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So, we have this robot now, and it loves to ingest books just like Johnny 5. It isn’t quite as spectacular as Johnny 5, but it gets the job done so far. It is the center of a top secret project here at McMaster, code named “otto.” [need input, need more input] Ok, I’ll get a little serious…The machine is a Kirtas 2400RA and can scan up to 2400 pages in an hour. It is powered by two 16.7 Canon DSLRs, uses a vacuum to pick up the pages, and numerous pages sensors to let the operator know if it picked up more than one page, or dropped one. Hence the beeping. More information on the project will be provided later…after the May 26th launch here at Mac. In the mean time, here are some pics that you are more than welcome to salivate over.

I have failed to write/blog about this for quite some time because of shear busyness (<– is that even a word?). But, since mid October of last year I decided to use Drupal as a content management system for McMaster University Library’s digital collections. I elected to go the brave/trail blazing/cheap route, instead of using an out of the box solution like ContentDM. Nothing against ContentDM, but I believe that libraries, especially academic libraries need to be at the forefront of using and incorporating open source software solutions to meet their needs.

With the help of a web designer/programmer (Ryan Barrett) hired for the Peace & War for the 20th Century and other staff members, we have been able to begin to mold Drupal into the beast that it can be. We have taken advantage of the CCK module (and the plethora of compliments to it) to develop individual collections, with their own unique meta data combined with Dublin Core for OAI compliance. In the next week or so, we will move from developing collections in FileMaker Pro, to exclusively Drupal. Soon after students will be able to test the alpha version of the site for research, and submit comments, errors, and bugs to a forum we have setup for them on the installation.

This spring the Peace & War in the 20th Century will launch, powered by Drupal. Authenticated users will have to ability to comment, tag, and contact research staff with any questions.

According to a listserv message I received today, “Wayne State’s Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs has been awarded the 2008 John Sessions Memorial Award for its online resource: ‘No Greater Calling: The Life of Walter P. Reuther, 1907-1970.’” This website was one of the projects I was a part of for the Recruiting and Educating Librarians for the 21st Century, while at Wayne State University. I want to take the time to say thank you for all the hard work by my fellow grant recipients on this project and congratulate them, too: Mignon Camara, Iman Dagher, Anna Fast, Megan Garza, Somaly Kim, Sharon Williams, and Akilah Wood.

John Sessions Memorial Award
A plaque given to a library or library system to honor significant work with the labor community and to recognize the history and contributions of the labor movement toward the development of this country. (Established 1980)

The jury is a committee comprised of three to five RUSA members who have demonstrated interest in or experience with library service to labor groups. Members serve two-year terms. Consecutive terms are not permitted. Nominees will be reviewed in a closed meeting of the committee during Midwinter.

Cogeco’s throttling , and traffic shaping techniqes - circumvented. What happens next? Cogeco introduces fantastic monthly bandwidth caps. With “Pro” plan you get great downstream and upstream speeds, and an awesome 100GB Cap! On top of that, if you approach your bandwidth limit, they will inject some javascript into you browser just to give you a head up! Thanks, Cogeco! Even better, if you go over it, Cogeco magically turns every single page on the internet into a detailed warning page. Here’s my very own warning page:

Heads up to anybody using Macports 1.5 with Leopard. If you are getting this error:

*** Error: Unable to execute port: invalid command name “destroot.violate_mtree” ***

or an error like this:

*** Error: Target org.macports.configure returned: configure failure: shell command ” cd “/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_graphics_jpeg/work/jpeg-6b” && ./configure –prefix=/opt/local –enable-shared –enable-static ” returned error 1 ***

Make sure you have the XCode Tools package installed. Found on the Leopard DVD or can be downloaded from Apple at: http://developer.apple.com/tools/xcode/

Added three new gallery pages for Albion Falls, Buttermilk Falls, and King’s Forest.

Here are a couple of images…

Albion Falls

Buttermilk Falls

King’s Forest

No way to get the the bottom yet. Saw some people rappelling down near the top of the falls. Logan’s Creek can probably be followed to get the base of the waterfall.

Waterfall information -> http://www.conservationhamilton.ca/parks/visit/Tews_falls.asp

Alternative Names: Hopkin’s Falls & Tunis Falls

Creek: Logie’s Creek

Classification: Ribbon/Plunge

Height: 41 metres/125 feet

Width: 9 metres/27.4 feet

Access Information from Tew’s Falls parking lot:
(i) Time - Five minutes
(ii) Distance - 100 metres
(iii) Accessibility - Top = Easy. Base = Difficult

Ownership: Hamilton Conservation Authority

Property: Spencer Gorge/Webster’s Falls Conservation Area

Flow of Water: Year round

Facilities: Onsite - 20 parking spaces, park, picnic area, washrooms, trails, ice-climbing with permission. Nearby - Convenience stores.

Strangely enough this waterfall is located in the middle of a subdivision in Hamilton (Stoney Creek), Ontario.

Some climbing required to get to the bottom - and rock face climbing to get back up near falls.

Image Gallery of {Felkner’s Falls}, {Tiffany Falls}, {Webster Falls}

Waterfall Info

From - http://www.conservationhamilton.ca/parks/visit/Felkers_falls.asp

Creek: Felker’s Creek

Classification: Ribbon

Height: 22 metres/72 feet

Width: 6 metres/20 feet

Access Information: From the Felker’s Falls Conservation Area parking lot
(i) Time - Five minutes
(ii) Distance - 30 metres
(iii) Accessibility - Moderate

Ownership: Hamilton Conservation Authority

Property: Felker’s Falls Conservation Area

Flow of Water: Year round