3d91MPtTFcmYyxo86SLMDbgTGFzkbcn4G9Py0l_w_hD0dMjXRU1WJf2IaX040DAnWlAsvAiI6VYl7bQR8PTwKW7TEVdTh6g/s1600/20161006_114036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoWH6ZAzsOo8A1D2OITYwifzJe3bWpnw9QXZEXoVdEvlMh3d91MPtTFcmYyxo86SLMDbgTGFzkbcn4G9Py0l_w_hD0dMjXRU1WJf2IaX040DAnWlAsvAiI6VYl7bQR8PTwKW7TEVdTh6g/s320/20161006_114036.jpg" width="180" /></a>I talked Karin into taking me to the art gallery and Wow! Beautiful building and really lovely collection including many scandinavian artists that I had never seen before. The colour palate used the light is so different and so 'light-handed' - I really loved them.<br />
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Karin had never visited a gallery before or had any knowledge of art but she agreed to play a game with me that my sister Jackie and I first played in Melbourne. In each gallery/room you have 1 minute to pick your favourite and explain why to the other person. It is great way to experience art, figure out what you like and to view art through another person's eyes.<br />
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I think the best way to start looking at art is to see which ones resonate with you, evoke a reaction, and then think about why? It is a good way to figure out what it is that piqued your interest. Sometimes it is not even a picture you like or it is one that surprises you. Anyway it was fun and Karin found out she does quite like art actually after all!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A gallery in the Gothenburg Art Museum</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-zdN0PUIK2r1W82yPCh_gNFSX9HA9T2w9s1vooVLiW5Z2AnR8u-Cp4WwtdpB6HMzXe8fu4sM5XU2ilz2y5x6lmaEUPcnKqX7Tr-Z-vx_loIFjOhpS-l5FP7ytPPThpXizNhhmvY0RzvI/s1600/20161005_174517.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-zdN0PUIK2r1W82yPCh_gNFSX9HA9T2w9s1vooVLiW5Z2AnR8u-Cp4WwtdpB6HMzXe8fu4sM5XU2ilz2y5x6lmaEUPcnKqX7Tr-Z-vx_loIFjOhpS-l5FP7ytPPThpXizNhhmvY0RzvI/s640/20161005_174517.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gorgeous views on the commuter ferry trip.</td></tr>
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-6563157713443997522016-10-15T15:42:00.000+13:002016-10-15T15:42:33.839+13:00Sweden<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from Maivor's office at Hogskolan I Gavle</td></tr>
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After Norway I flew to Stockholm and then caught a train to Gavle ready for a Swedish usergroup meeting the next day. I had a lovely evening meal with Per Falks and Maivor Hallen from Hogskolan I Gavle. I ate reindeer - yum!<br />
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Hogskolan has beautiful library; so light filled and elegant and with great spaces for students including 30 (yes - not a typo) bookable rooms for small group work. Maivor gave me a tour and it was clearly a very well used space for the university students onsite.<br />
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The usergroup was well attended - 40 people at a rough guess - and there were a number of presentations about Koha including Oslo public library showcasing their wonderful work which went live this week.<br />
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I was concerned to hear one library speak about how hard it was 'going it alone' who recently switched to Koha and felt they had no one to talk too or help.<br />
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They do not appear to have found the Koha community and the various help channels: irc online chat, discussion list, online tutorials etc. The <a href="http://koha-community.org/">koha-community.org</a> website is a wonderful resource and the community is always happy to help.<br />
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There are many ways to switch to Koha from full-service, hosted through a vendor, onsite servers with either vendor support or do-it-yourself. There is at least one vendor in Scandinavia: Libriotech who has clients in Norway and Sweden.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg55pLpV_p0abEQSnw3y74dq-dNAgKq_GD4scf619XDBG4lkZJwZ1-nBY7GIDuvNBfp1vqCtxcFSEOtQ7fs9hLCuKQZew_9_E_KzeEfriN-Wq9uIqCLeWnrgRIj11c3BvTTd9whlEOrorU/s1600/20161004_114831.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg55pLpV_p0abEQSnw3y74dq-dNAgKq_GD4scf619XDBG4lkZJwZ1-nBY7GIDuvNBfp1vqCtxcFSEOtQ7fs9hLCuKQZew_9_E_KzeEfriN-Wq9uIqCLeWnrgRIj11c3BvTTd9whlEOrorU/s640/20161004_114831.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the 30 rooms available for </td></tr>
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-3370996178322144842016-10-10T01:08:00.000+13:002016-10-10T01:08:05.685+13:00Norway<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was so looking forward to the Norwegian leg of my journey; how many Kiwi's can say they have been north of the Arctic Circle? My trip was a bit like a mullet: business up front and party at the back!<div>
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Business</h2>
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The first part of the visit was spent in Oslo. First up was a visit to the Oslo public library who were 2 weeks out from going live on Koha (of course). </div>
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They are doing this themselves and have a great development team who are doing all sorts of cool stuff with the Koha API and the semantic web and recommendations. My understanding is that it is basically a standard Koha install with all sorts of magic done using the API - and all their work on github so the community can share here which is awesome :) This will be an install to watch I think.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Design University, Oslo</td></tr>
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They also have a new building in the wings - a spectacular building that will look right at home beside the new opera house down at the harbour front , but in the meantime they are doing great things renovating their existing 1930s building. It's a big old solid thing so really hard to knock walls about but it has great bones and features including huge windows and they are working wonders with colour. Convinced me again that all you need are clever librarians with great taste to transform a space into a perfectly acceptable public library. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fab youth space upstairs in the oldest purpose built<br />public library in Oslo</td></tr>
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This was confirmed again when we visited the first purpose built public library in Oslo. A WWI era building (I think) and while the downstairs is unashamedly a step back in time (as in 100% authentic) the upstairs youth area is stunning.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQbgsB7Bjp8sMCgTbRqu_7Xijb70A9rwYo06Cv80_aDQgHiXzD5I82cilIBeSnVjw0tUQ0eS1HnhfCdiSYrshE-LvMAhtWh83VskDHB8qEtoqBJU-URixklmOX27fLCWyo3iR5u9CccQ/s1600/20160930_121509.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQbgsB7Bjp8sMCgTbRqu_7Xijb70A9rwYo06Cv80_aDQgHiXzD5I82cilIBeSnVjw0tUQ0eS1HnhfCdiSYrshE-LvMAhtWh83VskDHB8qEtoqBJU-URixklmOX27fLCWyo3iR5u9CccQ/s320/20160930_121509.jpg" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Magnus and a VIKING<br />ship - a real one!</td></tr>
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We also spoke twice at a university in Oslo, once to library students, and visited a private university for arts and design that has recently opened in a refurbished warehouse. We had a tour of all floors and this building is not only truly beautiful but has a range of great student spaces to suit the collaborative way of working and flipped classroom trend.</div>
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Party</h2>
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Ok - not quite party but certainly pure pleasure. Before Magnus took me to stay with his family for the night in Bodo we visited the Viking Museum and a collection of historic Norwegian buildings included an amazing traditional church. The weather was sooo cold in Bodo and so wet and simply perfect - given that we were north of the Arctic Circle (I'm going to try and say that at least 3 more times because I can!)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUSgQ76MO2smmv4SVbX_0YRpedBm5_aE2mD9M4SnTRKtmjRCoy7HZzy0YFHmHsOhT5GzAeuWP_Qgr1OjtPCqgFfzPuOkchTRBfvRWcASG4CuZMflfIUVTgSIPx-cAN5RbNYCVlk8aSiQc/s1600/20161001_120006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUSgQ76MO2smmv4SVbX_0YRpedBm5_aE2mD9M4SnTRKtmjRCoy7HZzy0YFHmHsOhT5GzAeuWP_Qgr1OjtPCqgFfzPuOkchTRBfvRWcASG4CuZMflfIUVTgSIPx-cAN5RbNYCVlk8aSiQc/s200/20161001_120006.jpg" width="150" /></a>After a day sightseeing in Bodo (north of the Arctic Circle) including the remarkable narrow tidal strait and the new library we headed off to the ferry for the trip to Lofoten Islands (even further north in the Arctic Circle). It was dark when we arrived and then an hours drive to the house we were sleeping in. So, the next morning: WOW! What a stunningly beautiful place! </div>
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We made an early start to the day because Magnus had an itinerary and we had so much we wanted to see; in fact that night when we were heading home on the ferry it was hard to believe how much we had seen in a day. If you ever get the chance to come to Norway or head to Lofoten: do it. I would rate Magnus 10/10 as a tour guide - would definitely book again! </div>
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The landscape and the weather are so huge and the towns and buildings and people seem so very small. So, to honour that these last photos are huge!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fish drying racks in front</td></tr>
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-78120042482605105032016-10-05T22:54:00.004+13:002016-10-06T11:42:24.416+13:00A wee bit of naval gazing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As I have been travelling around I am seeing so many different libraries and meeting librarians and I am thinking all the time about my profession. This is because I have reached a crossroad in my life and have needed to decide where I want my next 15 years of working life to take me.<br>
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I have worked my guts out (for non-Kiwi readers that means 'really hard) over the last 3 years creating a new model of a public library in Horowhenua. This was 'public library on steroids' plus a whole added dimension of needing to raise significant amounts of our operating budget (like 30% of a $3m budget) and to run it as a 'business' AND as a 'charity' - not as a council department like my peers. It has been a brutal few years and I gave it my all.<br>
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Just when we had managed to hid our stride; when I was feeling confident that we had developed a great strategic framework, a sound business plan and a high functioning organisation both in terms of structure and of individuals and teams, the rug was pulled out from under our feet and within a week I was gone. Council would take over the running of libraries and I was out of work. I have to be very careful in what I can say about my exit but it was heartbreaking. The shock was almost physical. I kept extremely professional throughout because I wanted that to be the enduring memory of me but I took it really hard.<br>
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After 2 really horrible weeks I discovered, while trying to study for an exam, that my brain could not actually retain or recall information. I realised I needed a real break, a complete change of scenery and a way to get my mojo back. The idea of a Koha tour came to me and within a very short timeframe it was happening and I was on a plane.<br>
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I have spent the last 6 weeks reflecting on how I want to live my life going forward and have been an observer in all the libraries I have visited, and in my all conversations. I realise I am trying to pull together the essence of what libraries are about, the threads that are common across the Koha community. What was the last 30 years of my working life about? How did I get it so wrong that I could be dumped so unceremoniously from leading a very successful organisation that I had created?<br>
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Two Council employees have said that Council was not getting the credit for the success of Te Takere and the Horowhenua Trust. The public know that the Trust ran libraries and while we always made sure that the Mayor got to 'front' events there was still a feeling, it turns out, that they weren't getting enough of the kudos. I wonder if one or more of the elected representatives, or perhaps council officers, have been so hellbent on securing the credit that they were prepared to sacrifice the successful Trust and management to pull it back inhouse. I am starting to realise, and some of the Trust board members got there weeks ago, that our biggest sin was be too successful.</div>
Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-70410304046770269012016-10-05T09:40:00.002+13:002016-10-05T09:40:39.713+13:00Dublin: a Flying Visit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMmdrHDWsNjmA_xqRtvkn0QaeElI0XSyzExLX6CWJ0a2WvavMSPrXY1Y1ICfTEGhw6p91RfStjA75BaD2Q4CYe7MyiuYwjMxF9durplZYwfmYkuNFcAFd2a5LJZyiWaxIknYcXW4Ld1GQ/s1600/trinity+long+hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMmdrHDWsNjmA_xqRtvkn0QaeElI0XSyzExLX6CWJ0a2WvavMSPrXY1Y1ICfTEGhw6p91RfStjA75BaD2Q4CYe7MyiuYwjMxF9durplZYwfmYkuNFcAFd2a5LJZyiWaxIknYcXW4Ld1GQ/s400/trinity+long+hall.jpg" width="225" /></a>I caught an early morning bus down from Derry to Dublin and it was a great way to see the countryside.<br />
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Dublin is such a cool city. I was staying right in the middle of HQ Central for the Easter Uprising in 1916, virtually opposite the Central Post Office itself.<br />
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My visit to Dublin was a fleeting one. I arrived around noon and went straight to Trinity College and saw the long hall (amazing) and the Book of Kells (amazing too) and then I met Charles Quain from Interleaf for a gorgeous Japanese dinner before the usergroup meeting the next day.<br />
<br />
It was so nice to meet the Interleaf guys; I'd been meeting their fans for weeks! A really good outcome was interest in forming a user group.<br />
<br />
The question of Koha usergroups has come up many times over the last 6 weeks as I've been traveling round. While in Sydney Irma Birchall and I talked at length about important they are and how best Calyx as a vendor can support the user community. The trick is that while vendors can and should offer support, the usergroups should really be run by users not vendors. This question came up in Malaysia, Berlin and also again today in Stockholm.<br />
<br />
Irma tells me that the North American Koha usergroup has done some great work formalising a structure and held a terrific usergroup meeting which her and Bob attended. Perhaps the North American model could be used by others as a starting point.<br />
<br />
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-86400807455344384312016-10-04T03:48:00.001+13:002016-10-04T04:00:59.224+13:00Derry: where Jo finds great grandparents<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
When planning my itinerary I built in a rest week that I would spend in Derry. The plan was that I might sleep a lot, drink a few guinness in an Irish pub and quietly potter around in the library or records office to see if I could track down family of my grandfather who left Derry in 1926.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD0IMd08GCIAEbRsnGFI_fLAFiqbuMcmbb6u4HOSHvFdny7v1ug6h1PzuGY7xKbJY-okhjuvsv7wQUk-_usO_XNOFn_BWy-ziPbqC1TZ5eKC7tbQuNpoUpjrSkELszjqempm6Xeb-heoM/s1600/moneymore+donegal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD0IMd08GCIAEbRsnGFI_fLAFiqbuMcmbb6u4HOSHvFdny7v1ug6h1PzuGY7xKbJY-okhjuvsv7wQUk-_usO_XNOFn_BWy-ziPbqC1TZ5eKC7tbQuNpoUpjrSkELszjqempm6Xeb-heoM/s320/moneymore+donegal.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moneymore - not what I was expecting</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Well best laid plans flew out the window really fast ...<br />
<br />
My paternal grandfather left Derry as a 23 yr old in 1926. He came to NZ and married my grandmother in 1929. He never said a lot about Ireland, never wanted to go back, never talked about his family in Derry.<br />
<br />
My Mum had been searching for years, had even hired a researcher in Derry to see what they could find, and no luck. All we had was Grandads birth certificate and the marriage licence of his parents, Patrick McBride and Eliabeth Wilson. We hoped there might be family somewhere, cousins for my father. Dad passed away a few years ago without us ever finding family but I have always wanted to trace those Irish roots. This was my chance.<br />
<br />
On the first day I found a candidate for what could possibly be my great grandmother Elizabeth in the Derry City Cemetery. The electronic records were inconclusive so I sent an email to the records office to see if I could view the actual register. Of course; come on over! I was there in 20 minutes flat!<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLp11lNN7xLPGWXPTmcDqHMrdiORZdglStuNw75TwGWPG33EtUT3QLpWyxI2nZTMmyViJPXVzWNRIPiVl8jEEe31JNVchPRt3UYFMwMebGUWm21NFl0enxXMRXNMveoeoeadRlv7rjCMU/s1600/St+Baithins+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLp11lNN7xLPGWXPTmcDqHMrdiORZdglStuNw75TwGWPG33EtUT3QLpWyxI2nZTMmyViJPXVzWNRIPiVl8jEEe31JNVchPRt3UYFMwMebGUWm21NFl0enxXMRXNMveoeoeadRlv7rjCMU/s400/St+Baithins+3.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Font where my great grandfather was <br />
baptised in 1864</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Records Office staff were wonderful and after flipping through a catalogue card drawer and hauling out original register books it was official I had found my great grandmother Elizabeth AND also her husband Patrick, my Great Grandfather plus 2 wee babies that were Patrick's but not Elizabeth's. There was a wealth of information on those registers - none of which was available on the electronic records. I also found the place of birth for Patrick and Elizabeth plus the names of both of their parents. I had so many leads now and things clicked into place very quickly as I spent a frantic couple of days using electronic databases tracking down leads to piece the family together.<br />
<br />
I checked and cross checked and I am certain that I am correct. Long story short my grandfather's paternal line came from Donegal, his mother was a Callaghan and they were Roman Catholic (not presbyterians from Derry as we thought). Patrick changed his religion 4 times and married 3 times and lied about his age consistently throughout his life. No wonder he had been so hard to track down!<br />
<br />
I visited all the places and addresses in Derry where I knew the family had been. On a whim, I took a hire car over to Donegal, and using my phone and google maps found my way down one way mud tracks to Moneymore, where Patrick and his siblings had all been born. Just on dusk, then the credit ran out on my phone and data roaming stopped worked (Donegal is in another country to Derry) and than I found myself at a muddy paddock. Moneymore was a paddock!! Frantic reversing, an 8 point turn, desperately found my way back to the highway. Relief! I had visions of being stuck in the Donegal countryside overnight. I saw a road sign for Newtoncunningham - birthplace of Patrick - so I swung into the only pub in sight and collapsed with a glass of wine relieved but also disappointed.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFbcjEEFwk5fRMlA5403ABFMrM5Ojexq6iIHU6ewZ188JPZ3aj0oaC5s8CheL8fIuh4yse8tz6uZcFpHKjAxQWznbAI_LrJIFEF_1DxF1o4movbv8Jvb95PM6lxPBuw-V4QZPo2xqRk88/s1600/balintoy+harbour+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFbcjEEFwk5fRMlA5403ABFMrM5Ojexq6iIHU6ewZ188JPZ3aj0oaC5s8CheL8fIuh4yse8tz6uZcFpHKjAxQWznbAI_LrJIFEF_1DxF1o4movbv8Jvb95PM6lxPBuw-V4QZPo2xqRk88/s400/balintoy+harbour+5.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ballintoy Harbour - Greyjoy's turf in Game of Thrones</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The waitress asked who I was and what I was doing. Oh she said, there are still loads of McBrides down Moneymore way, its a rural area with scattered houses and farms, and I'm a Callaghan! I'll ring my mammy. The luck of that happening was astounding. I went back the next day and photographed all the McBride and Callaghan headstones, then went back to the actual church Patrick and his siblings had all been baptised in.<br />
<br />
I left exhausted but happy; I'd worked for hours at a computer, driven places, stomped around cemeteries and had only 1 day off sightseeing along the northern Ulster coastal scenic route (went to a number of Game of Thrones sites.<br />
<br />
<b>Websites</b><br />
http://www.rootsireland.ie/<br />
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/<br />
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni<br />
<br />
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-34651604119359084172016-09-28T09:42:00.002+13:002016-09-30T21:06:51.958+13:00Koha Development<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
While in Germany I managed to get my head around something which has become increasingly apparent as I am touring around.<br />
<br />
I think we are developing a whole bunch of different versions of Koha, essentially forks I guess, and I am feeling uncomfortable about this because I don't think it's the way to go. I think the whole world benefits if everyone shares their development efforts with everyone else. That is the essence of Koha.<br />
<br />
What I am seeing is some vendors, developers and libraries carrying out development in isolation from the main Koha trunk. This means we end up with customised local versions, forks, which means that for every upgrade forever those customisations have to be folded in.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Are you really that special?</h2>
I think we have to be wary of the tyranny of small differences. Koha is a global product and many thousands of librarians use it very happily every day right around the globe. Probably 90% of what we do is pretty standard. Are your customisations / quirks really necessary? Librarians are terrible at getting angst ridden about tiny peculiarities and I think we should also be asking ourselves: "really - are we that unique or special?". If we used a proprietary system we would just adjust our processes to suit.<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
So you want to change something pretty major</h2>
The development community is really generous and open for everyone to participate in. The process goes something like this:<br />
<br />
Say you have an idea for an enhancement or a bug fix then the first step is to log a bug. There might be a bunch of bugs all related or about the same thing and they could all be addressed together.<br />
<br />
You could also run the idea through the discussion list for feedback but the bugzilla is the right place. If you have the coolest idea for a major enhancement then issuing a RFC (request for comment) is the right way. Write your proposal, identifying the problem and proposed solution. What will happen is that a whole bunch of developers will toss your idea around and - what usually happens - is the optimum solution is developed by a bunch of brains.<br />
<br />
Then development can get underway; you might do the work yourself or someone might help but either way that starts the process for ensuring that the enhancement or development gets folded into the main codebase. This means that every upgrade in future needs to not break that piece of work.<br />
<br />
Now not every bit of work will get folded in of course but if your enhancement is cool then wouldn't you want to make sure it has a life going forward and wouldn't you want to make the world a better place by sharing it?<br />
<br />
There is real danger in having a myriad of Koha forks which while they start off as minor variations are at risk of evolving into effectively proprietary Koha forks. If this happens then we all lose the benefits of shared development and the very essence of Koha itself. There is so much development 'brain power' globally being put into Koha that I would really like to see it harnessed to work together so that we all benefit.<br />
<br />
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-35856771160774389722016-09-28T09:11:00.002+13:002016-09-28T09:11:24.387+13:00Berlin<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpphcMmonxSaIS7s8Zc9py6XoUciFjSNuR5sSrVYmiCoPs9qRQA9o2sVzscgjXLuhXRdqSiNMlSebKtlyzruLojcaToV8OmrjjNGqujR37-E4_56vU2bpq3cRHhREhGZ1Xs1ddfAxn1Sg/s1600/20160916_185131.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpphcMmonxSaIS7s8Zc9py6XoUciFjSNuR5sSrVYmiCoPs9qRQA9o2sVzscgjXLuhXRdqSiNMlSebKtlyzruLojcaToV8OmrjjNGqujR37-E4_56vU2bpq3cRHhREhGZ1Xs1ddfAxn1Sg/s320/20160916_185131.jpg" width="320" /></a>There is something crazy about walking into an arrivals hall at an international airport and just standing there until someone yells out your name, swamps you in a hug (sometimes a more manly greeting) then takes your bag and leads you out into a new city but that is exactly what I am doing. When I arrived at Berlin I texted Mirko from the baggage area: "I don't know what you look like dude!" - and I really need not have worried because it all worked out. In fact, everything worked out with Mirko.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlDn7iZMxcZRm4kn69aUgOJ2Nk952dQZ9vqcva2KalKTuG6YrlkR8UqQ65KSWVXQllSx_VCH1XCbaQFnPVPX5UCioWwiy6o5td6H2Vym-e80EPC80wNT8IT9sICJtlubIFbf4vPV9kDP4/s1600/20160917_111208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlDn7iZMxcZRm4kn69aUgOJ2Nk952dQZ9vqcva2KalKTuG6YrlkR8UqQ65KSWVXQllSx_VCH1XCbaQFnPVPX5UCioWwiy6o5td6H2Vym-e80EPC80wNT8IT9sICJtlubIFbf4vPV9kDP4/s320/20160917_111208.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
The Koha gathering was terrific, about 20 people and a lovely evening meal afterwards - and a few beers - with these lovely gents who work with Mirko in the shared working space. Mirko had the biggest steak I have ever seen and was still smiling 3 days later :)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCzm0oevI2BkIC75AHMkLsmd7h9T5zdQHBXf5VfuYTTnIzwo0UCpiz4vh-zW8vS0fYnJDMqs4bAfkyWgWE1jL-4VGrMqN9SvpvA6P8lRDZf_6N0TuDoy6Nwx3ilYEbpDF-qlxm5exAkZ0/s1600/20160917_100901.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCzm0oevI2BkIC75AHMkLsmd7h9T5zdQHBXf5VfuYTTnIzwo0UCpiz4vh-zW8vS0fYnJDMqs4bAfkyWgWE1jL-4VGrMqN9SvpvA6P8lRDZf_6N0TuDoy6Nwx3ilYEbpDF-qlxm5exAkZ0/s320/20160917_100901.jpg" width="180" /></a>Mirko is frantically busy doing Koha-coolness in Berlin but made the time to escort me to my hotel, arm me with a magic train ticket that took me everywhere, then left me to get on and explore. He was at the end of a phone - and I contacted him many times - and we managed to squeeze in a terrific day sightseeing. It was so much fun!<br />
<br />
We visited Charlottenberg, home of the Hapsburgs and of the most astounding silver collection in the world - even better than the one at Sisi Apartments in Vienna! We were first there and so entering the ballrooms etc and seeing them devoid of tourists was pretty special.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhazIpDiAhu6pvOzsgSnffXzFnovalqrCES0EJWk7Ct0zmM4A97_f-_S90WTdndWDgPE1MM4TlgyXOKZOHGUyPyOF1GVEqiNtTGApN20P5CawO3h0dfqZ6Qb3UsFAeVDwSrHU-ET3JxpX8/s1600/20160917_120452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhazIpDiAhu6pvOzsgSnffXzFnovalqrCES0EJWk7Ct0zmM4A97_f-_S90WTdndWDgPE1MM4TlgyXOKZOHGUyPyOF1GVEqiNtTGApN20P5CawO3h0dfqZ6Qb3UsFAeVDwSrHU-ET3JxpX8/s320/20160917_120452.jpg" width="180" /></a>We got rained out briefly and had a cup of tea in a crazy Russian teahouse packed to the gunnels with stuff and then did a 4 hour river cruise up to the City Centre and back down again.<br />
<br />
My last day I spent wandering around the Museum quarter spending most of my time at the Musuem of German History which was great! It positioned german history within the European context and commenced with a 43 minute film telling the story illustrated with objects that were in the museum.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtnOu-3CbUFpb3Sp0bjXELU19X5gp-JYM0pdvAWwMlqJPRO7AHTk2JeQ5tRjmuKoi12-YKorpIvf70edJKrKd8QDZxJK-bOTpcIoqTZwbpnnA4OBfF3bDzgua9bTbHNBbrYItBg_dWfq0/s1600/20160918_124514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtnOu-3CbUFpb3Sp0bjXELU19X5gp-JYM0pdvAWwMlqJPRO7AHTk2JeQ5tRjmuKoi12-YKorpIvf70edJKrKd8QDZxJK-bOTpcIoqTZwbpnnA4OBfF3bDzgua9bTbHNBbrYItBg_dWfq0/s320/20160918_124514.jpg" width="180" /></a>I was surprised at how honest the German storytelling was particularly in relation to the World Wars.<br />
<br />
What I particularly liked was the context given to the commencement of both World Wars, how they were both a long time in the making and just chapters in the bigger story of German expansionism, the hardships endured by Germany following the Versailles Settlement and Nazio Germany. It wasn't told in a 'poor us' way - or in a glorification of the Reich way - just like everything else it is in a factual way with great items illustrating the story. This was a highlight of my Berlin trip.<br />
<br />
Oh and the architecture ... and the bread (Berlin had the most AMAZING bread and salads)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-33601701730400648362016-09-17T07:35:00.000+12:002016-09-17T07:45:40.971+12:00Vienna<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ6WhlM9F0Moup4ze9-mEYhD47IeH-sKe-5TKiOKdkVHH3dgRBzwCwll-j3Y-jYcM4Laj1PCkI4uiFWHpnIRC-XUBjwiwppUkoWtGgJPW7dzmWaBZLuHrYClQMk6jnu93hFPLu8OVu_pk/s1600/20160912_134109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ6WhlM9F0Moup4ze9-mEYhD47IeH-sKe-5TKiOKdkVHH3dgRBzwCwll-j3Y-jYcM4Laj1PCkI4uiFWHpnIRC-XUBjwiwppUkoWtGgJPW7dzmWaBZLuHrYClQMk6jnu93hFPLu8OVu_pk/s200/20160912_134109.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sisi Museum</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I flew to Vienna from Prague and spent 2 days incognito enjoying the city and walking myself stupid trying to fit too much in. I don't know how people do these continental tours in 35 days with a day in each place - madness. It's bad enough I seldom know what day of the week it is.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
I visited <a href="http://www.schoenbrunn.at/" target="_blank">Schonbrunn Palace</a> and <a href="http://www.hofburg-wien.at/wissenswertes/sisi-museum.html" target="_blank">Sisi Museum</a> on the first day. Schonbrunn, a former <span style="color: #3d2e12; font-family: "droid serif" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 13px;">Imperial country residence, was one of the most glorious palaces of the Habsburgs. It was developed by Prince Eugene of Savoy and became the largest country palace estate under the reign of the Empress Maria Theresia. It was occupied by Franz Josef and, intermittently between jaunts, his wife Elizabeth aka Sisi. Gorgeous interiors, magnificent artwork and interesting displays. The key to visiting a city is mastering the underground as quickly as possible I feel. It opens up so many more opportunities for getting about.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #3d2e12; font-family: "droid serif" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span style="color: #3d2e12; font-family: "droid" serif , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">I spent the afternoon at the Sisi Museum - which was great - but the astounding thing was the silver collection. OMG - such an array of crockery and silver and cutlery and glassware and table centrepieces - it went on and on and on. Well worth the visit.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #3d2e12; font-family: "droid" serif , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUnhNFqAhkZEeY1ne4EaZhrTRzeno0UBus8PdpdKzjEg7GX-8tctpGDE5ApB6AGir-AcWQCZRLaYouETrNDiqv3xhC36oM4M5eyDtylzwshLjoof0AInxCsmTqj7HyeCQ51jLTgnNkcs/s1600/20160912_195543_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUnhNFqAhkZEeY1ne4EaZhrTRzeno0UBus8PdpdKzjEg7GX-8tctpGDE5ApB6AGir-AcWQCZRLaYouETrNDiqv3xhC36oM4M5eyDtylzwshLjoof0AInxCsmTqj7HyeCQ51jLTgnNkcs/s320/20160912_195543_001.jpg" width="180" /></a>In the evening I had a quick drink with Marton Vilanyi host in Vienna. I think he might have worried that he was neglecting his host duties but he certainly made up for it later! Marton escorted me through the subway to the Bristol Hotel for a fab dinner before I headed off to a Mozart performance - in costume - in the most stupendously golden opera hall I have seen before - books included!<br />
<br />
The next day was the Upper Belevedere art collection. What can I say - it was the best collection with all my favourite artists but also ones I'd never heard of. The medieval collection was incredible - so vibrant and well cared for and displayed beautifully. Stunning building too - but the art ..........<br />
<br />
As I was walking the collection I was chatting on facebook to my sister in NZ who had visited a year previously. There was something surreal when she asked had I seen Napoleon and his horse yet, just I had sat myself down to gaze at this wonderful painting which I had studied at University in 1981. It was so instant and immediate and we were discussing a piece of art from opposite sides of the world. Technology aye; I might be travelling alone but absolutely not alone or lonely.<br />
<br />
I lost my Uber virginity in Vienna. I had been too scared in NZ to try it but when Marton had suggested I catch a gazillion trains and buses to get <a href="https://ist.ac.at/" target="_blank">IST</a>, my response was 'blow this'. My bag weighs a ton which may or not have something to do with the litre of duty free Jameson I am struggling to drink on my own, I don't know the way and while it turned out to be easy on hindsight I just wasn't keen. A nice man in a Mercedes got me there in less than a hour for a very reasonable price.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj905HJQVytGIEK6GmuRbUSA1-OYPm0zRiNrE9SLgr-vnrCJXAeQtkTyn4dGvjc801znM_ueXEtb27a-sEwc0j5nsVs4vhLBVr_yOPLWRX3oa-ApXsoBisd4fmZCS5IjZawBUj0WPdSH8/s1600/20160914_120707.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj905HJQVytGIEK6GmuRbUSA1-OYPm0zRiNrE9SLgr-vnrCJXAeQtkTyn4dGvjc801znM_ueXEtb27a-sEwc0j5nsVs4vhLBVr_yOPLWRX3oa-ApXsoBisd4fmZCS5IjZawBUj0WPdSH8/s320/20160914_120707.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The library team from IST: L-R: Marton, me, <br />
Patrick, Rodrigo and Barbara.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The world is a very small place. Here I am in the middle of rural Vienna and I come face to face with someone I knew. "Have we met" I asked, "I don't think so - my name is Patrick". "Danowski" We had met before, when we were both presenters at the Bridging Worlds Conference in Singapore in 2008.<br />
<br />
I stayed at the guest quarters on campus - very much like a hotel room except everything was ultra modern and I couldn't turn lights on, get the TV going or dispense soap. It was very comfortable but I did feel a bit like I was in a star trek movie.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9-nmvI_OctD5by6a2z8VaNUl8mSw4lY_fOfRj8G1Qg8dOjfR35dO9tU1tswvQB80qC06FbduPGsq6Q-j05C7fWa3xgqGnO5PT3_44Hy7JE6GBiTQ7FRzcDn_fEP0IPQMKlKlXBAAK-LI/s1600/20160914_171130.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9-nmvI_OctD5by6a2z8VaNUl8mSw4lY_fOfRj8G1Qg8dOjfR35dO9tU1tswvQB80qC06FbduPGsq6Q-j05C7fWa3xgqGnO5PT3_44Hy7JE6GBiTQ7FRzcDn_fEP0IPQMKlKlXBAAK-LI/s320/20160914_171130.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't be misled by the lack of glasses on the table.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The next day, after a campus tour and a chat with the library staff of 5, we all left for Vienna where I presented at the Vienna Users Group meeting. What a great group of lovely people. It really was so friendly and great questions and discussions followed.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq-Yxd9MFenSBoFjC5NImmA5L9GsmCXtN4ISSEi01iu0sfAJw_AFmR0qzZHtokBYwBmGv9Gn_O8QMAqKEMiIncDqn0-8iwT-qDSXqeEDpxvw13oWv9xaTTmUizmPhHaIXGYipaPptRvQY/s1600/20160914_171109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq-Yxd9MFenSBoFjC5NImmA5L9GsmCXtN4ISSEi01iu0sfAJw_AFmR0qzZHtokBYwBmGv9Gn_O8QMAqKEMiIncDqn0-8iwT-qDSXqeEDpxvw13oWv9xaTTmUizmPhHaIXGYipaPptRvQY/s320/20160914_171109.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And they are not quite as sweet and harmless as they look</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We repaired to a wine bar where we drank 'new wine' which is very seasonal - like half way between juice and wine - and then more wine and then more wine and then some schnapps. I wandered off home in a taxi at 10am but I hear some stayed on until 2am ... lord knows how. The only exciting moment was waking up in the middle of a forested countryside in very steep hilly country and knowing with every fibre of my being, having travelled the route twice, that things were not right. "Are we lost" I asked accusingly? vague head nods then hand gestures then "sorry". "Best we turn on the GPS then lad" was all I could offer before snoring off again. Anyway with profuse apologies he eventually delivered me safely back to IST and I collapsed into bed absolutely done in by the Vienna hospitality.<br />
<br />
A very gentle start to the next day, a quiet uber to the airport and an early night to start my Berlin visit.<br />
<br /></div>
Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-65899579750650696572016-09-11T09:15:00.002+12:002016-09-14T06:12:18.422+12:00Czech Republic<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-yJWf1JkBI9_k8AIxr0OxTcQ7VnNRx934IJw9_jWbmda1MCz3laYao48bZFxTAUt42USIrLk9iNVCQJ9Zxy7yW9DJsqKGkIkz3zHQ_jYqDi9C09OmVTpN5RvVdZEBAQR4M5H260IoqRE/s1600/20160909_102341.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-yJWf1JkBI9_k8AIxr0OxTcQ7VnNRx934IJw9_jWbmda1MCz3laYao48bZFxTAUt42USIrLk9iNVCQJ9Zxy7yW9DJsqKGkIkz3zHQ_jYqDi9C09OmVTpN5RvVdZEBAQR4M5H260IoqRE/s320/20160909_102341.jpg" width="179" /></a>Czech Republic .............. it has captured my heart - not the crazy tourist-packed Charles Bridge / Prague Castle / Old Town part (although I loved that too) but the real Czech which my host, Bohdan Smilauer, shared with me.<br />
<br />
I was met at the airport by a perfect stranger but with my name on a card and with a huge smile and a wave: we hit it off immediately. Bohdan took me home to meet his daughter and wife (a domestic goddess who made the most amazing meal plus sent me on my way with food for a week).<br />
<br />
I was blessed to be staying in Bohdan's ancestral summer home, a gorgeous old villa in Vsenory surrounded by an ancient orchard, perfectly manicured lawns and the Prague forest to the back doorstep. It was so peaceful and relaxing and only about 20 km from Prague. I learnt to use the trains and Bohdan had a full programme beautifully planned - although room expanded to take in a lovely surprise.<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Ceska Trebova</h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUe1RBhvL6Yn45huAXtKcldO3Yzxg39m9ssLmi3gDacJycXajU-3h5lcO1hm-lQYQZeKuoph8yx8M19bPlb9JEY07U6ogemH9YrEKK7ieNqkmGyuH6q5lG0mImMamIMgTHfnZkmfdRUUM/s1600/20160908_103055.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUe1RBhvL6Yn45huAXtKcldO3Yzxg39m9ssLmi3gDacJycXajU-3h5lcO1hm-lQYQZeKuoph8yx8M19bPlb9JEY07U6ogemH9YrEKK7ieNqkmGyuH6q5lG0mImMamIMgTHfnZkmfdRUUM/s320/20160908_103055.jpg" width="179" /></a>Bohdan took me to meet Mike Denar and his colleagues at Ceska Trebova; a small town about the same size as Levin. It was a lovely visit and Mike and Joseph Morovec were great to talk to about Koha. They are librarians who have installed and configured it themselves, did most of the translation and were really interesting to talk with. Vufind is used widely as the opac interface in Cesko which I found interesting and don't really understand.<br />
<br />
The library had some great built in furniture - the periodical displays but also the wall unit in the teen space - beautifully modelled by Joseph on the right.<br />
<br />
Mike travelled with us up to Olomouc for a presentation at the University there where we met other librarians and a young* developer, Radek Siman, who kindly drove Bohdan and I back to Prague.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
</h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_14yU5MUkPnspwwdu4iViOecPV6kogOT770wdTUBNc0SDz60sCELqInGj_hyphenhyphen9MnrAAiZxce0Z9OYpPuKULmpu5U_QyL_3GUQj7-LYPaXIpq7M5rl5eTxMZv4rt5G7gn3pkJI8JrKXEng/s1600/20160908_113645.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_14yU5MUkPnspwwdu4iViOecPV6kogOT770wdTUBNc0SDz60sCELqInGj_hyphenhyphen9MnrAAiZxce0Z9OYpPuKULmpu5U_QyL_3GUQj7-LYPaXIpq7M5rl5eTxMZv4rt5G7gn3pkJI8JrKXEng/s320/20160908_113645.jpg" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nothing to see in Ceska Trebova<br />
- apparently - just the oldest <br />
Romanesque Church in Morovia.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Prague</h2>
After our extremely long day travelling from Prague to Olomouc and back, Friday was going to be restful. Huh! No..<br />
<br />
In the afternoon I spoke at a great gathering at the Agricultural library in Prague. There was a good turnout of librarians and good discussion afterwards - and beer. Have I talked about Czech and their beer yet? They drink it by the bucketful; even really nice looking ladies who you would expect to be drinking Pimms swig away on great handles of the stuff. Its delicious - don't get me wrong - but they sure are big servings!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhelBYQV7zAaEDc-g-YuibUpw4o3cgoi6o_LFQCcbbmUGCwYpEstqjX6ZKKmKaSZPWtSjnTlojG5Hq2pahOahMPePy2XuLk8O5TDGgO3WYw8IIzbKEfMXBxtttNIwxGzGRcuSEzTg3hbKY/s1600/20160909_152255.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhelBYQV7zAaEDc-g-YuibUpw4o3cgoi6o_LFQCcbbmUGCwYpEstqjX6ZKKmKaSZPWtSjnTlojG5Hq2pahOahMPePy2XuLk8O5TDGgO3WYw8IIzbKEfMXBxtttNIwxGzGRcuSEzTg3hbKY/s320/20160909_152255.jpg" width="320" /></a>After a quiet few ales (large) and a meal (also large) in Prague, Bohdan had a lovely surprise for me. Karel Matejka (extreme left beside Bohdan) had invited us visit a weekend school for distance education librarians in the countryside about 30 mins from Vsenory. Like real countryside - deers running across the road on the way back - countryside. It was wonderful. The school was held in a semi-restored farmhouse first reported in the 1500s. There was a keg, of beer, bbq and a fire. The nightime lecture was projected up onto the outside wall of the farmhouse. So, another late night and a belly full of beer - not that I am complaining but it was a lot of beer.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Sharks</h2>
<div style="text-align: left;">
A recurring theme in every country I have visited so far is the matter of 'sharks' - Koha vendors who are overcharging and not contributing their developments back to community. It also means that every upgrade those enhancements which have not been incorporated back into the main trunk are broken; and the work has to be done again so the sharks charge again etc. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
There is real concern that this will give Koha a bad name and I understand the concern. This is the stunt that PTFS LibLime pulled in the States and they won't be the first or last. I don't know what the answer is but I guess education is one step. My presentation talks about the important role of the vendors in helping build a strong community. We all want many vendors around the globe running successful support services for Koha. That is a good thing. What we also want is for those vendors to be good Koha community members as well and contribute back to the project in the spirit of open source and in keeping with the name: Koha. This is a reciprocal gift: sure you can have the code for free - but please share back by contributing to development planning and incorporation of enhancements. It is up to Librarians to insist that their vendors keep to the open source spirit and not play the old 'bait and switch' game where libraries think they buying into open source Koha but end up getting a proprietary setup.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<i>*Correction: He's not so young at all, it turns out, has obviously led a charmed life!</i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
.</div>
Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-70728822414248342882016-09-11T07:54:00.003+12:002016-09-11T07:54:54.312+12:00London<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
How a Kiwi can get to my age and have never made it to London before is beyond believe but there you have it.<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Pleasure<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPed7SULaaK6HvGXHr9_pJ9lLlj1xeaU-63l1dt5aOPBVvfbDc5sPM495DhoFgtAjkmwCuwBqBfQxQDbq_j32FxRN_GNXUNbFflp-igh4inZTSjX9ZLYh_erSmr9tLHtDb4-WcVdCdmbY/s1600/20160905_091404.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPed7SULaaK6HvGXHr9_pJ9lLlj1xeaU-63l1dt5aOPBVvfbDc5sPM495DhoFgtAjkmwCuwBqBfQxQDbq_j32FxRN_GNXUNbFflp-igh4inZTSjX9ZLYh_erSmr9tLHtDb4-WcVdCdmbY/s200/20160905_091404.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I got to try out my new Koha Coat!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I stayed with my good mates Marty Pitt and Teresa O'Sullivan along with their adorable daughter Izzie who refused to give me a hug even after I left her a copy of Hairy McLary! Marty used to work at the Library many many years ago as an after-school student, along with Darren, who I also managed to catch up with while in London.<br />
<br />
I was in London for the weekend and the Monday so we crammed as much into the time as we had. We visited the Tate Modern, Tate Britain (breathtaking), the British Museum, Victoria and Albert plus Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, St Martins Square, Bloomsbury St, Bedford Sq, Belgravia and the West End and lord knows what else. Talk about a whistle stop tour! I seriously underestimated the time I would need to 'do' London!<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Business</h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCq-76xpxeDvtLtyRSKQ_uzaFslrn352EXtXgJ0vqil52i7LTaIuJMixvwTKPiGReSzUBStMZUCzJSCLmCtmPDbDIozVIRPv48AM4ePn691q4n-0PH0UfgCrb2S0nsmXlQHrzZM59tXb4/s1600/20160906_113510.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCq-76xpxeDvtLtyRSKQ_uzaFslrn352EXtXgJ0vqil52i7LTaIuJMixvwTKPiGReSzUBStMZUCzJSCLmCtmPDbDIozVIRPv48AM4ePn691q4n-0PH0UfgCrb2S0nsmXlQHrzZM59tXb4/s320/20160906_113510.jpg" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sutton Hoo helmet at British Museum.<br />Nothing about Koha but a highlight of my visit.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I was sponsored for my London presentation by PTFS Europe and Catalsyt IT Europe which was such a delight. This aspect of vendors working in 'co-opetition' (cooperation and competition) is one of the aspects of the Koha community which I really like.<br />
<br />
PTFS Europe are the 'good guys' and work very closely with the Koha community making significant contributions. A few PTFS clients were in attendance which was really nice but a highlight for me was meeting these good folk in person; people I knew only as names on mailing lists and irc meetings were now being met in the flesh.<br />
<br />
It was small meeting in London being the first day back after the holidays but I thought it was very good. This tour is about meeting Koha community members as much as it is about the community and encouraging developers and librarians from every nation to get actively involved.</div>
Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452595030335482530.post-38395577420316198052016-09-02T07:36:00.001+12:002016-09-11T07:36:23.835+12:00India<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
India - man I love this place! It is so full on and vibrant and energetic and busy and colourful and smells gorgeous and the people are great, so yeah, fabulous 3rd stop on my world tour.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilPV1moLIY9lSQrdKMKdFYQj5zI8zLvEH9BaLpPUxABwN2UogoGOKRav98S0R0AlBK4JJG0mPnGvTCIetnR1LNLoX2QLmOQ-MXApU2ac4tPsrtSHOo5kCdpaGjJDzxlh2aNOMm6pAJK7o/s1600/20160829_094819.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilPV1moLIY9lSQrdKMKdFYQj5zI8zLvEH9BaLpPUxABwN2UogoGOKRav98S0R0AlBK4JJG0mPnGvTCIetnR1LNLoX2QLmOQ-MXApU2ac4tPsrtSHOo5kCdpaGjJDzxlh2aNOMm6pAJK7o/s320/20160829_094819.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmt6L4Esdh7dnYoDp5n5mEAwdjAUvAmdEhV7GsGavfo_kv6xiAJc1rfIFbG4_WM0WcATMDw4BEXsRcH2uSacICGmrS5GmeEVoykx3V5mgPy9CYMkEnRD4D6B2BBn0M03qrtEXDc9PiFk/s1600/20160829_095658.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmt6L4Esdh7dnYoDp5n5mEAwdjAUvAmdEhV7GsGavfo_kv6xiAJc1rfIFbG4_WM0WcATMDw4BEXsRcH2uSacICGmrS5GmeEVoykx3V5mgPy9CYMkEnRD4D6B2BBn0M03qrtEXDc9PiFk/s320/20160829_095658.jpg" width="177" /></a>My Indian hosts, Vikram Zadgaonkar, Ketan Kulkarni from First Ray Consulting and Kirti <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Bandekar from Libserve really pushed out all the stops including meeting me in the middle of the night plus a long wait while I sorted out where in the world my luggage might be because it certainly wasn't in Mumbai with me! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">First up was a guest speaker slot at User group meeting at the Nehru Centre, Mumbai with the </span>gorgeous (in every way) Arati Desai who was as elegant and graceful as I was not - in my trainers and travel garb. Whats not to love when someone introduces themself as the world's biggest koha fan? Actually, come to think of it, that was a common theme throughout Malaysia and India. People felt so happy and proud to be running Koha.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHH-xXSvyaUHYLrB1LSaTALjnlYXqdpTIdoK3ygclQbozXuhe9qOTT_33ki1oZi8qDMPd7isrycucZB3jwirKQK7AxaZIcA7fdzX1JdXcbwOaCEG_Pv9Lq5nLUoO1XUbZuWUg1VtmgSzs/s1600/20160830_191942_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHH-xXSvyaUHYLrB1LSaTALjnlYXqdpTIdoK3ygclQbozXuhe9qOTT_33ki1oZi8qDMPd7isrycucZB3jwirKQK7AxaZIcA7fdzX1JdXcbwOaCEG_Pv9Lq5nLUoO1XUbZuWUg1VtmgSzs/s320/20160830_191942_001.jpg" width="179" /></a>The Pune Public Library is a case in point. 168 yrs old - the oldest <br />
public library in Pune and run by a board of Trustees who are nothing short of inspirational. Mostly older in age, mostly retired professionals and all absolutely bursting with pride at their fab library in inner city Pune and that they were running Koha. The visit was arranged at very short notice but there was nothing short in the hospitality. I particularly loved the paintings of freedom fighters lining the walls.<br />
<br />
I visited Pune University twice; once to speak at the Pune User group and once to speak with the library masters students (see earlier post). Meeting Shubhada Nagarkar, Assistant Professor, will be a highlight of my tour I think.<br />
<br />
As well as discussing library stuff (really good library stuff) she snuck me away for a tour of the library which houses 5m items classified using Ranganathan's colon system and stretching back hundreds of years. I got to see a ancient manuscript written on palm - so beautiful - plus a whole bunch of other precious and rare books.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCCZ7hjGTeD-T5cJe67IxZ7J9RFVnJ-oaNZj7wWwPX1aseOVodUnHm1heL4VDq2NWu7_GkZ3y8nFPPXcm74zWTWHbcDk5iioGGilyIc3OQVdWdTy3jaEweK2YNgn6m2SCvGAK2Si9v4lM/s1600/20160830_103526_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCCZ7hjGTeD-T5cJe67IxZ7J9RFVnJ-oaNZj7wWwPX1aseOVodUnHm1heL4VDq2NWu7_GkZ3y8nFPPXcm74zWTWHbcDk5iioGGilyIc3OQVdWdTy3jaEweK2YNgn6m2SCvGAK2Si9v4lM/s320/20160830_103526_001.jpg" width="179" /></a>Anyway I suspect we might work together on something Koha related in the future especially since they have just decided to convert to Koha! She is particularly interested in interface useability and a complaint that came up repeatedly in India was the acquisitions module so it might be that the expert eye of a critical friend could be applied to see what needs to be done to meet the need of the ever increasing Koha Indian community .<br />
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Tata Institute of Social Sciences</h2>
Part of the reason for this trip is to replenish my soul after a really tough 3 years pulling off the impossible. Today I spoke with the Masters Students and staff at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. It was wonderful. The format was an interview which Kirti led but then questions and comments came from the floor. I started the ball rolling with the key themes I'd spoken about in Pune and it was so radical compared to public libraries in India now. These guys may just start a revolution! The Institute runs Koha - all 4 campuses throughout India as branches - and while Amit Gupta and his crew did the data conversion they basically run it themselves now. The students are taught about Koha including installation and configuration! This is because many of them will go back to rural areas and will probably use Koha. I think someone said that the Indian Government are encoraging the use of open source software but I'd need someone to confirm that. If so, then Koha could explode into India very quickly.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghMQhyTlmqlX2Fp7prZXPXEfmfyPtUztKUkApJmLQqDKzshkWvAUa3Urj6crvLa6QWntBLdS90Ir0ECMCt-ZohDxhaeiDXGoYjS9nVH9rWjX-cfYc0z67lt2_7d7No4ayeqeAuxuF9SIo/s1600/20160901_201111_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghMQhyTlmqlX2Fp7prZXPXEfmfyPtUztKUkApJmLQqDKzshkWvAUa3Urj6crvLa6QWntBLdS90Ir0ECMCt-ZohDxhaeiDXGoYjS9nVH9rWjX-cfYc0z67lt2_7d7No4ayeqeAuxuF9SIo/s400/20160901_201111_001.jpg" width="225" /></a>Learning</h2>
At every session I needed to remind people that there is no boss of Koha, no board, no staff, no one in charge. Everyone has a voice and the ability to contribute. If they want an interface or user manual in Marathi then they have to translate that themselves. If they need / want something in acquisitions changed then they need to load a bug. In short: scratch your own itch.<br />
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These Guys</h2>
Finally, I have to acknowledge and thank these guys who trekked back and forwards on the Pune - Mumbai expressway (a 4 hour trip) and arranged a full programme of meet and greets and booked fab hotels for me and looked after my every wish and even took me shopping (see the Punjabi suit I'm wearing - so comfy in the hot climate). The hospitality was exceptional.<br />
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Thank you Ketan, Vikram, Kirti and Hermant.<br />
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Joann Ransomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18108406808852766646noreply@blogger.com1