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9/19/2008 Navua River Trip

Ok. So the majority of folks decided their post-conference experience would be the snorkeling on Beqa island, once more leaving via Uprising Resort, but a few of the hardier souls chose the Navua River trip to see a native village and scenic waterfalls as we floated up the Navua River.

After dropping off the undersea adventurers, the final 5 motored to Navua town to catch our boats for the ride up the Navua River. We were joined by the bus driver and 3 more scheduled to be on the trip with us. We set off slowly as a couple of groups joining the tour arrived late. The sun was shining, breeze was cool and the water was amazingly clear. As we approached the village, we heard the distinct sound of a conch shell being blown. We all gathered on the steps up to the village and chose our temporary chief. Filing into the village bure, we all sat down for the traditional kava ceremony. I was quietly assured by a fellow adventurer of about 8 years of age that kava is not exactly the best tasting concoction. Following the ceremony, we toured the village. We got to see village women weaving floor mats and learned about the paints they use for making tapas as well as how they pound the bark.

They used traditional underground cooking to roast the taro. While we hung out in the cooking area, our guide, William, told us the history of the village and how the residents came by the name Danforth. Lunch was served. YUM. And then we all trooped back out (after a bit of shopping) to the boats. We continued our motor trip upriver in search of scenic waterfalls. The Navua River gorge is absolutely gorgeous. By this time, the sun was playing hide and seek with clouds.

We disembarked at a lovely little falls seen easily from the river. The group ambled up to the falls, where we are informed, we can leave our stuff to be watched while we hike up to the real falls. For those who don’t think they can make the hike (and he’s looking at me), we are welcome to wait for the group to come back down. HA. Poor William had to catch another curve when I asked if I would be ok making the hike up barefoot. Off we set to see a waterfall about 100 feet high with a huge pool for swimming. William was kind enough to carry my camera for me so it didn’t get wet. Of course, he got his revenge by taking my picture as I came back down. Lovely man. We spent another few minutes watching brave folk and small children jump off a platform above the lower falls.

We all trooped back down to the boats for the return trip. A short distance down, folks were invited aboard bamboo rafts to be poled downriver for a few minutes. And the sky fell. Yes, the rain came down in a hissing, pouring torrent that did not let up until we crossed the mountains on the bus back to Suva. The Drowned Rat Society crawled back aboard the bus to the retrieve the Beqa Island group at Uprising Resort. The rest of the Drowned Rat Society came aboard the bus and we all rode back to Suva hoping the sun would make one last appearance on our last day together.

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9/18/2008 ASFA Partners and Input Centers

Once again, I rose early with Denise R. and we headed down to the beach for a bit of outrigger fun in the early morning light. After a bit of cleaning up, we were once more treated to a light breakfast, Fiji style. We finished closing the auctions and items were picked up and paid for by the happy winning bidders.

Richard Pepe moderated a session on ASFA partners and input centers to fill us in on new developments and what each center has accomplished in the last year.

After the morning tea, we began the 2^nd business meeting for this year’s conference. Business accomplished, we moved on to the passing of the Presidency from Barb Butler to Elizabeth Winiarz. After some gleeful chortling by Barb, we had a presentation by Jan Haspeslagh (traitor that he is) on the 2009 IAMSLIC/Euraslic joint conference in Belgium: mussels, beer, chocolate & lace with a lot of great pictures of the rugged Belgian coast.

We were then handed a lunch and herded onto the bus for the afternoon field trip. Many escaped the net and didn’t join us. The countryside was gorgeous. Montfort Boys’ Town was the first stop on the trip with a visit to their aquaculture area. They raise ducks over the ponds.

The second stop was the Freshwater Prawn Farm which is a joint venture between a New Zealand company and the USP Marine Studies Department.

Finally we were dropped for a bit of shopping at the Pacific Harbour Arts Village. Afternoon tea was at Uprising Resort on the edge of the island facing Beqa (Benga) island. The buffet was set for 55 and we had a round dozen show up. Sigh. Excellent food and really excellent coffee (yeah, beat the tea). We returned to the Holiday Inn sated and satisfied with information, food and fun conversations on the bus.

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9/17/2008 Keeping Track of Our Heritage

Wednesday morning already. A bright, clear day, or at least we think as we peer through the shutters on the windows. The Guin Auction bidding has picked up pace and folks are bidding happily on the many fine items donated for the cause.

State of the Nation’s Marine Protected Areas by Dr. Rikki Dunsmore

Having an area designated as a Marine Protected Area does not always mean that the area is truly protected. Many of these areas are still designated as multi-use. Very few areas are no-take areas that actually prohibit fishing and protect the environment. Kind of disheartening to think that folks spend all that time getting areas designated and the area may not necessarily be protected as they think.

MagicJack by Joe Wible

Use your computer as a telephone. The only available numbers are in the U.S. and Canada, but then you can call from anywhere in the world using that number. The service is an annual subscription.

Story Place by Suzie Davies

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is bringing the story of the reef to the people and bringing the people to the story. By tying aboriginal literature to the story, they are expanding how people learn about the reef and using traditional knowledge to care for the reef.

Pacific Islands Climate Change Portal by Peter Murgatroyd

&

Reefbase Pacific Information Portal: Livelihoods, Fisheries and Biodiversity by Pip Cohen and Asenaca Valemei

Information portals are becoming more important for sharing online information and creating common knowledge areas.

During the morning break, we took time to have a group photo, in between the very important task of bidding on Guin Auction items and eating the delicious spread of food. Of course, the group photo resembled herding cats into a cage for a trip to the vet, but we got there and actually have a couple of decent photos to show for the effort.

Lunch was another sumptuous spread of various ethnic delicacies, but there was a lot of attention on the Guin Auction.

Information Commons: an Overview by Elizabeth Winiarz

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Learning Commons Planning: One Size Does Not Fit All by Jan & Mary Heckman

Many universities are now developing areas known as information commons for students to have comfortable places in the library to enjoy finding information. Comfortable seating, low lighting and other extra electrical outlets are hallmarks of these areas. Increasingly, libraries are also allowing food and drink inside the library in these areas to encourage student use.

While these presentations may seem to be very similar, there was enough difference in the true heart of the topics to make both well worth paying attention.

The Aquatic Commons and OceanDocs by Suzie Davies and Steve Watkins

The Aquatic Commons is continuing to evolve as more participants are contributing to the effort.

Afternoon tea had many discussing the information commons ideas as well as the Aquatic Commons digital library efforts. Folks were also busy guarding their favorite items in the Guin Auction. As the break came to an end, final bids were fast and frantic. As the auctioneer, I missed the IAMSLIC IOC Memorandum of Understanding brainstorming session in the afternoon. The auction raised $716 for the Guin Fund this year. Not a bad amount for about 50 items.

The day closed early as we all returned to hotels and rooms to prepare the the banquet in the evening.

The banquet was held in the dining hall on the University of the South Pacific’s upper campus. The staff had spent a bit of time decorating. Beer & wine were flowing freely (when do they not at IAMSLIC conference banquets) as we celebrated the ending of another fine conference. A few of the more adventurous male attendees chose to wear their sulus. Hm. Who won the pool on when the first one would fall off?

Before dinner, we were treated to contemporary South Pacific dancing by dancers from the Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture. The last dance had us all up and dancing along to get us in the party mood. Dinner was a scrumptious buffet of Fijian, Indian and hybrid dishes.

Shortly after dinner, the dancing started. Several of the less party animal types left at this point. So, we missed the excitement of disrobing, albeit accidentally, later in the evening. Shoot, I could have paid for my trip to Belgium with that money.

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To view a more complete set of photos on Flickr.com from the IAMSLIC conference, including those posted by Lenora Oftedahl, Joe Wible and myself, use this link:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=iamslic2008&m=tags

For photos of Joe’s and my dive trip on Namenalala Island prior to the conference, see:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47089962@N00/sets/72157607416883450/

–Steve Watkins

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9/16/2008

Last night as I was organizing pictures, I realized that I had not been letting you all know just how fine the weather has been during the conference. We had a couple of days with intermittent showers, but Tuesday showed us Fiji’s sunny face with humidity not quite as high, although temperatures were a bit higher.

At O-dark thirty I left the house with my host, Denise R. and we went out on an outrigger canoe for team practice at 6 am. Paddling out to meet the sunrise was delightful. I participate in dragonboat racing in Portland, so thought I would do well. Not quite. I’m a rank beginner, although, I could get into outrigger back home. We’ll see.

After showering and changing, we joined the conference for breakfast, once again a fabulous spread with coffee and tea. I know the tea is probably just black, but the cooks really know how to make tea. I could almost be convinced to switch my drinking allegiance to tea on a permanent basis.

The conference lecture hall is an almost open air design with shutters that can be opened to allow a cross-breeze and multiple ceiling fans to keep the room cool. So, we were all quite comfortable. Just the little desks attached to the chairs needed to be very carefully balanced.

 

So, one of the things I love about the IAMSLIC conferences is the guest speakers from outside the library world. These speakers are generally passionate about their topics and incredibly knowledgeable about the topic on which they are speaking. Randy Thaman was no exception.

Sinking Island Arks: The Need to Protect Island Biodiversity for Sustainable Island Life by Randy Thaman

The love Mr Thaman felt for the people around him as well as the piece of the world he has chosen to inhabit was more than evident in his talk. He let pictures speak for him, but the rhetoric was invigorating and hopeful that the island ecosystems can be saved and loss of species can be slowed to the usual background rate of extinction.

Once again, break followed breakfast quickly and we all trooped out to the covered walkway for a spread of biscuits with jam, finger sandwiches, samosas and egg rolls with coffee, tea and juice. I have failed to mention that during these breaks, I am running the Guin Auction. Each break, I return to the Guin Auction to find more items laid out on the tables with bids. The Guin Auction has had some great items added this year, including a reproduction cannibal fork.

Access to Pacific Marine Information for the Pacific Islands Countries and Territories : Panel Discussion

Each of the panel members described their libraries and many had pictures of before and after as their libraries are quite young and just recently seen as a valuable addition to the agency or school where it is housed. Many of the pictures were typical of faculty or researcher offices around the world with materials stacked willy-nilly on any available flat surface.

And lunch already. Again a lovely spread of various dishes from the variety of ethnicities that inhabit Fiji. And all are delicious. Conversation flows so well during these breaks and many new friendships are being cemented as well as networking among colleagues. The exchange of ideas for problems and sharing solutions is an invaluable part of attendance at these conferences.

Coming Full Circle: Changes in Scholarly Communication and the Role of Liaison Librarians by Sally Taylor

Information repositories are a growing phenomenon on University and College campuses around the world. These repositories are virtual collections of materials written by students and faculty at the university. Ms Taylor presented ways to market these repositories to students and faculty as both a good thing for hosting publications and useful for doing research for ongoing projects. One of the primary ways to sell the repository is through the subject area liaison librarians.

Infinite Possibilities for Learning in a Virtual World: Second Life by Peter Fritzler and Anne Pemberton

Ok, so Second Life could be fun. I’ve resisted downloading the software for years, though I’ve had an account for a while (Lyonesse Fhang). The possibilities for researchers and for learners is truly infinite. Now, if we could just get the virtual world work and research recognized in the real world.

Biodiversity Heritage Library Supporting Encyclopedia of Life by Cathy Norton

The scope and vision of the Encyclopedia of Life is astounding. The project continues to grow and all are invited to contribute information and references to the project. Yes, we heard about this project last year as well, but a good thing is worth repeating especially as hearing the information again reinvigorates the desire to contribute. And, truly, the audience is not quite the same as last year.

Internet Tools and Toys by Dorothy Barr

Some neat little tools and toys and share information. RSS feeds, social tagging and virtual worlds are part of reality for students. We need to adopt these tools to keep up with current information as professionals and to keep up with tools that students are going to be asking for help with.

Vendor Updates: Elsevier and Proquest

Proquest/CSA gave updates on their products and showed some of the new tools they have developed for researchers. Unfortunately, while Elsevier supported the conference as usual, they did not send a representative. So if you see your local representative, please thank them for their support and have them check with their office to see if they can attend next year’s conference in Belgium.

USP Central Library Reception and Tour

The usual spread of food was available for Tea Time at the University of the South Pacific’s Main Library. We enjoyed a brief tour of the library’s website and were then taken on whirlwind tours of the 3 floor library and got to see the Pacific Collections which includes rare books and artefacts from the Pacific Islands (all of them).

Unfortunately, the rest of the evening did not exist as I was exhausted and my tummy was still full, so when I laid down to rest for just a bit at 7 pm, I did not get back up until Wednesday morning.

Lenora A. Oftedahl
StreamNet Regional Librarian
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

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Just to let everyone know, that I’ve been slower on the uptake for taking pictures this year. Some might say that I am still taking too many, but those are the one with the most blackmail pictures.  How else am I to afford attending conferences?  Just kidding.

As usual, I am trying to upload photos to Flickr (http://www.flickr.com).  Just look for e4salmon as a user or “IAMSLIC 2008” as a tag.

Lenora A. Oftedahl
StreamNet Regional Librarian
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

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9/15/2008

 So, we were promised a light breakfast before the conference program. HA. Well, I guess since the menu was toast, biscuits & jam, and watermelon with juice, coffee and tea to drink, that would be light.

A traditional Sevusevu Fijian Ceremony of Welcome with men in ceremonial dress began the program to welcome the President of IAMSLIC and through her, the rest of the conference attendees. Gee, if you ran for President of IAMSLIC, you’d get the be the honorary representative for the organization in this kind of ceremony. Quite a perk!

After, we were welcomed by the Vice-Chancellor’s representative with warm remarks about the importance of information and our role in helping to understand climate change and its effects on the islands of the South Pacific.

Climate Change : a Janus-Faced Challenge for Our Times by Dr. Patrick Nunn

Climate change is a continuous process that is having some major impacts on the South Pacific. However recent changes have been far more precipitous than historical changes such as the ice ages and previous warming eras. Cultural change is being studied as an effect of climate change. After all, if the environment changes, we are going to have to adapt and that will precipitate some changes to how people relate to each other and the world around them.

Climate is continuously changing.
Solar forcing is the principal cause of climate change.
Climate change in sthe principal cause of societal change.

Looking toward the future, he predicted that we are locked into a future that none of us would like to envision. **However, I have to disagree and would like to think that if we change our behaviors we can change the world and the future. The future cannot be that certain, especially if we work together.**

Now, back to the presentation. Food productivity, disease transmission and human comfort are all going to have an effect on societies around the world. Remember last year’s conference with the presentation on coral bleaching research, seems the effects of coral bleaching in the South Pacific have far-reaching effects through ecosystems and the cultures that depend on those ecosystems.

Dr Nunn had excellent classroom management skills as he paused each time that side conversations broke out and waited for those to subside so they didn’t distract the rest of the audience from his insightful presentation. Something like “I’ll just pause here until those in the back finish their conversation.”

What Tea Time already? No coffee breaks in Fiji. Tea time includes homemade doughnuts (MMMMM), biscuits & jam, finger sandwiches, and sausage rolls with juice, coffee and tea. Light refreshments? Yeah, right.

Business Meeting

Big news is Jan Haspeslagh has changed jobs and is stepping down from President-Elect. The bylaws have rules for this contingency and Ruth Gustafson has been contacted about her willingness to serve as President in Jan’s place. The 2009 Conference will still be held in Belgium as planned.

Then on to the usual routine of the regular business meeting: minutes acceptance of the last business meeting. Sorry, I’m not the Secretary, so don’t have much to say here.

The President’s address included the accomplishments during the past year. You’re reading one of them.

And on to lunch…did someone say there wasn’t enough food last year? Lunch was fabulous dishes including chicken stew, beef stew, rice, and other side dishes with juice, coffee and tea.

CommFish : All About Alaska’s Commercial Fisheries by Daria Carle

Daria has been working with two other librarians to develop an online repository for Alaska Fish & Game reports. She outlined the difficulties of cataloging these documents and then making sure the copies were digitized properly.

Transforming Moana: Converting to Greenstone by Chris Hammond-Thrasher

Open source software… yes, the answer to many no-budget library’s prayers. However there is a cost in the installation of these software systems. Chris outlined the differences between Koha and Greenstone as these two systems were both developed in New Zealand. I’ve been thinking about installing Greenstone, but after listening, I think once more I am going to hold off until the software is a bit more mature before trying to use it in my library. The StreamNet Library (http://www.fishlib.org) currently uses Koha for the online catalog. We also converted from DBText and had quite an experience getting our records moved into MARC format. Anyway, I do encourage libraries to explore open source solutions rather than the standard commercial systems that require us to pay for licenses and subscriptions, etc. which takes money away from journals, books and staff to help our patrons get past the catalog.

Secretariat of the Pacific Community Fisheries Digital Library by Jean-Paul Gaudechoux and Anne Gibert

A brief summary of the digital library initiative at the Secretariat of the Pacific.  I am sad to say that I was busy with the Guin Auction so didn’t really get to listen to this presentation.  Although, the generosity of members is evident by the number of exceptional items up for bid in the Guin Auction.

Mould in the Library and What to Do About It by Peter Kemp and Heike Neumeister-Kemp

Mold, oops, Mould is a ubiquitous problem throughout the world. Well, ok, maybe desert environs don’t have to worry about moulds so much. Moulds thrive in a moist environment and can quickly move through a building from a single source. Mould can be microscopic through macroscopic.

Chlorine bleach is not a cure for moulds. The use of chlorine bleach merely disguises the presence of mould by removing the color. Use vinegar and elbow grease to get rid of infestations. There are other suggestions for mould abatement in the presentation.  When the conference proceedings are available, you will be able to download all the great information presented.

Wow. Fascinating topic and a dynamic, interesting speaker. Who’d have thought that moulds would be so interesting.

Tour of Marine Science Institute of the University of the South Pacific

The tour of the Marine Studies area of the University of the South Pacific included the specimen rooms with terrestrial samples as well as an pretty comprehensive collection of coral samples. We visited a freshwater prawn culture lab, a seafood preparation lab and learned the history of Marine Studies at USP as well as the comprehensiveness of the programs.

After a bit of a rest, several of the usual suspects gathered at the Alliance Française for a bit of refreshment, delicious dinner and to watch “An Inconvenient Truth.” Dinner was a carrot salad to begin, beef stroganoff, potatoes & water cress for the main course followed by French banana chocolate pie. Kudos to the chef.

The movie was viewed outdoors under a large shelter and projected onto a large screen. My only complaint is no popcorn. Well, we were at Alliance Française. “An Inconvenient Truth” is really good at getting the message about global warming and climate change out to the public. Al Gore hits many of the same points as we heard from Dr Nunn in the morning. But some of the personal, biographical info about Mr Gore could have been left out and did we really need to relive the pain of the stolen election? The mosquitoes were out and hungry, but the movie was interesting enough that no one left.

Lenora A. Oftedahl
StreamNet Regional Librarian
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

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9/14/2008 

Bright and early Sunday morning, 23 intrepid explorers set out from Holiday Inn Suva in search of adventure in the vicinity of Suva. The Colo-I-Suva Forest Reserve seemed to provide a picturesque hike through the South Pacific Rainforest. (Denise R. coordinated the adventure and arranged all the details like permits and guides.)

Light showers spatter us as we drove toward the park. People were warned to carry umbrellas or raincoats to avoid getting soaked. Yeah, right. Being from the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., a temperate rainforest, I live for rain showers and actually prefer them to sunshine. Of course, that could be the fair skin talking too.

Being librarians and their close relations, we knew that we did not know enough about the park and so hired two guides to show us the park and talk to us about the flora and fauna of the area. One of the first creatures we encountered was the giant millipede that inhabits the Pacific Islands. These millipedes were the length of my hand, tip of middle finger to heel of palm, and I don’t have small hands (I can cover an octave on the piano). So very large bugs, ok. But the twist, they are venomous and humans tend to react badly to the poison in their feet (all of them) and their pincers. So, don’t pick them up to try to pet them.

We followed the very well laid path through the park down the hill (yes, DOWN). A lovely stream trickled down the hill with us and formed waterfalls, riffles and pools along the path we followed. While the trail was well maintained, a few of us whined as we walked down over slippery rocks, rotting leaves and seemingly rickety bridges. Many who know me will understand my reluctance to cross these little bridges. However, looks can be deceiving as they are built to last as evidenced by my crossing them safely.

The jungle was amazing. Many of the explorers saw quite a few birds. I was focused on the water and how soon we’d be swimming in a warm tropical pool. The diversion of watching the water flowing over the rocks kept me sighing with regret each time we passed a pool of water which begged to be swum in.

After just an hour (which seemed to be several) we reached a lovely pool complete with rope swing and waterfall. Yippee!! Slipping into the water, the temperature was a bit cooler than expected. Warmer than the ocean at home, but not quite the warm tropical pool we expected. Several of the explorers were brave enough to swing from the rope into the pool, which turned out to be quite deep.

We were limited to just 20 minutes in the water, though I suspect we took a bit longer with the excitement over watching friends and loved ones swinging from a rope over the water. But we had cooled off and were ready for the return trip to the bus. What goes down, must go up. We had parked at the first parking lot, at the top of the hill…the steep hill we had just hiked down. Up, up, up we climbed to the second parking lot and then up the road to the first parking lot where a number of us collapsed for the ride back to the Holiday Inn.

Once again, I was amazed by the bus driver’s supernatural driving skills and the command of his machine. Several spots on the road I wondered how an SUV got through, much less a bus. But the bus driver’s superhuman relationship with his bus ensure the safe return of all 23 intrepid explorers to the hotel. Thank you to the U.S. Embassy for providing our transportation.

The afternoon was a rest period before the Welcome reception at the Holiday Inn. Not everyone attended, but we were all happy to see our LONG-TERM friends as well as the new friends we were about to meet. Wine flowed, people met and chatted. Hors d’oevres circulated. We were informally welcomed by Joan Yee and Elizabeth Winiarz, the conference convener. And then we started the Conga line by the microphone to introduce ourselves.  Next year I think we should play the name game.

Lenora A. Oftedahl
StreamNet Regional Library
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

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 9/11/2008 (or should that be 9/12/2008?) through 9/13/2008

A large group of the usual suspects gathered at gate 103 in the Tom Bradley International Terminal in Los Angeles World Airports (also known as LAX). Barreling out of LAX on a Boeing 747 was an interesting experience as I’m used to much smaller planes. Feeling the great bulk of the trying to gather enough speed to reach escape velocity from the gravity of earth, I had some doubts about the runway actually being long enough. But we lifted off and were in the air with a VERY polite and dedicated flight crew.

10 hours in the air is about my personal limit for sitting still. However, we crossed the International Dateline and the Equator which helped keep the ride interesting.

We were really running from the sun, but then I thought, maybe we are running towards to sun. Seems the sun won whichever race as we watched the soft light of the tropical sunrise break over the horizon during our taxi to the terminal at Nadi Airport. So the loss of September 12^th was not as painful as the excitement of being somewhere so different from home (Portland, Oregon, USA).

Customs was handled quickly even with the large number of people who arrived on the almost full 747. Many caught the same bus to Suva, but a few decided to try a different route and were adventurous enough to rent a car.

The bus driver knew his machine quite well and could judge space and distance with incredible speed. 5 hours later, after a winding, scenic tour of Viti Levu, we arrived at the Suva Holiday Inn.

Afternoons were spent drowsing in the heavy tropical humidity and listening to the rain hiss down to earth. Lucky enough for me, I am staying with a ex-patriate librarian, Denise R. from USP’s main library. She picked me up from the bus and we walked downtown to the open air markets to check out the many interesting items for sale: locally produced arts and the incredible variety of seafood, vegetables and spices.

Early to bed, early to rise means we get to go on the field trip the next day.

Lenora A. Oftedahl
StreamNet Regional Librarian
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

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