Code4lib Mid-Atlantic

Welcome to Code4Lib Mid-Atlantic, a Philadelphia Area/Tri-State chapter of the Code4Lib organization.

From Andrew Sather, Jenkins Law Library:

Jenkins Law Library in Philadelphia will host the next Code4Lib on Wednesday, May 29th at 6:00pm.

We will have wireless access for all. Unfortunately, I can't promise cookies!

There will be time scheduled for lightning talks. We'll provide Internet access (wireless or CAT-5) and a VGA hookup for your laptop if you're speaking. Please bring your own Mac adapters, if applicable.

We also have a dedicated PC for the projector if you plan to download a presentation or bring it with you on a USB drive.

I'd love to have a volunteer or two for a more lengthy presentation. Send me an email if you're interested.

Jenkins is located at 833 Chestnut Street, a block from the regional rails at Market East, PATCO at 8th Street, and the MFL. More information (including parking) is accessible here.

The library itself is located on the 12th floor of a building best known as "The 833 Chestnut Building" at 9th and Chestnut. There's an entrance on Chestnut Street and one on 9th Street. Tell security you're here to visit Jenkins. You will be asked to show a government-issued ID.

Jenkins' entrance will be visible when you step off the elevators Tell the Circulation Desk that you're here for Code4Lib and someone will direct you.

We can go for drinks afterwards, if you're interested. Cooperage is just down the street, though I'll happily take other recommendations.

Let me know if you have any special requests.

Andrew

The official kick off of the chapter occurred on October 17th, 2012 at the Code4Lib Mid-Atlantic conference. As with the main code4lib organization, the goal of the Code4Lib Mid-Atlantic is to connect librarians, hackers, designers, architects, curators, catalogers, artists and instigators in the Philadelphia and greater Tri-State area (and if you're further out, that's cool too).

Sign up for the Code4Lib Mid-Atlantic Google Group as we work out the details there for future meetings and activities.

We're looking for volunteers, both for general long-term organizational duties and to help plan future events. Positions that we know we need include a social media expert, an IRC guy/gal, and a social functions organizer. We also need volunteers to help us with needs we as yet don't know we need (and feel free to identify them). If you're interested in helping the chapter, sign up for the Code4Lib Mid-Atlantic Google Group and post what you'd be interested in. We're a friendly bunch so don't be afraid to jump right in.

As well as volunteers, we're definitely looking for future hosts for our Last Wednesday of the Month meet-ups. May, June and October 2013 are currently earmarked, but we're open after that. Typically, we meet in a conference room for one to two hours (having a projector and laptop/computer on hand recommended) and adjourn to a local restaurant or bar for a social hour. If you're interested in hosting, contact David Uspal and he'll get you on the calendar.

To keep us "regionally diverse", we're trying to keep on a 3:1 (previously 2:1, since updated) host schedule -- i.e for every three events hosted in Philadelphia (the gravitational center of this region), we'd like to get one outside the city as well. As such, we're especially looking for hosts outside the Center City Philadelphia area.

So far, our informal meet-ups have been "Quaker Style", aka anyone who has something to say gets up and presents (no formal time limits, but keeping it 10-15 minutes to be polite.) Feel free to plan your future meetup in this fashion or feel free to experiment with the formula. We're an easy-going bunch, so feel free to has as you'd like.

For the October 17th kickoff meeting, the conference was located at Falvey Memorial Library, Villanova University, and was held as part of the series of tech conferences, nicknamed the "Tech Trifecta", held at Falvey Library over the week of October 15th, 2012. Video, slide presentations, and abstract pages from this event coming soon(tm).

Our first informal meetup was held at the end of November at the Landmark Americana in University City.

January 20th, 2013 saw us meeting at the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

April 24th, 2013 saw us meeting at Samuel L. Paley Library, Temple University.

May 29th, 2013 saw us meeting at the Jenkins Law Library in Philadelphia.

June 26th, 2013 saw us meeting for a tour of Hive4A, a coworking/makerspace in Allentown, PA.

August 28th, 2013 will see us meeting at Samuel L. Paley Library, Temple University.

Because we're an informal group who share a common interest, there's no real Code4Lib Mid-Atlantic governance per-say. Decisions about meet-ups and activities generally work with someone pitching an idea on the mailing list. Therein, if you have an idea for a project, improvement or activity for the group, just send off a quick email to the Google Group, and before you know it, you'll most likely be "head" of said idea or activity. We're a good place to be an Experimentational Clearinghouse(tm), so don't hold back with ideas...

With this in mind, we want to structure the regional meetings to tailor to what the community wants -- be it more formal meetings with talks, roundtables, etc or just evening informal meetups at a downtown pub. To this end, we want to hear from YOU (you've read this far, so you must be interested). To be heard, just contact David Uspal or jump onto the mailing list and send a post with your ideas.