Agenda: Planning Meeting - March 11, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 * 3:00 – 5:00 pm * Langson Library 110 University of California Irvine
- Approval of January 16, 2008 Minutes & report on Action Items
- Programs
- Program Planning, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, April 12 2008
- Fall 2009 Program (Brown)
- Fuel cell research at UC Irvine was discussed. The concept for the cell is multifaceted and interdisciplinary. The library aspect can be brought into the discussion in a number of ways such as: How is data produced and shared? How is dealing with an institute different than with a department? How do the researchers work? Patents? Behind the scenes help from librarians (how librarians get new researchers up to speed on the research that other members have conducted)? Perhaps a case study on serving interdisciplinary scholarship?
- Start at 10am, have library focused talks, lunch, case study, field study. That way people can leave early if they wish.
- Posters or flyers for 12th CARL Biennial, 5-8 April 2008. (?)
- No-host dinner during CARL (Scaramozzino)
How about a Friday 5:30pm "no host" SEAL social at the Symposium Wine Bar (http://www.symposiumwinebar.com/) about .6 mile walk from the hotel. It has wine, beer and hard liquor plus snacks. That way we can "advertise" before and during the conference without having to make reservations. If we decide on that place we could "notify" the owners that we are asking people to meet there...maybe we could reserve a few tables.
Then if some people want to retire somewhere to eat afterwards we go to Houstons. It is near the wine bar http://www.hillstone.com/ & menu http://www.hillstone.com/pdf_menus/houstons/Houstons_Irvine.pdf
- New Business
- SoCal Science Cafe (Brown) (see text below)
- Announcements
- Adjourn
SoCal Science Cafe
To the Executive Board, SEAL-South,
Julia Gelfand, Applied Sciences Librarian at UC Irvine, has approached my with an idea. Science Cafe's are a community driven series of programs that bring science and technology research to the general population. For the past three years the SoCal Science Cafe has held programs throughout the Los Angeles-San Diego region. The current head of the program has completed his Ph.D. in Astrophysics and will be leaving Irvine by early summer. Julia has asked me to bring the idea of SEAL-S taking leadership of SoCal Science Cafe as an ongoing part of our group. I hope we can explore this offer and discuss the implication for commitment of time, effort, and costs.
With regards,
Mitchell Brown
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Mitchell:
I am asking you to please consult with the SEAL Board and investigate if SEAL may be interested in taking on oversight for the SoCal Science Cafe. This is a rather unique setup for a Science Cafe because it is not an institution-based nor a city referenced Science Cafe but instead has taken on a regional situation reaching from LA to Riverside to San Diego and including all of Orange County. There are "assistant directors" corresponding to different regions in So Calif that post & host events. The history of this SoCal ScienceCafe is that it was hosted by the Sigma Xi chapter at UCI and the lead founder was a graduate student also at UCI who just finished his doctorate and will soon be leaving the area. Developing a succession plan is the objective now and trying to maintain the ambitious scope and geographical reach with coordination. There is an Orange County Sigma Xi chapter and some interest from the Orange County AIAA chapter and the Aerospace Legacy Society that may emerge. Plans are underway to celebrate the third anniversary of the SoCal Science Cafe this spring. There is a website that has not been maintained very well at http://www.socal-sciencecafe.org/ and an active calendar managed by the meetup calendar management system which is the primary face of SoCal Science Cafe at http://science.meetup.com/32/calendar/ where the membership is reflected and a full review of past and future events.
It would require a lead person and representatives from different parts of the geography covered to post events for the community about science programs, events, etc and to organize and plan those events at a range of venues - bookstores, coffee houses, museums, public libraries, observatories, etc. The kind of events include talks, lectures, films, discussions led by scientists in all areas of science and providing community awareness of other events open to the public, exhibitions, films, and whatever may be of interest that is described as science-related.
Even if SEAL can not emerge as the successive organizing arm, there is interest in creating a partnership to collaborate more in the future. There have been successful collaboration with groups like NOVA and AAAS and other science/medical societies and firms. The first pulse we need is to learn what degree of interest SEAL may have in assuming any leadership role and secondly, a collaborative role in jointly sponsoring or partnering in any way with the SoCal Science Cafe. Thanks for communicating these ideas to the SEAL Board and I look forward to learning what the response will be. Please do not hesitate to contact me with additional questions. I got involved through the Founder, Brian Hart, when I wanted to explore creating a Science Cafe around the UCI campus and found this already well established.