the umbrella conference

Well the first day of the conference is over. It's late, almost midnight, and I have just returned from the conference dinner and subsequent socialising. I don't know anyone here but I am becoming quite practised at seeking out kindred spirits and enjoyed the evening nonetheless. I don't have their names committed to memory yet but had some good companions at the table and afterwards at the bar. One was an information officer for the Danish Library Association, another from Oxford University press who have a stand here. I also had a talk with a Medical Librarian from Nigeria.

I visited a few booths at the exhibition, the Innovative stand where i quizzed them about support for interoperability standards. I am going back tomorrow to have a closer look at their Electronic Resources Management module. They are working with a few Voyager clients to implement their product integrated with their traditional LMS interfaces. I also had a quick chat with the rep at the Oxford University Press stand and have been given a contact to follow up as I was interested in whether they were exposing their biographical content via a web service so it could be mashed up with other data services, both bibliographic and biographic. I also talked with the Talis rep and will be meeting Richard Wallis at their stand tommorrow. I had a short chat with Brian Kelly from UKOLN as well. I enjoyed Lynne Brindley's keynote and I'll talk about that more when I get back.

I drove the boys to the train station this morning to catch a train to London. They had plans to attend a performance of the Merchant of Venice at the Globe Theatre in the standing area (only 5 pound) but it was sold out and I've checked on the web and it is sold out tomorrow and Saturday night as well. The bought tickets for the original london sightseeing tour http://www.theoriginaltour.com/home/ and enjoyed that. They were too tried to do much more and were back in their rooms by 5:30pm. I left them to fetch their own dinner from the nearby shopping centre and when i checked on them after my function they were asleep.

The main local attraction is Hatfield House http://www.hatfield-house.co.uk/

It is where Queen Elizabeth the 1st grew up and there is a spot in the garden where they have marked that she was sitting when she was informed that she was to be the Queen of England.

They serve a hearty breakfast as part of the accommodation package and I have encouraged Richard and Darcy to stoke up for the day ahead. Tomorrow they will be exploring the local area. The swimming pool and gym facilities here are good and they have free entry as part of the accommodation deal.

It is a pleasant environment here if a bit sterile. The de havilland campus of the University of Hertfordshire is quite new. The old village itself is typically English but there is a lot of new housing around as it is a satellite town for London.

We are staying in London Saturday night so I will do some sightseeing with the boys on Saturday.