Meeting today to discuss Freshers' Fayre.

Good chance to be creative even if I'm finding it a bit hard this afternoon. We're looking at a theme along the line of forensics (very popular these days) and CSI style detectiveness and so on. Despite the obvious possibilities of dressing up as one detective or another that's being ruled out this year.

We're NOT booking a place in the marquee with everyone else ($500 for a stall has made some think it's too much and we could better use the money for prizes), so we'll be by the exit to the building by the park not far from the marquees.

And we're going to be a bit more *serious* this year, apparently. And concentrate on study skills type things and how we can help rather than being a bit surreal to draw the students in. (As we won't be competing with all the other stalls giving away pizza, bottled water, or whatever). Previous years have seen us with daleks or as pirates and so on.

So it will be different. Although I may yet end up on a 'Clue' style card as Professor Plum or someone.

Anyone any good questions that can be answered using Google, but not instantly?!

Finally a quiet day when I'm NOT being, umm, distracted. Chance to catch up on the ever incoming tide of email and at least deal with the important ones. Perhaps I'll take some reading ones away with me next week. Perhaps not.

Meanwhile my language learning is not progressing very well but excitement is mounting as a group of us look forward to a theater trip next month that has been in the headlines this week. Mostly through the show being terrific and long since a complete sell out. Apparently the tickets we have are now selling on Ebay for anything up to $1400. I'm almost tempted to take the money and run... (Poor R, sitting there with all our 16 tickets at home!)

Feel astonishingly exhausted today - as though I've run into a brick wall.

I don't think it can have been solely yesterday. Or even perhaps a slightly unhealthy diet the last few days as I feed myself for a change (with the family away).

Perhaps it's just indicative of being ready for a vacation. Just four more days...

After all that angst, it seems to have gone rather well.

Over 20 people came and I'd catered just about the right amount of drink.

People were pretty complimentary and I don't think it was just politeness (or the wine!). In fact one self-admittedly cynical colleague said that he was sceptical of the whole idea and was actually surprised by it being better than he'd thought it would be.

So I guess the moral of the story is to be bold and go for it!

I have to admit to be astonishingly nervous about the whole Private View thing. I mean it's a tiny display cabinet and barely worth crossing the road for really.

But:
The VC is apparently coming.
S is coming from 20 miles away.
I feel somewhat vulnerable having 'poetry' on display like that.
I've no idea who will turn up or how much drink to buy.
I've no idea if it will all fall flat on its face.

Yesterday, the art librarian H, bemoaned the empty display cabinet she has and was wondering if my offer to put something in it still stood.

Of course!

Why not display some haiku I've written and some of the books and magazines I've collected over the last few years.

So last night I extracted all the books I could from my shelves and then was a bit sleepless thinking about how it might work.

Today I've been arranging the material in the cabinet. Thanks to S, my former colleague for her help and advice and even a title.

Then H pointed out that such 'exhibitions' often start with a private view. Easy enough to arrange and invite Library staff and a few assorted others. But to get permission to have wine required contacting the President of the University. Who said he'd only agree if he got an invite and we supplied orange juice. I can't help feeling this is all getting out of hand. But Monday lunchtime it is for a 'Private View'.

Back with the pre-entry project people today.

This time they want to link to reading lists which isn't a bad idea.

Except...

how many students before they even arrive are going to want multiple page reading lists?! Perhaps a few items of indicative reading - which the academics have already put into the pre-entry project. But not full blown reading lists when the academic has gone overboard anyway!

and then there's which reading list?
the Library collects them and puts them onto a library system
a local bookshop does the same
(fortunately we collaborate and share what we get)

Sad though it is to say, the bookshop lists look much nicer than the library computer system equivalents. Perhaps unsurprisingly so. But of course the bookshop ones prioritize buying a copy of the book and don't link through to electronic full text when we have it (though they do manage to have a small link that's you'd barely guess its purpose that links to the library catalogue entry for an item).

It just all seems a bit unjoined up as yet. Ironically the reading lists wouldn't even go in the Library part of the pre-entry project!