Library DrupalCamp

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highermath's picture

Following up on my note to the Drupal4lib list, I propose that we have a library DrupalCamp. Presuming that this would be a one day event, I suggest Thursday, June 24th (ish) immediately proceeding ALA Annual in Washington, DC. Of course, it could be two days.

Formal or unconference?

If anyone is interested in getting involved or, preferably, taking charge of this, please step forward.

Comments

I am interested in

domesticat's picture

I am interested in participating, but obviously I'll need to get permission from my library system first.

I'd pitch for two days if there's a good amount of interest; I know it would work out better for me to be two days, as 1) I am not attending ALA and 2) I am not compensated for travel time and would otherwise have to be back in the office on Friday morning.

Assuming I get permission from my library system, I'd be willing to talk / answer questions / present.

Also interested, but waiting to know...

cathaycrosby's picture

Like Domesticat/Amy, I may be able to attend one day but have yet to know if my library's budget can cover this. Wednesday or Thursday will work, if it's a go for me.

Cathay Crosby
Operations Assistant/Volunteer Coordinator, Maryland AskUsNow!
ccrosby@askusnow.info
and
Statewide Coordinator, Ask a Librarian Delaware
cathay.crosby@lib.de.us

RE: Also interested, but waiting to know...

jason.domasky's picture

In addition to my esteemed colleague Cathay, we have 1 or 2 more colleagues who will likely participate in a pre-ALA camp/unconference. Baltimore County PL is diving into Drupal in a huge way this winter. We support the camp concept; a June event in DC will be welcome and well-timed.

NYC Drupal Camp

susgeek's picture

Did you see this one?

http://groups.drupal.org/node/29472

It is in Brooklyn in December.

Re: NYC Drupal Camp

highermath's picture

There are many DrupalCamps being held around the world, and I highly recommend that everyone attend these whenever they can. With respect to the NYC camp, I went to this last year and, it being an unconference, wound up presenting. For NYC in particular, demand is much greater than capacity, so I suggest you sign up as soon as it becomes available. Disclaimer: I am the Drupal Association Events Manager, so I might be biased.

The proposed Library DrupalCamp is different in that it will be library focused. This is not to say that there won't be beginner tracks -- there will. Eric Goldhagen, one of the NYC Camp organizers has offered to help organize our Camp, as well (w00t!).

FWIW, the NYC DrupalCamp sold

highermath's picture

FWIW, the NYC DrupalCamp sold out (free-ed out?) in six days. They have a waiting list that is up to 40 folks.

DrupalCamp in DC

ronpeterson's picture

I will be in DC for the conference and would be happy to help out. Also, I'm the chair of LITA's Drupal Interest Group, so I'd be happy to talk to people at LITA about what support they could provide. I know we are past the deadlines for proposing programs and such, but maybe we can work something out.

It looks like I'm in!

domesticat's picture

I've talked with people at my library and it looks like I'm in, though I'm really pulling for it to be two days if at all possible. I would be able to help while on-site, but my ability to help organize prior to the conference will be somewhere between 'limited' and 'nonexistent.'

Topics I can talk about with varying degrees of expertise:

  • Writing custom modules: you can do this!
  • Multi-site installs.
  • Organic groups.
  • How HPL is using custom modules + chart module + CCK to create an in-house, crowd-sourced statistics-reporting system
  • Ubercart basics
  • Thinking in terms of Views (or "how putting lots of thought into your custom node types can help you get the site you want in the end")
  • It might also be good to have a "awesome modules you don't know you need yet" discussion

I know just enough about CiviCRM to be dangerous -- I could see some interest there. I'm betting a Panels discussion would go over well, too.

It looks like I'll be doing some sort of Q&A or presentation at the Alabama Library Association meeting this spring on open source software in libraries. I think it'll be a little too basic for this crowd, though it'll help me get back in practice of talking in front of groups.

I'm In!

leoklein's picture

Cary Gordon was talking about this as well. Sounds like a great idea. Also the note from Ron is nice since it points to a potentially helpful collaboration/coordination with the Drupal4Lib LITA IG.

A pre ALA Annual Drupal Camp would be great...

TaraDLS's picture

Although I like the idea of an unconference, I know there are a lot of librarians (myself included) who are just starting out with Drupal who may like more of a structured track for Drupal beginners. It seems like many Drupal events are geared towards the proficient and it would be nice to have something for people who want to use it but maybe still need the basics.

Need to confirm

webwriter's picture

I'd love to come and would be more than happy to speak on beginner topics or anything else that's needed. However, I'd need to get it in the budget within the next few weeks. Do we have a deadline for when this will be a definite "go" or not?

Thanks!

I'm willing to teach.

domesticat's picture

I'm willing to teach, too, if we can get it firmed up that this event will happen.

DrupalCamp planning

ronpeterson's picture

It seems like there will be a lot of interest in this event if we can pull things to gether. There's a lot of details that we need to get settled:

Venue?
Topics?
Speakers? (Amy?, Webwriter?, anyone else?)
Date(s)?
Registration?

Re: DrupalCamp planning

leoklein's picture

Thursday, June 24th as 'highermath' suggested, seems like a good day -- early enough to be almost 'preconference'.

Location - DCPL?

leoklein's picture

DCPL has a Drupal site... Just saying...

I'm willing to talk about it

libtechie's picture

I'm willing to talk about it as well, i'm no expert by any means but we are in the middle of implementing Drupal for PLS and looking at SOPAC as well.

Conference Logistics

swacktacular's picture

Hi, all. This is Amy Swackhamer from Drupal4Lib. I don't really feel like I know enough about Drupal to run a session well (might change by June if we do an unconference type of format) , but since I live pretty close to DC and I'd like to see this event happen, I would like to help out with the planning aspects. I'll soon look at some of the guides for running unconferences and DrupalCamps and see if I can make some initial suggestions related to ronpeterson's questions there to see if we can move planning forward.

I'd still push for two days

domesticat's picture

I'd still push for two days if at all possible, for both personal and professional reasons. I think we'll have a lot more to talk about than we initially realize, and extra time will make it possible to have a reasonably relaxed lunch, try new modules, try setting up a site from scratch, etc. If we go into "modules you don't know about but should," that's a half-day alone. :)

If we can only officially do one day, I'll have to fly back earlier than I'd like on Thursday. If I can't convince you all to do two full days, then perhaps we could make Friday an optional extra day, maybe the Optional Advanced Day.

Fly Back?

leoklein's picture

I was thinking of this as the opener for ALA. You wouldn't be going to ALA?

Also, 'official' is pretty much whatever we want. :)

As far as how many day(s), I think something on the Thursday, for the entire day, is a pretty good chunk both for organizers & attendees.

Venues?

highermath's picture

Could you ping possible venues?

Libraries, library schools, your house, anyplace with free IP...

Yep, I'll start looking into

swacktacular's picture

Yep, I'll start looking into it. My house is probably not an option, though :-)

I am good for a session

highermath's picture

My initial point was that I would like this to happen, but I don't have time to set it up. I will be happy to help and/or do a session or two. My company will also help with a cash donation. I might be able to get some support from the Drupal Association as well.

So far I see Amy, Amy and Ron in the leadership queue. What's next?

willing worker bee

sharonknieper's picture

Since I love the sound of this, I would like to make sure it will happen. Due to involvement at grad school (until May) and work, I can't commit to being leadership, but consider me a willing worker bee for any small or generic tasks.

Also I like the idea of a 2 day event - there is definitely plenty to be covered.

'nother worker bee

aballard's picture

Not ready to present, but I'm willing to help out where I can with planning/organizing/prep tasks before and during the event.

I'd also be coming to this, but not for ALA.

wiki page for planning

swacktacular's picture

I dropped some planning issues into a wiki page - please feel free to update and add your thoughts on what you think needs to be done to make the camp happen.
http://groups.drupal.org/node/43044

DrupalCamp: Maybe, ALA: no

fereira's picture

I almost certainly could not get funding to attend ALA. Our travel budget if very restrictive (I can essentially only get funding from our library to attend only one conference a year) so I have be very discriminating about what conference I choose. I'm even on the planning committee of a annual conference for an open source for higher education organization (our 10 year anniversary conference) that I will not be able to attend.

However, as I have been doing a lot of work with Drupal recently, I might consider the six hour drive to DC as an extended weekend vacation and attend the DrupalCamp and have a couple of things I've been working on that I think would be of interest.

Separate from ALA Convention

leoklein's picture

I imagine this as a separate ancillary event. I'll be at ALA the next couple of days but that's just me.

ALA's a no for me, too

swacktacular's picture

I also would only be attending the DrupalCamp. I think DC probably has a pretty good location for being able to attract a fair number of folks who won't be at ALA.

LITA help possibilities

ronpeterson's picture

Here is some information I got back from LITA:

If we want to make this a program at Annual, we need to get the Program Planning Committee involved by filling out their form here: http://litablog.org/2009/06/call-for-proposals-ala-annual-2010/ (deadlines, etc. are Jan 25th to be in the program)

If we want to make this a formal post-conference, where LITA would handle room reservations and equipment requests at a conference venue & where people would have to pay registration to the tune of ~$200 or so, we you would also do the form above and indicate this is a post-conference.

If we only want LITA to lend it's name and marketing efforts to a non-conference affiliated location which we would
arrange on our own (and which would probably cost the attendees much less) then we need to let LITA and the LITA Board know what we would like from them in an email, preferably this week since the Board will be meeting at Midwinter (Friday and Monday).

From the LITA Manual,
http://www.lita.org/ala/mgrps/divs/lita/aboutlita/org/litamanual/litaman...

If we think we will want to pursue any form of sponsorship, let me know and I will contact the board and the program planning committee.

Ron

I would prefer a free or

highermath's picture

I would prefer a free or cheap unaffiliated event.

We should certainly invite all of LITA, and anyone else in library-land.

Cary

Cheap is good, Free is better!

leoklein's picture

Yeah, I think people would prefer the economy option -- there were a couple in fact who said they might only be able to do this (sadly enough).

Let me ask around and see what I can dig up. Basically we would need a non-profit bibliographic kind of organization with a room that could sit maybe 30(?) somewhere in the central area of DC -- preferably for Thursday, 6/24.

How's that sound?

Space needs

ronpeterson's picture

I'm all for free, I just wanted to pass on all the options. Do we want to try to get something into the program? With co-sponsorship we may be able to get some promotion of the event out of LITA.

Is 30 spots going to be enough? I think we will get more interest than that. Also, DC is pretty easy to get around in, so I don't know that we need to limit ourselves to the central area of DC. I'll poke around and see if I can find anywhere available on Thursday.

I've never organized a

swacktacular's picture

I've never organized a conference like this, but I attended the InfoCamp Seattle session on organizing and InfoCamp and the organizers suggested making an unconference cheap so it's available to a wide range of attendees, but not free because people often don't value cheap things highly and may up registering and taking up a space but not showing up, since they have no money invested. This certainly rings true based on my experiences organizing free classes in public libraries.

I think 30 sounds small.
Also, if we're doing a format with simultaneous sessions, we would ideally want one big room that holds everyone and a few breakout rooms for smaller discussions and talks, right?

I agree that anything near the metro should be fine, venue-wise.
I am also asking around.
I volunteered for DC FringeFest this summer (a big performance arts event including dozens of different shows going on in a number of locations), and I wonder if the organizers of that might have advice on getting free/cheap venue space in the city...

Great

leoklein's picture

I think it wouldn't be too hard to put together a pretty decent preliminary agenda -- with room enough for extra activities.

If we were to collect anything, I'd say we could maybe put it to lunch. If we don't charge, we could just do a 'sign up' by creating an event here.

Also, how much info would a sponsor need and when?

Unconference

sclapp's picture

30 sounds small. Darien Libary must've had at least 2 to 3 times that when they offered a 1-day Drupal camp/unconference in CT last winter. Many more libraries are involved with Drupal now.

I think the unconference format would be perfect - less for anyone to put together & more Drupal-appropriate, anyway.

Plus, PLEASE - NO charge. I already have to pay all of my professional travel fees, regular conference registrations, etc., one more would be the straw that broke the camel's back I think. I went to DrupalCamp Atlanta - it was free - held on a college campus. Isn't there a university around there that would be happy to host us? :)

Venue non-update

swacktacular's picture

I wrote to Catholic U and University of MD (local schools with library science programs) and DC Public Library (which uses Drupal) plus some other people I know in the area to see if we could come up with some location possibilities - will let you all know if I get some possible venue specs / costs.

Great!

highermath's picture

Thanks for digging in. I think hat we could draw a good-sized crowd. I would hope for 100+. Good wifi that we can use is a must.

It would be great if we could keep it free. We could hit up all of the Drupal shops that service libraries (including mine) to cover food & bev and other costs.

Two days would be incredible.

Great!

highermath's picture

Thanks for digging in. I think hat we could draw a good-sized crowd. I would hope for 100+. Good wifi that we can use is a must.

It would be great if we could keep it free. We could hit up all of the Drupal shops that service libraries (including mine) to cover food & bev and other costs.

Two days would be incredible.

Venue info gathering

swacktacular's picture

I'm starting to accrue more information about potential locations (contacts, rates, etc.). I can just stash all the info away or wait until I have enough options detailed, but I was wondering if anyone else who's looking into venues or has experience with this kind of thing would like for me to share what I find with them as I keep looking...
if anyone else wants me to share this with them as I get it, let me know.

cathaycrosby's picture

Amy and I have been exchanging emails about this, and I thought I'd present this to the whole group here.

I've attended a couple of Drupal events last year - a DrupalCon in DC an a BofF at ALA. One of the things that I hear complaints about the most is that there is often an assumed level of expertise or knowledge. It can really create a barrier.

What I'd like to see - a kind of wish - is to have an understanding of who would want to attend and why. If you can answer any or all, it might be helpful.

Here are some questions:
1. What is it you hope to come away with?

  1. Do you want to learn something specific to be covered?

  2. Are you hoping to meet and make contact to have a network of support to turn to when stuck?

  3. Do you want to network with web developers and designers who want to sell their skills and books?

  4. Would it be better to have the lunch brought in (where we'd pay for this) or to give ample time to venture out on your own?

Here's one idea for organizing (and I'm not offended if this is rejected!): If the group is primarily focused upon understanding Drupal in a "Basic 101" and "Advanced Skill-building" kinds of topics, it might be good to have a place for "topics to be addressed" and then have those who are knowledgeable and interested to offer their proposals to fill that in. For example, maybe Amy could create a wiki and we'd offer ideas/wishes for topics to be covered, and then those who have the skills and interest could add their names to those topics.

What do you think?

And, I'm going to have to reiterate...I totally believe free is what is needed if we can swing this at all. Drupal/Open Source/Libraries...we're there! Budgets are tight and/or non-existent. Even putting out travel expenses is a hardship for some (and some will be losing a day's pay). Perhaps the Washington DC library has a conference room we can reserve...but we probably can't use a non-profit's room if there is a fee involved. Many libraries have this provision for their meeting rooms/conference rooms. Thanks for checking on this Amy!

Cathay Crosby
Operations Assistant/Volunteer Coordinator, Maryland AskUsNow!
ccrosby@askusnow.info
and
Statewide Coordinator, Ask a Librarian Delaware
cathay.crosby@lib.de.us

what people want

swacktacular's picture

Hi, Cathay. Although I haven't been to any Drupal-specific [un]conferences, I agree that it would be good to try to get a match up between what attendees want and how presenters prep the material they're willing to share.
In terms of gauging needs and interests, I feel like a survey might give a better sense for the number of people likely to attend and a better overall sense of what people need. I think if we try to gather that information from a wiki we're more likely to get feedback from a vocal few and that long tail would be weighted more heavily. Unless... well, maybe I'm not sure if you were just saying maybe the presenters could use a wiki to refine ideas based on what likely attendees say they want. What were you thinking about that, Cathay?
By the way, thanks for recommending Bonnie Bogle as a location contact - she got back to me with suggestions for some venues I hadn't heard of and seems very helpful.

Survey our Wishes, Desires, Needs and Wants

cathaycrosby's picture

Hi Amy,

Yes, I think a brief survey could be helpful...even regarding food preferences. These could mostly be open-ended questions with blocks for text but we could add a question regarding preferred dates, for example, to streamline it.

I have often used SurveyMonkey but here we are in Drupal...any suggestions for how to survey here, using Drupal, team?

Cathay Crosby
Operations Assistant/Volunteer Coordinator, Maryland AskUsNow!
ccrosby@askusnow.info
and
Statewide Coordinator, Ask a Librarian Delaware
cathay.crosby@lib.de.us

Count me and Duo Consulting in!

dougvann's picture

Cary, thanks so much for kicking this off!
Community at large, thanks for jumping right on it!

I want to throw the support (financial and otherwise) of Duo Consulting behind this effort. We have been very pleased to serve the Library community for a number of years. The ALA website [while not CURRENTLY Drupal] was built by us.

I would be happy to present Intro Sessions or any of a number of other adv topics; as would others on our staff.

Count us in!

Doug Vann
Drupal Developer
D U O : C O N S U L T I N G
Web Content Management Experts

765-537-8725 : direct
312.529.3000 : main
http://www.duoconsulting.com

  • Doug Vann [Drupal Trainer, Consultant, Developer]
  • Synaptic Blue Inc. [President]
  • http://dougvann.com

Thanks for the Support

leoklein's picture

We're still in the early stages. I guess our next step is to figure out time-slots and then get people who want to present.

(Also, thanks for Tuesday's Demo on Theming in Chicago).

Updating - Refocusing our ALA meet-up

cathaycrosby's picture

Hi!

Amy, Jason and I have revisited the idea of a Drupal4Lib event in Washington D.C. in June. The information we have is helping us form a more informal gathering, pared down from an actual DrupalCamp (unless some miracle occurs and someone wants to create a 2-day workshop with speakers, etc.).

So this is what we're looking at:

--Amy was contacted by someone at DCPL and Plan A is that we might have a space there to meet. If not..., plan B is to gather in a free space, such as a hotel lobby or even outside (weather permitting). The question is: Is there someone in this group who is staying at a hotel around the conference area who can "host" a small group's informal gathering?

The focus:

Who: Libraries and Drupal - very open, from knowledgeable to novice
What: Networking, sharing problems/ideas, support, fun!
Time: Early afternoon? 1pm - 3pm? This will give those of us who travel a head start out of town.
Day: Thursday, June 24 was originally thought to be good. Any other suggestions for days?
Place: DCPL or hotel lobby - To Be Determined

This is just a revamped proposal based upon our current information. Please respond and let us know if this works for you!

Thanks!

Cathay Crosby
Operations Assistant/Volunteer Coordinator, Maryland AskUsNow!
ccrosby@askusnow.info
and
Statewide Coordinator, Ask a Librarian Delaware
cathay.crosby@lib.de.us

Disambiguation?

domesticat's picture

I have a favor and a question --

1) The favor: there are two people named Amy who are participating in this discussion -- Amy Swackhamer and Amy Qualls-McClure -- could you use Amy S. and and Amy Q. so I won't blink and wonder if I'm forgetting things I promised to do?

2) The question: is there some concern over the date? The way you're describing it makes it sound like this event might not happen on Thursday, June 24. I thought that was a done deal ... ? (Asks she who still needs to buy airfare)

Hi, Cathay. Thanks for

swacktacular's picture

Hi, Cathay. Thanks for bringing this up again. I think this was a miscommunication - I actually wasn't talking to DCPL, but I had talked to some people who had and my understanding was that meeting at DCPL was the plan (see the venue thread: http://groups.drupal.org/node/48108). As noted on the thread, all the places I talked to wanted fees for the use of their rooms.

Personally I would be willing to travel down and talk to people day or evening on any of the dates - it's not a huge trip for me to make.

RE: Updating - Refocusing our ALA meet-up

jason.domasky's picture

Hi, I support Cathay's suggested concepts and date/time frame. An informal 2-3 hour meeting on a day preceding ALA seems to be the most realistic option, given that the conference is 3 months away at this point. Making a day trip to DC is an easy proposition for us folks in Maryland or Virginia. However, I can't imagine anyone buying airfare to fly to an out-of-state single afternoon gathering, unless he or she is also registered for ALA Annual. In our library system, some of the tech and Web staff who would care enough to attend DrupalCamp (or a scaled-down BOF-style get-together) are not members of ALA and don't attend ALA conferences. For this reason, and because DC is less than an hour away by car, the connection with ALA Annual is not an important factor for me or my colleagues (I'm speaking for some of the 6 BCPL staff who might possibly attend).

I'm a little caught by

domesticat's picture

I'm a little caught by surprise by the downward revision in size. I was expecting it to be a full day at least, but something as short and informal as has been described today wouldn't make sense for me to fly in for. Grr.

You are underestimating the

highermath's picture

You are underestimating the enthusiasm of the library Drupal community.

The last library DrupalCamp in Darrien last year was packed with about 70 folks (capacity) from all over the country, several of whom traveled quite a way. I came from Los Angeles, and I was not the most distant attendee.

That event followed Code4Lib, which draws about 200. Extrapolating to the 20k ALA draws, we should get 7,000. right? Okay, wrong, but you get where I am coming from. I did a one day Drupal pre-con in Anaheim which cost about $325/pp and sold out (25) in a few weeks.

I don't think that this should be an ice cream social. We should have a full day of presentations and workshops.

I think that we could do two days, easy, if we wanted to.

Venue for DrupalCamp at ALA

ronpeterson's picture

I had been in contact with someone who had done some Drupal work for DCPL, but I haven't heard from him for a while. Unless someone else is contacting DCPL, I'll try to reach someone there and see if we can get some room.

There were a couple of companies that had mentioned helping out financially. If we can't get space for free, maybe they would be willing to help out (hint, hint).

Can Go Two Ways...but...

cathaycrosby's picture

Hello Group!

Great to see all the responses yesterday. Unfortunately, I think reality is creeping into the realm of possibilities here. However, if there is still some serious DrupalCamp interest, there are some real logistical problems that have to be figured out before we can make it work.

The first and foremost is: Who will organize it? Highermath (Cary Gordon, right?) and Amy Q./Domesticat - I don't want to put you on the spot but you two seem to be the most outspoken about having this event be a full-fledged Camp. Can one or both of you take charge of organizing us around this? If you don't have the time, which is quite understandable, I think most of us can be satisfied with a networking/sharing event on Thursday, June 24th. If you have the time and the energy to put a bigger event together, please, by all means let's get started!

If Ron Peterson can successfully obtain DCPL space, that hurdle is covered. Otherwise, we're back to the "maybe someone will sponsor it," mode, and for how much? Space around the ALA conference is going to be expensive, as Amy S. has found through her exploration.

Highermath, are you able to make this more in line with what you envision? You are an events organizer, right? It would be great to bring this about - what are your thoughts for how to make it happen, and at relatively no cost for these budget depleted purses around here? We realize you live in California and Amy would also have to travel, and it would be more worthwhile to have a bigger, paying event. As Highermath mentions, these are popular events (I attended the one in Washington DC and it had sold out pretty quickly, at least two or three months before the Camp). Yes, the Drupal community is wonderfully active and enthusiastic! Can that energy bring about a DrupalCamp at this late date?

BTW: DuoConsulting had initially offered to help financially, but is now booked for another venue. I'm not sure if there are any other sponsors who can fund such an event, especially at this late date.

I hope this doesn't sound too challenging; I just would like to make sure we explore the options before giving up on a Camp since this was brought up again by Amy Q. and Highermath.

What do you think, group? Pursue the big quest or go with the informal venue?

Cathay Crosby
Operations Assistant/Volunteer Coordinator, Maryland AskUsNow!
ccrosby@askusnow.info
and
Statewide Coordinator, Ask a Librarian Delaware
cathay.crosby@lib.de.us

Hi Cathay, I am unable to get

highermath's picture

Hi Cathay,

I am unable to get a sense of what you want to do here. Are you stepping up to help organize or kibitzing?

I do not believe that it is late to be organizing an event in June, but it will be if we don't get moving.

I am a librarian who run's a software shop and has event organizing experience. I am currently using that experience and about 800 hours a year of my non-work time to organize the four DrupalCons that are currently in various stages of planning and production, so I can help; I can advise; but I can't do the work myself.

I will help sponsor the event, and help get others to sponsor, so we can try to keep this a free/donation event. There are at least seven Drupal shops that cater to the library/museum market, so this shouldn't be that difficult.

We really need a free/cheap venue. There are lots of libraries and museums in the Washington/Baltimore MSA. Hopefully, Amy S. can recruit one of them if DCPL falls through, although they should be our first choice. Our ideal venue would be a room that holds 100+ and has IP and a projector. An auditorium style classroom would be perfect. The Smithsonian is a high-profile Drupal site. Maybe they can help us out.

I can host a website and set up a simple sign up system. Someone else needs to manage the content.

So, we have Amy S., Amy Q., Ron and me who have committed to help. Will someone step up and commit to lead?

Thanks,

Cary Gordon, MLIS
The Cherry Hill Company

I just looked at the camp

highermath's picture

I just looked at the camp wiki and saw that we have two leaders -- Sharon Knieper and A Ballard.

w00t!

sharonknieper's picture

I just wanted to reiterate that I'd be willing to help, especially closer to the event with smaller details but am currently unable to actively participate in planning due to life as usual (two jobs, recent surgery, trying to graduate from grad school in May, etc.).

Venue Space

tracybetts's picture

Two options for venues:

1) I have a contact at Smithsonian Libraries if we want to ask about space downtown I am happy to do so.

2) Our offices are in Springfield, Va and we can offer free space for up to 500 people at the Springfield country club. It's about 20minutes outside of DC - but I did want to offer this as an option.

Tracy Betts
Balance Interactive

Tracy Betts
Balance Interactive

Venues again...

swacktacular's picture

OK, so just to nail down a couple of things:

I believe Ron and Leo Klein had both indicated they'd been talking to DCPL at some point. DCPL never responded to me, but I figured that was because they were talking to one or both of you. Can you check in with them about this? I'd be happy to try contacting them again, I just don't want there to be too many cooks in the kitchen w.r.t. that venue.
But I'd like to know soon about DCPL so I know if I need to work on securing one a different venue, and finding enough sponsorship to keep the event free if it's a place that costs something.

I will also contact the Smithsonian since Cary mentioned that and see if it would be a possibility.

DrupalCamp at ALA

ronpeterson's picture

I think we can still pull together a full day program. If we just have a 2 hour meet up on Thursday, it won't be worth the 1-2 days added nights in a hotel. To that end, I'm happy to help in any way. I've put in a call to DCPL, but only got voice mail. I'll keep after them until I get an answer.

In the meantime, I think it is worth Amy and/or Tracy contacting the Smithsonian to see if they have space we could use.

Tracy, thanks for offering up the country club. How convenient is that to public transportation or lodging?

Are Sharon Knieper and A Ballard out there?

DCPL = no

brianbrarian's picture

I just asked Aaron Schmidt, who works for DCPL, if they'd be able to provide space for Library DrupalCamp. He answered back that the few places they have that would work are already booked with other functions.

Sorry I won't make it to Library DrupalCamp, wherever it ends up!

This is astounding!

highermath's picture

DCPL has about a dozen rooms (100+) that might work for us. Their public booking system only goes through May, but shows them to be very lightly used. It is inconceivable to me that none of these rooms are available on June 24th.

Oh well.

I'll check anyway.

ronpeterson's picture

I'll still follow up with DCPL. Maybe they can direct me to another venue or maybe Aaron just didn't talk to the right person. Anyway, seems worth trying to talk to someone there.

Sounds prudent

brianbrarian's picture

Also could just be a difference in assumptions about which rooms "would work".

DCPL not available

ronpeterson's picture

I spoke with someone at the Library and they told me that everything is booked for any dates around the Conference.

Any luck with the Smithsonian?

Call in to Smithsonian Library

tracybetts's picture

I expect a call on Monday to confirm from Smithsonian or to give us options.

Tracy Betts
Balance Interactive

Good

swacktacular's picture

I also emailed a couple of people and SI - one of them said we would probably have to be affiliated with them in some way but she'd check with her colleagues.
I am also calling some other public libraries that can be reached by metro and will add the info I get from those to the venue discussion.
-Amy S

Ok, thanks

swacktacular's picture

I'll also do some more checking around with non-DCPL venues.
Tracybetts, I'll try contact a couple of people I know who work for the Smithsonian, but if you could also check with your acquaintance there, that would be great.

Need help?

sclapp's picture

I've been moving one office to another for the past week, but am available now. Would you like me to make any calls or otherwise help out in the organization of the camp at this point? (and I'm sorry we missed out on Doug Vann's offer of helping out this year, but maybe next year we'll have a template in place making it easier to be organized ahead of time). I'm not in DC, but CT, but am happy to start calling around on everyone's behalf.
And actually, I'm glad we're doing it anyway, it's the key reason I wanted to get to ALA this year.

May be able to contact NAL

fereira's picture

I know someone at the National Agriculture Library (the director) and could try to contact her to see if they have any available space. I have no idea if they're using Drupal at all or whether they could accommodate a meeting but I thought I'd throw it out as another suggestion. I also met with the manager for the Library and Archives Systems Support Branch at the Smithsonian a couple of weeks ago during her visit to Cornell and could ask her about meeting space as well.

Cary mentioned that some people traveled long distances for the C4L camp in Darien. I just got back last night from a visit at the Tanzania National Agriculture Library and one of their IT guys is likely going to be presenting a paper in Boston in June. He's also very interested in Drupal and if the timing works out might be interested in attending a C4L meeting while he's in the U.S.

Venue list

ronpeterson's picture

This thread is getting hard to follow. Could people who are contacting places update the wiki page (http://groups.drupal.org/node/43044) so we can keep this information all in one place? There is a short list of possible venues there. If you are planning on contacting a venue or waiting to hear back, go ahead and add it to the list.

Amy S. could you add the schools that you have contacted already?

Thanks.

yep

swacktacular's picture

I've been putting the Venue details on the Venue thread dougvann had started, but I realized that no one had linked that discussion TO the wiki page - sorry about that! I added a link from the wiki, and here's the venue discussion:
http://groups.drupal.org/node/48108
I've also been talking to the person I know at Smithsonian, and added some info about other places at the end of last week.

-Amy S

I'd love to see this come

defyapathy's picture

I'd love to see this come back in 2012 or '13!!

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