I am still looking to rid myself of having to store the ALUG library.
The fact is that since being librarian (2003ish) we have lent exactly no books.
Most of it is now horribly out of date...a long time ago I abandoned the magazines. There are a few newish titles I have added and a recent donation of "linux in a nutshell" from O'Reily.
The online catalogue is offline due to the hosting it was on being broken. I have backups but it was pretty crufty anyway.
More donations can be sought..but to get more out of O'Reily they were wanting us to do online and open access reviews and comments about the donated titles. I no longer have the time or the enthusiasm to do this.
I see two potential futures.
Somebody takes it over and tries to resurrect it by getting a book review section up on the wiki and therefore hopefully attracts more relevant donations..clears out the crud and tries to resolve the logistical issues of free book lending to remote members.
or we disband it....
If this was decided then I would post a catalogue and members could claim anything they wanted to keep for themselves. After a time I would take whatever is left and donate to a charity shop or similar.
Please can you respond and let me know your ideas...I don't want to go giving it away without approval from those that helped build the collection or if anyone sees a potential future for it. At the same time however it has long been a burden for me to store and I need the space in my study back...currently it consists of about 3 stackable boxes full of books.
Many Thanks Wayne
On 23/10/10 00:44, Wayne Stallwood wrote:
or we disband it....
If this was decided then I would post a catalogue and members could claim anything they wanted to keep for themselves. After a time I would take whatever is left and donate to a charity shop or similar.
Wayne,
7 years ehr? Thanks for taking on this task for so long, and persevering in the face of such a lack of interest. Given the speed of developments in our industry, and the nature of linux books as technical references for current software usage, I think a traditional library model just doesn't work very well; especially when ALUGers are so geographically dispersed. I think disbanding would be appropriate.
Would public libraries be interested in receiving the books? I kinda doubt it, given the subject.
-- Martijn
On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 08:02:48AM +0100, Martijn Koster wrote:
Given the speed of developments in our industry, and the nature of linux books as technical references for current software usage, I think a traditional library model just doesn't work very well; especially when ALUGers are so geographically dispersed. I think disbanding would be appropriate.
Some of the books were utterly out of date when I had the library which was erm, 7 years ago :)
I think disbanding it by offering the books on here is probably the best way forward and then putting the rest into a book bank so they can be assessed for value and either resold or pulped into new paper products.
Adam
Hooter! Done it again!
Call it another senior moment. Sorry Adam, you have mail... -----------------------------------------------------------
Adam Bower wrote:
On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 08:02:48AM +0100, Martijn Koster wrote:
Given the speed of developments in our industry, and the nature of linux books as technical references for current software usage, I think a traditional library model just doesn't work very well; especially when ALUGers are so geographically dispersed. I think disbanding would be appropriate.
Some of the books were utterly out of date when I had the library which was erm, 7 years ago :)
I think disbanding it by offering the books on here is probably the best way forward and then putting the rest into a book bank so they can be assessed for value and either resold or pulped into new paper products.
It would be a lot better if the library could be made accessible online - though I wonder just how many e-books feature in the Linux canon.
Certainly, when I wanted to read-up on some up-to-date info on HTML and CSS I ordered the relevant books from a local bookseller and had them two days later - cost, less than a tenner a book.
IME, when I want to know how to, or why, etc, an emu to this list, the Shed or other, usually comes up with the goods. The ALUG library is a lovely idea, and the historical importance of some of the accumulated books could be a treasure chest in the future, so it would be lovely to keep everything.
But...
With a feeling of regret, I must agree with the sentiments expressed so far - it should go if no space can be found for it. I would offer, but I already have piles of books about the place demanding more bookshelves, so here's one address which isn't available.
Now, when my boat comes home, it will be a different matter.
On Sat, 23 Oct 2010 08:59:48 +0100 Adam Bower adam@thebowery.co.uk allegedly wrote:
Some of the books were utterly out of date when I had the library which was erm, 7 years ago :)
I think disbanding it by offering the books on here is probably the best way forward and then putting the rest into a book bank so they can be assessed for value and either resold or pulped into new paper products.
Self confessed bibliophilic luddite sticks head over parapet.....
Only 7 years old? My copy of Maurice Bach's Design of the Unix Operating System dates from '86, Stephen Bourne's Unix System V Environment '87, Kernighan and Pike's Unix Programming Environment '84....
So. I'll happily take over the books rather than see them thrown in a skip. I might even read 'em :-)
Mick ---------------------------------------------------------------------
The text file for RFC 854 contains exactly 854 lines. Do you think there is any cosmic significance in this?
Douglas E Comer - Internetworking with TCP/IP Volume 1
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc854.txt ---------------------------------------------------------------------
On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 12:58:16PM +0100, mick wrote:
Only 7 years old? My copy of Maurice Bach's Design of the Unix Operating System dates from '86, Stephen Bourne's Unix System V Environment '87, Kernighan and Pike's Unix Programming Environment '84....
Some of those books sound more like timeless classics than what is in the alug library :)
So. I'll happily take over the books rather than see them thrown in a skip. I might even read 'em :-)
Expect the sound of tyres and a car pulling up outside your house in the next few minutes!
I did suggest that Wayne buy everybody in Alug a kindle and copies of all the books btw, but he didn't seem very keen on that idea.
Adam
If anyone's got a copy of Ubuntu Unleased (maybe 2nd edition - by Andrew Hudson and Paul Hudson) that you don't want, I'd cheerfully give it a home, she says more in hope than expectation.
I did suggest that Wayne buy everybody in Alug a kindle and copies of all the books btw, but he didn't seem very keen on that idea.
Odd that. ;¬)
Bev.
On 23 October 2010 13:34, Adam Bower adam@thebowery.co.uk wrote:
I did suggest that Wayne buy everybody in Alug a kindle and copies of all the books btw, but he didn't seem very keen on that idea.
Though in odd timing, I have just spotted http://www.amazon.com/tag/kindle/forum/ref=cm_cd_cg_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8...
(excuse the long link)
"Second, later this year, we will be introducing lending for Kindle, a new feature that lets you loan your Kindle books to other Kindle device or Kindle app users."
Greg
On Mon, 25 Oct 2010 09:55:53 +0100 Greg Thomas Greg@TheThomasHome.co.uk allegedly wrote:
On 23 October 2010 13:34, Adam Bower adam@thebowery.co.uk wrote:
I did suggest that Wayne buy everybody in Alug a kindle and copies of all the books btw, but he didn't seem very keen on that idea.
Though in odd timing, I have just spotted http://www.amazon.com/tag/kindle/forum/ref=cm_cd_cg_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8...
Absolutely terrific! Irony is not yet dead.
I just loved this:
"if .... you don't yet own a Kindle" (implication, you will, you will)
and this is just priceless:
"Our vision is Buy Once, Read Everywhere"
Errm. I can do that with a book. And I don't need your hardware or your permission.
</Luddite>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The text file for RFC 854 contains exactly 854 lines. Do you think there is any cosmic significance in this?
Douglas E Comer - Internetworking with TCP/IP Volume 1
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc854.txt ---------------------------------------------------------------------
On 23/10/10 00:44, Wayne Stallwood wrote:
I am still looking to rid myself of having to store the ALUG library.
I have no suggestions but can offer my sympathy.
I too run a small library of about 500 books an behalf of a Norwich based group[1] and in the last 9 years have only lent out some 6 books. I would quite like to get my spare bedroom back!.
Any time I raise the issue of anyone else taking it over, Scotty beams everybody away. :-)
[1] it's not computer stuff.
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Adam Bower -
Anthony Anson -
Bev Nicolson -
Greg Thomas -
Martijn Koster -
mick -
nev young -
Wayne Stallwood