September, 2007

I’ve enjoyed following Kevin Smith’s blog, as he explores and implements Edubuntu. We talked with Kevin not so long ago when his dreams of installing Ubuntu products were just that: dreams.

Early in our trip, I was amazed by the technology the three of us brought on the road. We were a veritable computer and video production lab on wheels. I even took a photo to prove it.

She peered over at me, eyebrow raised, and asked, "how old are you?"

Unprepared to answer such a personal question, I stumbled and paused, mouth opened.

Yesterday we visited two libraries in two sweet towns and topped it off with the fundraiser for the Humboldt County Library. Today is much the same--we're traveling to Mendocino county to visit two libraries, and then we head back to San Francisco. The phone just woke us all up before our alarm, and I tumbled around, trying to find a way to make it stop. It was the front desk at our hotel, telling us the bookmobile was about to be towed, due to the farmer's market setting up in the square. What a rude awakening, and what kind of person would tow a bookmobile???

As Brewster Kahle cautioned, practice, practice, and more practice is required to perfect the setup, the bookmaking, and the break down of the bookmobile. He spoke the truth, and as we embark upon our last days of the tour, I thought I'd list some of the hard lessons of the road. :)

We spent a lovely day at the Orland Free Library, and we're lucky ShinJoung caught it on film. After much editing and producing, ShinJoung's filmic masterpiece is now ready for the public!

WATCH the bookmobile crew on ShinJoung's blog.

As I mentioned earlier, we've established a ritual of visiting each library before showing up in the bookmobile. As a trio of librarians and library users, we like to check out public libraries whether we're on a bookmobile or on vacation.

So when we set up shop at the Humboldt County Library just a few minutes ago, we expected we'd maintain our incognito status. This time, we were wrong.

Friday night, the bookmobile will be making an appearance at the Oysters & Ale Fundraiser to benefit broadband services and free wi-fi at the Humboldt County Library. We're so excited!

We're honored to be a part of this event, and our spirits rose when we saw this banner as arrived in Arcata:

The Internet Archive Bookmobile is a real draw and is real fun for everyone. Most people can't help but stop and learn what we're doing, parked near the doors of public libraries. We've chatted with people of all ages and of all stripes. What fascinates me most is what interests people about the bookmobile. Librarians talk about collection development and linking to the online texts, while kids and adults get excited about free books, music, and film, and ALL ages love the slicer (we named it Sally):

Sad days have come upon the Internet Archive bookmobile and a mysterious computer problem has surfaced with my work computer. Good thing I brought backups: we may be forced to turn my Subaru into a bookmobile, and I'm using a spare laptop to access the Internet.

We’ve established a daily ritual on the bookmobile tour: upon arriving to each town we find and follow the signs to the public library. This exercise is a good indicator for how the library fits into the community. Is it on the outskirts? Is it near the center of town? Are there clear signs indicating the way there? Are there signs? Depending on our answer, we can surmise what type of town we're entering.

I love traveling the back roads, stopping at small towns, and musing about what makes them tick. That's why this trip has been so special: I'm doing what I love and learning while I do it. I've never visited small towns in California, and I've enjoyed comparing and contrasting them to my own experiences in small, Midwestern cities. There's a slight adventurous side to these West Coast towns, a wild west personality that's absent from the more staid and reserved heartland.

When we see a library, we stop. And when we leave our keys in the bookmobile ignition and smartly lock the doors, we stay a little longer.

This was the case when we arrived at the Redding Library on Sunday, when James, ever conscious of safety, made our trip a little more interesting. Lucky for us, we were at the the perfect spot to research our next stop while he chatted with Robyn from AAA about our predicament.

I just left the Tehama County Library in Red Bluff to find Internet access. The library doesn't offer wi-fi, and their public computers blocked access to my webmail, so off I drove to the one spot in town where the iced coffee is served with free wi-fi.

Just minutes ago, I took this shot:

We spent a lovely day on Saturday in Weaverville, CA, a town of about 3000 at the foothills of the Trinity Alps. As one 20-something put it, "it's a sleepy town" (he used this phrase 7 times during our 10-minute chat about his hometown). But it's a charming town, too. There were antique stores, a few cafes, a bead store, a large logging mill, the historic Joss House, and a library just barely out of town, on the main street.

My traveling cohorts, James and Shinjoung, are tech savvy librarians who love sharing tips with other fellow librarians. On Friday, they got their chance at the Orland Free Library.

What you may not learn from a drive through town, you’ll soon understand when you spend an afternoon at the Orland Free Library in Orland, CA. Others may consider Orland a drive-by town, or a blip off the highway, but we’d call it a sweet town with a thriving library that sits literally and figuratively as the center of the community.

I love learning about libraries, and what I particularly enjoy is hearing about what librarians love about their library. I've asked each librarian to share their thoughts on this topic, and it was Sue's answer, from the Grass Valley branch of the Nevada County Library, that has remained in my mind.

Each day, I've used the public computers at the libraries we visit, and at the Madelyn Helling Library, when I attempted to plug in my MP3 player/flash drive, I experienced difficulties fitting it in to the Dell desktop computer's USB port (my computer was named Zeppo). The port was situated at an angle and designed for a smaller device. Try as I may, I couldn't make it work.

I’ve met so many superstars on this trip, and look forward to meeting more. At each library, I sometimes feel like a walking Cookbook: I share stories, I offer solutions I’ve heard from libraries, and I capture the triumphs and challenges each step of the way. Here’s a brief synopsis of just a few shining moments:

Open entering the Nevada County Public Library, the first thing I noticed were the names on the public computers--“Groucho,” “Gummo,” “Zeppo,” “Chico,” and “Harpo”-–a fun way for the patrons to select the public computer they want to use, and a great way for staff to keep track of patron usage. No numbers to remember, or tech-specific codes, just names that are memorable and offer a human aspect to a sometimes cold and distant technology.

Well, maybe pink, or even salmon-colored.

When I popped my trunk this morning, ash floated around me, sliding off my car. A fire was moving in our direction, but there was no real sign of it... yet.

Making books in the Internet Archive bookmobile not only draws a lot of curious patrons, staff, and passersby, it's also a lot of fun. So when I had a chance to bind our very own Cookbook, I jumped at the opportunity. Today, I invited Margaret Miles of the Plumas County Library to learn how the binding machine works using her personal copy of the Cookbook. Here she is, a veritable pro!

Today I spoke with librarians from the four branches of the Plumas County Library. Margaret Miles, the director of the library, invited me to speak at their all-staff meeting, and we shared a provocative conversation covering many topics, from lockdown software, to tracking public computer use, to low-fi PC reservation processes, to patron training.

When asked what has made a big difference in the world of public computers at his library, Eric Brooks of Placer County Library spoke of flash drives. Eliminating another responsibility at the reference desk, the pervasiveness of these powerful gadgets has made public computing a bit easier on the staff and the patrons. No purchasing of disks, and thanks to the recent upgrade, no crawling around on the floor--just pop it in on the USB drive, and you're good!