The opening reception for SALALM’s annual conference in Berlin saw about 15-20 attendees from the previous meeting in 1986 also held in Berlin.
Some things have not changed much since then: the LAMP meeting lasted more than 2 hours. But other changes have taken place: there was no forum to discuss emerging technologies and now the Electronic Resources Subcommittee has become one of the most popular gatherings on the 1st day of the conference.
Victor Federico Torres (University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras) received the Jose Toribio Medina Award, given each year by SALALM to the best reference work published by one of its members.
Attending were also about 20 members from REDIAL, the European counterpart to SALALM which had its origins at the 1986 meeting when colleagues from Europe saw the need to have a forum for Latin American Studies information professionals to exchange ideas. REDIAL was celebrating its 20th anniversary and its “Asamblea” coincided with SALALM’s annual meeting.
At a joint afternoon session more than 30 members from each group discussed possible ways of cooperating (both formal and informal) in areas of shared concerns: providing access to information from/about Latin America in all its multiple formats.
The day ended with the “Fiesta de Libreros” held at the Gemaldegalerie where we had the run of the museum and were able to enjoy multilingual guided tours of the varied rich visual treasures of the Old Masters Gallery.
The traditional “Rifa de Enlace” was also held at the Fiesta gathering where many coveted “recuerdos” from Latin America were raffled away. The many souvenirs were donated by dealers as a way to raise monies for the Enlace Fund. Since 1986 more than 60 professionals from Latin America have been invited to take part in SALALM thanks to this endeavor which is about to celebrate its silver anniversary.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
The Little Foxes
I should either be A) at the interlibrary cooperation meeting OR B) preparing for the Executive Board meeting, but instead I am here in the nerve center of the SALALM 54 conference, juicing up my laptop and blogging. Things have been going quite smoothly so far and I can take absolutely no credit for this. The Berlin local arrangements team runs a tight ship and it seems like they have thought of everything. I think many of us are starting to think they can order up the weather. Today has been much cooler and sunny--perfect weather for sitting in committee meetings!
Following up on Adan's post, we had a good LAMP meeting in the lovely Bolivar room at the IAI. They graciously held a reception for us afterwards (big incentive to finish the meeting). We had a look at the wonderful exhibit they have prepared !Al pueblo argentino de 2010! Culturas en movimiento en el Rio de la Plata. (sorry can't make accents on this computer). And some wine and empanadas, along with German sandwiches.
And enjoy a nice photo of our new members orientation. Yes, I can confirm that the Latin Lover was the drink of choice at our reception.
So where do the foxes come into the picture? On the way back to our hotel each night, I've been seeing little creatures that I now know are foxes. At first I thought they were jet lag induced hallucinations but I have independent confirmation that they are indeed foxes. I've never seen them in an urban setting like this. We are just blocks from Berlin's Tiergarten, which literally means animal garden. It was laid out in the 18th century as a hunting ground so perhaps this all makes sense. Berlin can be a magical place indeed. . . Back to business
Prelude to a LAMP Meeting
July 3, 2009
Roberto Delgadillo (UC Davis) and I enjoyed a Berlin city tour from a low budget and quite entertaining group. The double decker bus had no air conditioning and when we were caught by an unexpected “chubasco” in front of the Branderburg Gate, the lower deck started to leak! But the tour guide and the driver were quite friendly and when the driver heard us speaking in Spanish, he made sure we noticed the Mexican Embassy building, which is quite interesting indeed.
We arrived back at the hotel on time to attend the much dreaded LAMP meeting, which has traditionally been scheduled for the first night of the conference. It did not disappoint this time around, not only did it last the usual three hours!!!! But the proposals were certainly varied and of great interest: from digitizing 20th century women’s journals from Brazil to cataloging Bolivian colonial documents. All of which touched of topics of interest to SALALM but also indicated LAMP’s original mission to preserve rare/unique/brittle materials as it moves into integrating new technologies and now considers digitization projects, all in concert with its original mission to provide access to rich resources in need of long term preservation.
After the meeting ended, our hosts at the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut treated the 36 attendees to a reception at the Institute’s library main floor where we also enjoyed their newly mounted exhibit Al pueblo argentine de 2010! Culturas en movimiento en el Rio de la Plata!
Adan Griego, Stanfoard University Libraries.
Roberto Delgadillo (UC Davis) and I enjoyed a Berlin city tour from a low budget and quite entertaining group. The double decker bus had no air conditioning and when we were caught by an unexpected “chubasco” in front of the Branderburg Gate, the lower deck started to leak! But the tour guide and the driver were quite friendly and when the driver heard us speaking in Spanish, he made sure we noticed the Mexican Embassy building, which is quite interesting indeed.
We arrived back at the hotel on time to attend the much dreaded LAMP meeting, which has traditionally been scheduled for the first night of the conference. It did not disappoint this time around, not only did it last the usual three hours!!!! But the proposals were certainly varied and of great interest: from digitizing 20th century women’s journals from Brazil to cataloging Bolivian colonial documents. All of which touched of topics of interest to SALALM but also indicated LAMP’s original mission to preserve rare/unique/brittle materials as it moves into integrating new technologies and now considers digitization projects, all in concert with its original mission to provide access to rich resources in need of long term preservation.
After the meeting ended, our hosts at the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut treated the 36 attendees to a reception at the Institute’s library main floor where we also enjoyed their newly mounted exhibit Al pueblo argentine de 2010! Culturas en movimiento en el Rio de la Plata!
Adan Griego, Stanfoard University Libraries.
Berlin and SALALM
The trip here was long and frustrating but Berlin is really interesting. I am staying in a hostel called Pfefferbett, which I can recommend, and now I am using the free computers in the breakfast room aka bar to write this. The committee meetings yesterday were interesting and frank... I think everyone feels free to express themselves in this group. The hotel is about 4 km or more from here so I walked yesterday and got my exercise... maybe today I will figure out the subway. I promise to take some pictures today and post...
Yesterday I saw the Tiergarten, which was once a hunting preserve for the Kurfurst, some kind of prince, and gradually turned into something similar to Central Park, with statues of kings and queens. I saw a hippy mom, barefoot, with her little child, about one year old, and lots of other parents with kids on bikes. It is a good city for cycling, with lots of bike paths, and bicycle rickshaws. I even saw what looked like newlyweds on a two+person rickshaw, followed by a couple other rickshaws carrying the other members of the wedding party. The bride wore white and carried flowers and had a big smile on her face.
I alo tried to visit the Musical Instrument museum, but when we got there the man at the door told us that it was too close to closing time, and I will have to try again another day. It is close to the Maritim Hotel.
Dining possibilities are good here and food is better than I remember from my student days in (west) Germany back in the olden days... a large group of us went to a Croatian restaurant and had schaschlik (shishkabob) and schnitzel and the best beer... It.s true, the beers in Berlin are great.
Yesterday I saw the Tiergarten, which was once a hunting preserve for the Kurfurst, some kind of prince, and gradually turned into something similar to Central Park, with statues of kings and queens. I saw a hippy mom, barefoot, with her little child, about one year old, and lots of other parents with kids on bikes. It is a good city for cycling, with lots of bike paths, and bicycle rickshaws. I even saw what looked like newlyweds on a two+person rickshaw, followed by a couple other rickshaws carrying the other members of the wedding party. The bride wore white and carried flowers and had a big smile on her face.
I alo tried to visit the Musical Instrument museum, but when we got there the man at the door told us that it was too close to closing time, and I will have to try again another day. It is close to the Maritim Hotel.
Dining possibilities are good here and food is better than I remember from my student days in (west) Germany back in the olden days... a large group of us went to a Croatian restaurant and had schaschlik (shishkabob) and schnitzel and the best beer... It.s true, the beers in Berlin are great.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
Book Burning, Berlin
This morning I started exploring Berlin, and one of the sites I wanted to make sure I visited was the memorial for the book burning event that took place on May 10, 1933, when students burned over 25,000 books considered "un-German". It took me a while to find it, and it was only after I asked around that I figured out why I couln't find it; a large tent for Berlin's Fashion Week is sitting right over the memorial (yes, lovely contrast there). Still, I kept asking around and found out that the memorial is still open to the public, through a small side entrance.
Here are a couple of pictures I took there.
Esta mañana he comenzado a explorar Berlín, y uno de los sitios que quería asegurarse de visitar es el monumento a la quema de libros que tuvo lugar el 10 de mayo de 1933, cuando los estudiantes quemaron más de 25.000 libros considerados "anti-alemanes". Me tomó un tiempo encontrarlo, y fue sólo después de preguntar que me di cuenta por que no lo veia, encima hay una tienda grandisima donde se esta organizando la Semana de la Moda de Berlín (sí, lindo el contraste). Igual segui preguntando y descubri que el lugar todavia sigue abierta al público, a través de una pequeña entrada lateral.He aquí un par de fotos que tomé allí.
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