Librarian Lifestyle

Archive for August, 2012|Monthly archive page

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Cycling for Libraries Day 4: The Longest Day

In Travel on August 28, 2012 at 5:42 pm

Day 4 – 63 miles

This was the longest ride of the trip. We were in the saddle for 6 hours (do you like the new biking lingo?) breaking our own personal records for most miles cycled! We rode through the Latvian forest, toured two community libraries, visited a castle, and stayed the night at a rehabilitation spa in the mountains.

We were welcomed at every single library we visited, but the Alluzi Public Library greeting had to be the best! The neighborhood kids made us signs, the librarians fed us delicious soup for lunch, and then the kids led us on the library tour.

Alluzi

Inside, the Alluzi Library is bright and cheery – we loved the open doors and fresh air.

Following a beautiful concert in one of Latvia’s most architecturally significant churches, we rode to Sigulda where we went through a beautiful botanical garden and stopped for a few minutes at a castle. Check out this amazing view, it even includes yet another castle. The entire day was like cycling in a fairy tale. We even had cake and coffee in the beautiful forest. It was truly magical, even if we did have to stay out of the wet grass to avoid ticks and Tick-borne encephalitis. Every fairly tale has it’s dark side, right?

The Sigulda Public Library is a shining example of a new community library and it had all the latest equipment and the cutest children’s room. They welcomed us with a beautiful selection of fresh berries. Just the pick me up we needed in the late afternoon.

Sigulda Public Library

When we got to Sigulda we thought we had made it to our stop for the night. Not so fast! Turns out this was just a short stop.

Karen had to make a much bigger stop after this library due to her second flat tire of the day. Because we didn’t have the necessary equipment with us to make the repair, our excellent bicycle repair team of Patrick Otton and Michel Guegan (to whom we are eternally grateful) wasn’t able to change the tire. So, Karen’s bike was transported on top of a Yugo that was traveling with our group, and Karen got to ride the last few km in style in the Yugo.

We were behind schedule and a couple hours late so we didn’t get to tour of the paper mill, but we were not too late to catch the band playing for us on top of the mountain. Not a great picture, but if you look up you can see the railings and the band is on that stage. We were exhausted by this point, but there were a few diehards that even did a little polka.

Then, we were back on the road, or shall I say mountain, to get to out hotel outside of Ligatne for the evening. I don’t think the last few hills were that steep, but you should know that the previous 20 miles were on a washboard dirt road and did I mention just moments before we thought were done riding for the day? That will mess with your head.  After a great dinner and a warm shower, we were were ready for bed. We had done it. We completed the longest day of the tour, but we had 7 more days to go.

Stay tuned for more of our cycling adventures!

By April Kessler of bizologie and Karen Holt of Librarian Lifestyle. April and Karen are librarians at the University of Texas at Austin and they are missing their cycling buddies and the deep library discussions they had on the road.

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Cycling for Libraries Day 2 & 3

In Conferences, Travel on August 23, 2012 at 3:26 pm

Day 2 – 23 miles cycled

After the fist day and and a whirlwind of library tours, day 2 was double the cycling and only one library visit. The 23 miles seemed more difficult, because it was unseasonably warm in Lithuania. That day we got our first glimpse of the types of cycling we were in for – mountain bike trails and hills. Along the route we were surprised and thrilled to be supported by members of the Lithuanian Library Association. The group wore bright green t-shirts and followed us in cars along the route and honked and waved and met us at our destination in Trakai. Their support made a huge difference during the long, hot ride.

After lunch we had one of our first cultural visits when we visited the beautiful castle on the lake in the picturesque vacation town of Trakai.

When the castle tour was over we loaded our bikes on a truck and filled up two buses with librarians for a 4-hour ride into Latvia.

During the bus ride we got to meet more of colleagues when we had discussions about our library careers and future plans. We arrived in Riga a few hours late so we skipped the showers and jumped on a train into the city for a traditional Latvian dinner.

Day 3 – 13.5 miles

On day 3 we had another police escort through the city of Riga. This was the first time we saw what kind of press was following the tour. It reminded us first hand that one of the goals of Cycling for Libraries is to bring awareness to libraries and library services. That morning we were interviewed by the Latvian news as were waiting for the Latvian Minister of Culture to meet our group.

The backdrop for the interviews was the construction site National Library of Latvia which opens next year.

Even though Day 3 was spent in the city of Riga, we had a packed day. After meeting with the mayor, we cycled through the city to a charming public library. There is nothing quite like cycling through a city with a police escort. All of the streets were open to us and it felt like being in a parade. We greeted many curious passerbys with rings of our bells and shouts of hello.

Following the ride in the city and a tour of the Turiba University Business Library, we turned our thoughts to current library issues, namely librarians and entrepreneurship. We gave a very brief talk about the way libraries could foster entrepreneurship among staff. Åke Nygren followed us with a very interesting talk about his work and his powerful ideas on libraries and entrepreneurship.

We capped the evening by taking a Riga tour of our choice. On offer were tours of a bike shop, an adventure tour, the Art Nouveau tour, and a craft/maker evening. Being an architecture lover, Karen choose the Art Noveau tour, which featured a fascinating personalized tour of the Art Nouveau architecture in Riga and the beautiful Art Nouveau Museum. (Highly recommend for anyone traveling to Riga.)

Then, it was off to bed to prepare for our longest day of cycling.

By April Kessler of bizologie and Karen Holt of Librarian Lifestyle. April and Karen are librarians at the University of Texas at Austin and had an amazing time at Cycling for Libraries.

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Cycling for Libraries Day 1: Living Without a Hair Drier for Two Weeks

In Conferences, Travel on August 23, 2012 at 2:56 am

Photo by Panu Entresse

Day 1 – 12.5 Miles Cycled

We met at the National Library of Lithuania with our luggage, bikes, and our newfound, crazy love for cycling with 100 people we didn’t yet know.

The day began as quite a few of our Cycling for Libraries days would. We mingled, did some stretches led by the fantastic Patrick Otton, hopped on our bikes, and followed the police escort that took us to several beautiful libraries in Vilnius, including a new branch library of Vilnius University that opens in September, the Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Library, the Lithuanian Technical Library, and the Vilnius University Library.

Karen Holt at the cool new Scholarly Communication and Information Center of Vilnius University.

Founded in 1570, Vilnius University Library is the oldest academic library in Lithuania.

Cycling for Libraries participants at the Vilnius University main library in the oldest room in the library.

One thing that we discovered on the tours this day is the trend for individual subject-based reading rooms in Baltic Libraries. We really love the concept of the reading rooms. Each one has its own look and feel and we found them all very charming.

Asian Studies Reading Room at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Library

Philology Reading Room

Graduate Study Carrels with a view at Vilnius University

Another trend we discovered in the Baltics is that whether you are at a cafe or a library, blankets are always on hand to keep you warm. This could be a trend for us to bring back, especially since our library is always freezing in the summer.

Blankets on a book cart at Vilnius University Library

Stay turned for more information on the amazing places we saw over the 11 day tour. If you are just catching up, be sure to read all about the Cycling for Libraries Unconference and see the route.

By Karen Holt of Librarian Lifestyle and April Kessler. Karen and April are librarians at the University of Texas at Austin and are still coming off the high of cycling through the Baltics and seeing the coolest libraries and meeting amazing librarians.

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IFLAcamp Style

In Fashion on August 20, 2012 at 3:55 pm

The first-ever IFLAcamp, sponsored by the New Professionals Special Interest Group, was held this year as an IFLA satellite meeting in beautiful Hämeenlinna, Finland. IFLAcamp featured an unconference format. For those of you, like me, who have never experienced an unconference before, this format provides the opportunity for an exhilarating, PowerPoint-free exchange of ideas and knowledge.

Some of the topics that were discussed at IFLAcamp included Website Optimization, Library as Business Incubator, eBooks, Bridging the Physical and the Digital, and New Library Professionals as Managers. All the discussions I attended were very insightful and provided a great opportunity to learn from colleagues around the world as they shared their projects and experiences.

Now onto more important questions…like what do you wear to an unconference to strike the perfect balance between professional and casual? Librarian Lifestyle was on the scene photographing the latest in new librarian fashion from around the world.

 

Sanita Maleja, University of Latvia

Mace Ojala, Cycling for Libraries Unconference Organizer, Finland

Damon McGhee, University of Illinois, USA

Katia Shklyar, Sello Library, Espoo, Finland

Antti Impivaara, Turku City Library, Finland

Katie Mills, University of Western Australia and Pussadee Nonthacumjane, Chiang Mai University, Thailand

Sören Niehäuser, Hochschule Ruhr West – University of Applied Science, Germany

Sebastian Wilke, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany

Christian Gutknecht, University of Zurich, Main Library, Switzerland and Dace Udre, New Professionals Section of the Library Association of Latvia

Kseniya Timofeeva, Kaliningrad Library System and Tanya Tupota, Kaliningrad Library System, Russia

Are you a new professional planning on attending IFLA 2013? Don’t miss IFLAcamp! The New Professionals Special Interest Group will be hosting the second annual IFLA Camp in the Singapore-area, and it is not to be missed. You can keep up on the latest in new librarian happenings by following the New Professionals Special Interest Group on Facebook and Twitter.

By Karen Holt. Karen is a librarian at the University of Texas at Austin and she is the Editor of Librarian Lifestyle. Karen is interested in all things international, and she tweets @karenholt.

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The Beginning of Cycling for Libraries aka Hanging Out in Vilnius

In Careers, Cocktails, Food, Travel on August 18, 2012 at 8:38 pm

We arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania, three days before the start of Cycling for Libraries, so we had a chance to explore this great city.

(For those of you who haven’t heard of Cycling for Libraries, it is an unconference featuring two weeks of library workshops, debates, and tours with a diverse group of international librarians. This year the unique format combined library discussions with 387 miles of bicycling from Vilnius, Lithuania to Tallinn, Estonia. Yep, that’s right, we biked through the Baltics and solved global library issues! The 100+ participating librarians came from 26 countries and worked for national, public, academic, and special libraries. We’ll be writing more about the cycling in the next few posts.)

Vilnius’s new airport was quaint and easy to navigate. We were greeted with signs advertising “Recharge in Vilnius!”which turned out to be exactly what we did there. While walking around town for 7 hours (trying to beat jet lag), we saw some great gems. If you’re travelling to Vilnius, we highly recommend a visit to Vingio Park, a relaxing park dating back to the 16th century with a really cool Soviet-era stadium where both the annual Lithuanian song festival and Lady Gaga appear in concert. You can rent bicycles there, run through the beautiful forest paths, or just bring a book and chill in the park.

Vingio Park stadium

Gediminas Castle was completed in 1409 and a wonderfully restored tower remains today. You can take a funicular or the stairs up to the top, where you are rewarded with glorious views of the city that show the juxtaposition of the old and the new architectural styles.

View of Vilnius from Gediminas Castle

We were very charmed by Vilnius. The Old Town was picturesque, the restaurants were excellent, and the shopping was some of the best we’ve experienced in Europe. Plus, there’s nothing like sitting in a cafe with a latte watching the rain to make you fall in love with a city.

Our Favorite Places in Vilnius:

Sue’s India Raja totally knocked our socks off. Mint chicken may not sound good, but after one bite, you’ll be hooked. Who knew that the best Indian food we’ve had outside of India would be in Lithuania?

The Coffee Inn chain is the Starbucks of Lithuania, but so much better. Great furniture, free wifi, and good coffee. Recommend are the Frappes and the Almond Latte.

Alchemikas Cocktail Lab – They handcraft the most delicious cocktails. Each drink is a 5-minute work-of-art and as tasty as it is pretty. At half the price of what you would pay in the US, it is also a bargain.

Rental Bike Pick-Up

Picking up our rental bikes from BaltiCCyle for Cycling for Libraries was quite the adventure. We went to the bike shop in the Old Town and were told that the Cycling for Libraries had a special pickup location at the “bike warehouse.” The description of the warehouse was “Go to the big white building with a hook.” Huh? Once we found the building (you’ll note in the picture that the hook was much more obvious than one would imagine), we followed the spray painted signs to the back, where we could pick up our bikes. After a 3 hour ordeal, where we met many of our cycling colleagues, we set out on the streets of Vilnius by bike with our Po Campo bags in tow.

The building with the bike warehouse in the back.

One of many spray painted green bicycle signs leading us to our destination.

     

After hours of waiting, we had our bikes!

That night we had our first informal meeting at Town Hall, where we got to meet many more members of our new cycling family. We had a great dinner of traditional Lithuanian food, including potato pancakes and beet soup, which comes with more potatoes, the theme of the entire trip. (Seriously, after two weeks of potatoes twice a day, we can never eat another boiled potato. Luckily, we had Chef Pasi on the bike ride and he fed us the most amazing meals ever out of a tent.)

Many of the Cycling for Libraries participants at the Vilnius Town Hall the night before it all started.

Beet soup with potatoes – yum!

Stay tuned for more posts about all of the exciting adventures we had on the road with Cycling for Libraries in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia!

By Karen Holt and April Kessler of bizologie.com. Karen and April are librarians at the University of Texas at Austin and are now super fit after biking nearly 400 miles with amazing librarians from around the world.

Cycling for Libraries Teaser

In Uncategorized on August 4, 2012 at 10:30 pm

Dear Readers,

April Kessler and I are having a blast at the phenomenal Cycling for Libraries unconference in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

We have been welcomed by our colleagues in these beautiful countries with great warmth and kindness. It has been the experience of a lifetime, and we have been gathering lots of pictures, videos, and stories just for you and we’ll be posting more about this experience soon.

In the meantime you can follow our adventures at Bizologie. http://www.bizologie.com, and The Twitter hashtag is #cyc4lib.

Yours in Library love,

Karen Holt

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