DSO odds and ends

We were about to embark at Dover, when (Jolly Roger)
came up to me and whispered:

One expects the money for the rebranding exercise will come from
the money HCC is saving from the slashing of public transport
services

To be fair, some of these libraries hadn't been refurbished since the
late 50's...

--
Paul Cummins - Always a NetHead
Wasting Bandwidth since 1981

Jim wrote:
On 26/08/2011 17:18, J G Miller wrote:
On Friday, August 26th, 2011 at 17:16:09h +0100, Mark Carver wrote:

I'm told all Hampshire libraries are to become 'Discovery Centres',
probably the first stage in a plan where we will *discover* they no
longer have any books.

Will lenders be expected to provide their own Kindles (tm)
or will these be available to rent?


Kindles aren't compatible with the e-book system used in public libraries.





Yes, it's hard to believe isn't it?

It is being worked on though. Of course the US will get it first.

--
Adrian

Paul Cummins wrote:

We were about to embark at Dover, when lid
(Mark Carver) came up to me and whispered:

Alternatively, I could meet you at the Library to photocopy it?

Ha, Library ? They've re-branded it "The Basingstoke Discovery
Centre" don't you know !

Not at Chineham, they haven't. Anyway I like the new airy Basingstoke
central "facility" - at least you can eat and drink while reading now.

My mother stopped going to her local libary after it 'went digital' in
her words. She meant that she had to use a computer to check books in
and out. Too confusing for an 85 year old.

--

On 8/27/2011 7:33 AM, Adrian wrote:
Jim wrote:
On 26/08/2011 17:18, J G Miller wrote:
On Friday, August 26th, 2011 at 17:16:09h +0100, Mark Carver wrote:
I'm told all Hampshire libraries are to become 'Discovery Centres',
probably the first stage in a plan where we will *discover* they no
longer have any books.
Will lenders be expected to provide their own Kindles (tm)
or will these be available to rent?

Kindles aren't compatible with the e-book system used in public
libraries.
Yes, it's hard to believe isn't it?

It is being worked on though. Of course the US will get it first.

An old friend who lives in California, uses her Kindle to borrow ebooks
from her local library.

In article , Dave Plowman (News)
wrote:
In article en.co.uk,
Roderick Stewart wrote:

Probably at least 50%, maybe more, of the books in my possession were
published before home computers existed. Some of them are older than I
am. I think my oldest book is one that was published in 1832. It
hasn't worn out yet, or become obsolete, and I haven't needed to
change its batteries once.

Given the way such things are done, what's the chance of being able to
read a 200 year old file when the time comes? Most can't even play the
tapes from a few years back they store in the loft...

I spent a couple of hours yesterday destroying and binning loads of old
discs. Mostly common floppy discs, but also some 'syquest' removable HDs.
And some 'flopticals'[1]. I'd tranferred what I needed ages ago, but had
kept them 'just in case'. Finally faced up to them being obsolete.
Typically material around 10 to 20 years old. I still have a load I've not
got around to dealing with. Plus some 'zip' discs I need to check before I
dump them and the zip drive.

Slainte,

Jim

[1] Same size and shape as a common floppy disc, but held 20Mb using an
optical guide to find the narrow tracks.

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Roderick Stewart wrote:

Probably at least 50%, maybe more, of the books in my possession were published
before home computers existed. Some of them are older than I am. I think my
oldest book is one that was published in 1832. It hasn't worn out yet, or
become obsolete, and I haven't needed to change its batteries once.

How do you back it up?

Bill

In article , Ashley
wrote:
Paul Cummins wrote:

We were about to embark at Dover, when lid
(Mark Carver) came up to me and whispered:

Alternatively, I could meet you at the Library to photocopy it?

Ha, Library ? They've re-branded it "The Basingstoke Discovery
Centre" don't you know !

Not at Chineham, they haven't. Anyway I like the new airy Basingstoke
central "facility" - at least you can eat and drink while reading now.

My mother stopped going to her local libary after it 'went digital' in
her words. She meant that she had to use a computer to check books in
and out. Too confusing for an 85 year old.

FWIW I've tried the 'computer' our local library provide for bookseach and
reservations. In theory this lets you find and request any book in any
library in the area. However it doesn't actually work correctly. Presents
as 'webpages' with links. But most links fail. And the details of where a
volume is located (library and shelf) are often incorrect. Try to make a
reservation and it falls over.

The librarians can't get it to work, and the Council do nothing when they
report the problem. But they have officially been 'computerised', so that's
a 'success' then... The users just ask a librarian as before. The good
news is that they are knowledgeable and helpful. The bad news is the worry
that they may be 'made redundant' to save money "now we are computerised".
The dramatic reduction in book borrowing that would precipitate would then
presumably be used as evidence that no-one wants the library any more.[1]

In contrast they also have a set of window-boxes upstairs you can pay per
hour to rent time on. These *do* work. But locals in the know would pop
around to a community center where you can get access for free.

Slainte,

Jim

[1] Bit like the way the old BR used to cut the number of trains stopping
at a station to one per day for a while. Then say 'no one uses this station
so we may as well close it down'.

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

On 8/27/2011 8:55 AM, Bill Wright wrote:
Roderick Stewart wrote:

Probably at least 50%, maybe more, of the books in my possession were
published before home computers existed. Some of them are older than I
am. I think my oldest book is one that was published in 1832. It
hasn't worn out yet, or become obsolete, and I haven't needed to
change its batteries once.

How do you back it up?

Photocopier?

How many have you lent out to people who you had assumed were
trustworthy friends but did not return them?

On Sat, 27 Aug 2011 08:32:02 +0100, Roderick Stewart
wrote:

Probably at least 50%, maybe more, of the books in my possession were published
before home computers existed. Some of them are older than I am.
--
================================================== =======
Please always reply to ng as the email in this post's
header does not exist. Or use a contact address at:
http://www.macfh.co.uk/JavaJive/JavaJive.html
http://www.macfh.co.uk/Macfarlane/Macfarlane.html

Oh ... And how many trunks do you need to pack them into when you move
house?

On Sat, 27 Aug 2011 08:32:02 +0100, Roderick Stewart
wrote:

Probably at least 50%, maybe more, of the books in my possession were published
before home computers existed.
--
================================================== =======
Please always reply to ng as the email in this post's
header does not exist. Or use a contact address at:
http://www.macfh.co.uk/JavaJive/JavaJive.html
http://www.macfh.co.uk/Macfarlane/Macfarlane.html