[plug] Librarian's Role

[James Bromberger]

On 22/02/2011 5:35 PM, Lance Duivenbode wrote:
> Sorry about the delay on this but I've been flat out with Real Life
> (TM) :-)
>
> Actually we do have a librarian - it's me (elected unopposed at the
> last meeting and looking forward to world domination - see the AGM
> 2011 minutes).

Ah. So sorry.



> Seriously though, I've held this post for almost 3 years and this is
> the second request I've had. I would love to invest some resources
> into doing something, but at the moment I'm not sure what I can do.

Well, it can be anything you'd like, or if you think of something new
(like Webmaster) it can be that too. Would you like an account on the
drupal site to add content there (same goes for anyone else who'd like
to contribute to PLUG's web site - just ask!).

> I previously floated the idea of setting up a wiki but that was shot
> to pieces by a few people and the interest waned. I'm open to doing
> *something*, I just need a consensus on what to do!

Well, the current Drupal (version 6) site is there. The only reason its
not an open site is we've had a lot of SPAM links added (which took a
few hours to clear), and the easiest solution was to restrict account
creation down a bit. But we'd love it if people would like to contribute
to the site.

Perhaps this is something we (all) can talk about at *The Artifactory
*in 2 weeks time (our next scheduled PLUG talk).

    James


>
> On 20/02/11 12:18, James Bromberger wrote:
>> On 20/02/2011 11:03 AM, Garry wrote:
>>> If anyone would like the isos for the latest debian stable to save
>>> bandwidth, let me know.  I have i386/amd64 dvd images. They are on
>>> iinet too, but usb2 is faster - next time I'm up there. Can post them
>>> out if you want them asap.
>>> PLUG librarian - any interest?
>> Hi Garry (et al.),
>>
>> This raises an interesting question. We've been considering how useful
>> the PLUG library is. Historically when Free Software software was
>> difficult to get hold of, either by availability, or download speed,
>> the Library was a potential source of obtaining this easily. However,
>> these days with local mirrors, and fast (ish) DSL type connections,
>> public WiFi, and internet access at Libraries and other locations, the
>> library become aparently little used (please correct me if I'm wrong
>> here). Since software changes quite quickly, its often out of date by
>> the time its reached the library.
>>
>> Time and technology has moved on.
>>
>> So, my question to the membership is: does PLUG still value the Library?
>> Do we have any volunteers to manage the library? I don't think we have a
>> current librarian, and I'm not aware of anyone using the library
>> recently. Should the library just be a managed mirror of useful
>> software? Is it even that worth it, given the liberal availability of
>> software within local mirrors? Perhaps even managing our own mirror is
>> not an effective use of time and resources? Perhaps just a managed list
>> of links to useful software and local mirrors? Perhaps a laptop with CD
>> burner and a bunch of DVDs/CDs that can be burnt on demand at meetings
>> (or at any other time)?
>>
>> Again, we need a volunteer who wants to manage this. Anyone care to step
>> up? If there are no volunteers, then the library will be frozen as a
>> historic relic.
>>
>> Comments welcome, either on list, or directly to me or the committee if
>> you wish.
>>
>>    James
>>


-- 
Mobile: +61 422 166 708, Email: james_AT_rcpt.to

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.plug.org.au/pipermail/plug/attachments/20110222/be933cee/attachment.html>