Category: Uncategorized

Breakfast at Chowder Bay

My imaginary friend Kenny and I went to Chowder Bay this morning for breakfast with my sister Mez, my brother-in-law Phil and their dogs Hettie and Tiffany. I’ve been sick with a head cold or some weird virus for about a week now so I had to rug up well, but it was good to get out of the house and to see the dogs. They always make me happy.

Warning! This post contains cupcakes

But you have to find them . . .


I gave a talk to staff of the Australian Museum about our Wallwisher feedback board today. On the way back I took the opportunity to take a few images with my new camera. I’m still learning about its use and all of its features. The morning wasn’t too cold but it was really still and clear. The sky was a vivid blue and made a perfect background. I’m enjoying just being in Sydney with all it has to offer and my work at UTS Library.

30 things meme

Thanks to @MissSophieMac, 30 things I’ve done this month besides #blogeverydayofjune:

  1. Saw the film Animal Kingdom.
  2. Visited Vivid a couple of times with friends.
  3. Bought and played with a new camera (Canon EOS 7D).
  4. Bought a new lens (Canon 50mm f1.4).
  5. Run to and from work.
  6. Rode my bike to and from work.
  7. Walked to the light rail and taken a tram to work.
  8. Eaten a lot of Max Brenner’s plain (dark) chocolate.
  9. Visited my parents and spent some time with my late brother’s widow, my niece & nephew.
  10. Spent a lot of time with old and close friends.
  11. Laughed a lot at work and at home.
  12. Eaten out in Newtown a few times.
  13. Settled my ex-partner who is now my best friend into my spare room.
  14. Cooked beef lasagne.
  15. Eaten a lot of Ken’s cooking at home.
  16. Talked and thought a lot about my late brother Murray.
  17. Was given an orchid for my front balcony.
  18. Bought another orchid for my front balcony.
  19. Endured a leak in my spare bedroom (from the bloody neighbours!) that ruined all the carpet.
  20. Had all the carpet replaced in my spare bedroom.
  21. Started and nearly finished reading Will Davies’ Beneath Hill 60 (Ken was in the film).
  22. Went to the 17th Biennale of Sydney at the MCA (but was disappointed).
  23. Visited the One Hundred exhibition at the State Library of NSW (and was impressed).
  24. Saw some films at the Sydney Film festival.
  25. Laughed out loud during all episodes of Modern Family.
  26. Progressed our ASRS tender (with a lot of help).
  27. Started the 10,000 step Challenge with some friends at work.
  28. Eaten Yum Cha for lunch with my friends Fides at work.
  29. Coached some swim sessions.
  30. Ridden my indoor trainer a lot at home (I hate cold & wet weather riding!).

Image taken outside the Lied Library, University of Nevada Las Vegas in 2009.

Future academic libraries: orientation spaces

And another thing! I knew there was something that I forgot to say in yesterday’s non-post.


A couple of students I spoke with yesterday seemed quite obsessed by the elimination of noise in our new Library and what we intended to do about it. Initially, I just said it could be done via decent architecture and interior design of the spaces, including furnishings. I could not illustrate that point as there was no web access in the studio we were in, so later on I talked about the importance of the orientation space created by I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre Museum. It links three buildings and after it was proven to be successful many museums around the world followed their example including the British Museum and the Australian War Memorial (AWM) as it was so effective in introducing visitors to the museum and in allowing for improved and more appropriate circulation.

I believe the orientation space provided via the main entry is also going to be extremely important for us in our new Library. That is what will primarily change visitor behaviour from that of the external learning commons and the services it provides. If designed well it should also assist in the provision of services to, and management of (non-UTS) community members who may be allowed access to the Library. When the AWM began the first phase of its massive redevelopment over the last 15 years, the first gallery to be upgraded and completely redesigned was the Second World War gallery. That gallery probably comprised about 1/3 of the space within the museum proper. It was deep-set in the museum after entry and you almost had to traverse part of the First World War galleries to find it. The AWM leadership was advised of the importance of also reworking the orientation gallery and embarked on an ambitious program to redesign both at the same time.

The orientation gallery was smaller and was finished first, but it provided a much more contemporary and enticing entry than the previous dark and cluttered space. A massive glass showcase was designed and built by a glass artists (now deceased) from Queanbeyan and the Director pushed the positioning of one of only two Gallipoli landing boats in that foyer as the main feature “statement”. The showcase contained items from all parts of the collection giving people a taste of what followed in the main galleries: all without any textual interpretation. When it opened, people knew they were entering a special place designed to assist them to understand the Australian experience of war. There is something for everyone. Visitors are greeted and tours meet in that gallery. Since then many museums have followed suit and now the National Gallery of Australia is finishing off a completely redesigned entrance along the same lines.


I saw much the same thing in all of the modern public and academic libraries (and galleries) that I visited in the US last year. Some did it better than others, but all had clearly devoted attention to their “orientation space”. Some examples can be seen in the Flickr slideshow above (all images are my own).

Why there’s no real post today


I’m exhausted of ideas and I’m coming down with a head cold despite taking every natural immune system booster known in Western civilisation. Part of the reason I’m exhausted is because today I had to present most of our future library concepts to students in our UTS Designing Out Crime (DOC) Research Centre. I used a presentation of our key ideas around some illustrative images, but as it is a bit of a rehearsal for a short presentation that I’m to give later this year at the ILI conference in London, I don’t think I should share it just yet.

By 2016 the UTS Library will be relocated to the building next the the big UTS tower on Broadway, one of the main avenues taking people into the city of Sydney. Having a more prominent location both within the University and within that area of Sydney will present its own challenges and we hope to get some decent ideas from the DOC students.

It isn’t as if we are expecting a future series of Underbelly to be written about the crime in the UTS Library. We are just hoping for some proposals primarily to do with regulating or discouraging behaviours like theft, vandalism, consumption of inappropriate food and beverages, noise, etc. We are also looking for their ideas to assist us in presenting the key library resources and services as exclusive for UTS members (i.e not accessible by the general community). I spent a couple of hours with them making my presentation and then answering some really stimulating questions that gave me much food for thought.

I think we are really fortunate to have such a program at UTS and I love that we are giving UTS students the chance to contribute to the planning of the new Library in such a practical way (even though it is still very early in the planning stage).

The image is UTS tower from my place.

The obligatory iPhone post

After some inspiration from Kim and some assistance and advice from Sophie, here is my iPhone home screen post. I guess it is really another meme post.

A few days ago I managed to install the ios4 operating system and Sophie told me how to put everything in folders. My folders seemed to pick up labels based on what application went in first, but Sophie has since told me that I can change their labels.

I’m very fortunate that my iPhone is provided by my employer. Before I was given this phone early in 2009, I had a Palm Treo. I liked the Treo but found the plan I was on very unreliable and once I had used the iPhone for about a day I realised that the Treo was really a very clumsy device. The early Palm PDAs worked really well and I never went to a meeting at work without them. Then they changed to a Windows mobile operating system and everything went pear-shaped. One of the attractions of the iPhone is that “you already know how to use it” (as Apple says about its iPad). It is a very intuitive device. And, as I work in a university, if there is something I cannot figure out, I just step out into the Library and ask a student.

So by now you’ve probably realised that I don’t have that many applications on my home screen. There are a few things I never or hardly ever use, like some iTunes U sites I was looking at, Stocks, iTunes (but I use that on my laptop), Shazam, RunKeeper, Ping, Evernote, Contacts, ShapeWriter, Dropbox, YouTube & Safari (I really don’t browse the internets much on my phone) and BlockChalk.

I do use most of the following things on a regular basis:

Phone & Messages – of course

Mail – to check both work email and Gmail. I find it very reliable. I’ve got “Fetch” switched off because it was really expensive on data when I was overseas. I found that it is just as easy to download email when I want to check it. The Maps app is also data hungry, especially when you are moving.

iPod – I LOVE my iPod. This is my fourth iPod and it is a bit problematic as they all have different libraries now. This one is nearly full, but I listen to the music whenever I can. I think I have about 3-4 sets of earphones that I use regularly while walking, o the light rail and in bed sometimes when reading. I think iPod has been directly responsible for me buying much more music over the last 5-6 years.

Rage – I use the Rage app almost every weekend to see what is on and to set up my music video recordings on ABC TV. It is brilliant app that allows you to browse all clips broadcast each night and it has a great little fave feature for both songs and artists that collects your list for you. I also use Unearthed (a Triple J app that allows you to download and fave new music).

I get app upgrades from and sometimes search the App Store.

I’ve used Bump occasionally, but wish I could remember to use it more to swap contact details as it seems an awful lot more sensible than swapping business cards these days.

I sometimes use the Facebook and IMDb apps when I feel I need to, but they’re not top of the charts.

I look at Weather quite often (to help me decide whether to run, ride or catch the light rail to work), but it isn’t reliable nor very informative, so if I really want to know what might happen I usually look up the Sydney BOM forecast on Safari.

The Westpac app is excellent and I do use it occasionally. So too is Google and I’ve used the voice search feature very accurately when trying to find a bike shop with grubby hands after running out of spare tubes after a flat on my pushy.

Probably my most used apps are TweetDeck and Echofon, both for Twitter. They now live in the Social folder along with Facebook. And no, that isn’t Grindr there with them. Well it might be, but only because Stephen Fry talked about it on Top Gear one night. I only read the articles.

My life according too . . .

Thanks to @bonitoclub for this idea.

Using only song names from one artist (anyone you like), answer these questions. Try not to repeat a song title.

My life according to The Cure

Are you a male or female: M

Describe yourself: I’m a Cult Hero

How do you feel: Boys Don’t Cry

Describe where you currently live: A Forest (Tree Mix)

If you could go anywhere, where would you go? In Between Days (Shiver Mix)

Your favourite form of transportation: The Walk (Everything Mix)

Your hobby: Let’s Go To Bed

Your best friend? Close to Me (Closer Mix)

You and your best friends are: The Love Cats

What’s the weather like: Going Nowhere

Favourite time of day: A Night Like This

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called: Sleep When I’m Dead

What is life to you: Hot Hot Hot!!! (Extended Mix)

Your relationship: Fascination Street (Extended Mix)

Your fear: Killing an Arab or Sinking

What is the best advice you have to give: Trust

Thought for the Day: To Wish Impossible Things

My soul’s present condition: A Reflection

My motto: Play for Today

Social media & real "friends"


One thing I’ve learnt from my brother’s recent death is the power and importance of real friends and the support they provide when you really need them. Family are very important, but they’re not enough. I have witnessed the love of my mother’s friends, my sister’s friends, my brother’s friends, my sister-in-law’s friends and benefited from that of my own. I doubt I would have survived as well in one piece without them.


Today I think we saw that the power of social media and plain old ordinary media friends is not enough. We now have a new PM and I’m glad we do. She seems like a real person and a decent one at that. She is not just a social media presence nor just the darling of our fickle media. Our previous PM started out with a big media and social media wave of support behind him, but it wasn’t enough to sustain a real support base when push came to shove. I think he neglected to build a solid base of friends who would support him through thick and thin.

A baboon in the bottom of the barrel


This post was inspired by Kathryn on Librarians Matter. I’m not telling a joke because I shared my best one (“pull my finger!”) with @pinkfairiedust in my office this afternoon. She declined. So, instead of a joke I offer some poetry. I hate poetry. This is one of very few poems I can recite. It is by the Spike Milligna (the famous typing error) and is called Baboon.

There once was a baboon
Who one afternoon
Said: “I think I’ll fly to the sun”

So with two great palms
Strapped to his arms
He started his take-off run

Mile after mile
He galloped with style
But never once left the ground

“You’re travelling too slow”
Called a passing crow
“Try reaching the speed of sound”

So he put on a spurt
By gosh how it hurt!
The soles of his feet caught fire

There were great clouds of steam
As he raced through a stream
But he still didn’t get any higher

Racing on through the night
Both his knees caught alight
And smoke billowed out from his rear

Quick to his aid
Came a fire brigade
That chased him for over a year

Many moons pass by
Did Baboon ever fly?
Did he ever make the Sun?

I’ve just heard today
That he’s well on his way
He’ll be passing through Neesden at One.