As most of you know I have been the ALUG Librarian now for some time.
However as of sometime around Christmas/Early next year I will be moving to a house with one less bedroom and I think I may run into problems storing the books, Also the house I am moving to is likely to be a building site for some time and really the less things I have around the easier life will be.
Therefore this is a call for a new librarian to stand up or for us to discuss the future of the library.
I am completely happy to continue to host and maintain the online library catalogue..it is only the actual storage of the books that might present a problem. This might actually also make more sense if someone who attends the meetings more regularly than me took over.
Also this might be a good time to discuss the future of the library, at the moment and since I took over it is almost completely inactive. Part of this is I think due to the logistics of the books being in Bury St Edmunds in the possession of a member who rarely attends meets but mostly I think because the collection is quite out of date.
The O'Reilly group membership has been processed and we have received exactly one book. To receive more free we really need to get something up to promote the books (or at least review them on our site) or actually request specific books and see what happens. There is also a group discount for members who want to purchase books, but I have not had time to figure out the logistics of this.
These bits would require more time than I currently have whilst amongst house clearing/renovation to get set up but would hopefully result in a selection of up to date books for the library.
Another option is to prune the existing collection somewhat to a size where it is more manageable for a member to take over (or perhaps even for me to continue to manage) and then for me or someone else to take steps to get some book donations to replace the purged books with more recent/more interesting books.
Alternatively with minimal effort on my part the online library can support a distributed library where members share responsibility for storing the books and the loan is "permanent" until a member leaves or someone else wants to borrow it. The site can then mail the relevant person for each book to tell them that someone else wants to borrow it etc.
Your collective thoughts and/or offers to store the library as it stands would be appreciated.
Wayne,
First up, I think you've done a sterling job with the ALUG library. I haven't made much use of it myself, but that's because my work maintains a very good, up-to-date library of technical publications including recent O'Reilly books which is just far easier for me, personally, to make use of. For that reason, I don't have many technical books of my own either.
I think you're right that the sheer amount of territory that ALUG covers, doesn't really lend itself well to heavy usage of the library, esp. if you no longer make it to as many meets as you have done in the past (and I'm certainly not suggesting you should at feel obliged to turn up more than you want to!), which is a shame as it sounds like the O'Reilly group membership might be of some value.
I think the idea of turning the library software into more of a peer-to-peer arrangement sounds sensible, but it's not going to solve the immediate problem you currently have of a library's worth of books in your spare room. Also, it could still leave the problem of how members swap books, if they don't regularly attend the same meetings. Though, I guess you could work it into the software to specify /where/ the book is currently located as well as who holds it and just leave it to ALUGers to work out the transportation/postage.
Alternatively, you could give away all the books you currently have to anyone on the list who wants them, and then whatever's left to a charity shop, and make the peer-to-peer library a list of books that people own personally, but are happy to lend out, if requested. By that point, though, you are heading into BookCrossing.com territory and I wonder whether it's worth the effort of creating/maintaining a local site for that (unless ppl only feel comfortable trusting local-ish ALUG members that they know?).
Bottom line for me, tho - I don't think I'll be personally making much more use of the library in the near future, and with only living in a flat with three main rooms plus bathroom in total, I don't really have the storage space to take on the role (plus I haven't made it to any Norwich meets at all yet).
Peter.
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samwise -
Wayne Stallwood