It's finally getting sunny in Adelaide. Today is my third day of going out without having to wear heavy winter clothes, including thermal undergarments. The wind can still be cold especially at night, but not as chilly as before. The sun now sets at about 7:30 pm and this gets a bit longer every day -- the change is noticeable. The rains have stopped, too.
The good thing is that the longer daylight psychologically allows me to work more. Darkness somehow signals for me to slow down. The bad thing is that I tend to abuse this to the point of exhaustion.
The problem now is that the sun is getting hotter. We are not yet into summer so consider how hot it could get in summer. Oh well, you can't win everything.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The SA State Library
Today I was finally able to visit the State Library of South Australia. I was excited about this visit and I was not disappointed.
Apart from the vast collection of books, it is very spacious, has nice air conditioning and has free wifi. It is open from 10 am to 8 pm (Mon-Wed) and 10 am to 6 pm on Thu-Fri. You can check out the updated schedule here.
There is plenty of space to study or work, with lots of comfortable seats. If you bring a laptop, you can plug into many of the sockets and use the free wifi. Membership is free for residents (just bring a proof of residence, like a phone bill). Being a member gives you internet access to extensive databases of publications and journals (like EBSCO).
I was happy to discover another treasure in Adelaide, but at the same time, sad too. It presented a bleeding contrast to our libraries in the Philippines. I was once a cultural researcher working for the Philippine government. Part of our project involved photo-documentation of historical records and books.
We were given access to the Katipunan files of the National Library and I was elated to be able to see newspapers such as La Independencia. When we tried opening the papers (sealed in crumbling, brown, dusty paper) I began to get sad. The librarian had warned us that they had no money to preserve the artifacts in climate controlled rooms. We persisted in turning a page but the paper started crumbling to pieces. We decided to stop our mission and just take a photo of the battered front page of the paper on top of the pile.
* * *
To use the wifi, just connect to Internode and start the browser. When you try to connect to a site, it will display a login page. Scroll to the lower portion of the page and click the Guest button.
Apart from the vast collection of books, it is very spacious, has nice air conditioning and has free wifi. It is open from 10 am to 8 pm (Mon-Wed) and 10 am to 6 pm on Thu-Fri. You can check out the updated schedule here.
There is plenty of space to study or work, with lots of comfortable seats. If you bring a laptop, you can plug into many of the sockets and use the free wifi. Membership is free for residents (just bring a proof of residence, like a phone bill). Being a member gives you internet access to extensive databases of publications and journals (like EBSCO).
I was happy to discover another treasure in Adelaide, but at the same time, sad too. It presented a bleeding contrast to our libraries in the Philippines. I was once a cultural researcher working for the Philippine government. Part of our project involved photo-documentation of historical records and books.
We were given access to the Katipunan files of the National Library and I was elated to be able to see newspapers such as La Independencia. When we tried opening the papers (sealed in crumbling, brown, dusty paper) I began to get sad. The librarian had warned us that they had no money to preserve the artifacts in climate controlled rooms. We persisted in turning a page but the paper started crumbling to pieces. We decided to stop our mission and just take a photo of the battered front page of the paper on top of the pile.
* * *
To use the wifi, just connect to Internode and start the browser. When you try to connect to a site, it will display a login page. Scroll to the lower portion of the page and click the Guest button.
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