Jim Alves

set up and to put away. It's just about as fast as booting up the computer and its programs. I am concerned, however, that members may not have adequate access to the collection. Let me know what you think…

   I am in the process of cataloguing the many magazines in the storage room, and hope to display the most recent year available for each title. This will mean using the second cart, and will allow inclusion of much of the archives, while still permitting some logical order to the stacks.

   I also hope to re-introduce the collection's master list for use by club members. The list will be cross-referenced by subject as well. A separate list will be available for magazines, and will index feature articles by subject. Other materials, such as club newsletters, journals, and the like will be catalogued and collected into binders or shelf pockets so that members may borrow them. This process of labeling and numbering the selections is ongoing at present. The work is slow and meticulous, but once it is complete the collection will be easier to manage.

   If you have opinions about the library, ideas for improving it, or questions about borrowing or returning selections, contact me at the e-mail address shown earlier, or call me at home at 925/ 634-0220.

April Activity

   At the April general meeting, six titles were returned, and another six selections were borrowed by members. Twenty-one titles are currently in circulation. The club thanks Tony Spina for his donation of Astronomy in Color, by Peter Lancaster. Additionally, the board added Observer's Handbook 2000, edited by Roy Bishop, to the circulating collection.

Selections in the Pluto orbit

   The following titles are overdue by six months or more. Do you have one?
Alchemy of the Heavens
Messier Marathon
Messier Objects DSC (copies one and two)
New Horizons in Amateur Astronomy
Observing Eclipses
Star Hopping
Urban Astronomer
The Universe from Your Backyard
Year-Round Messier Marathon

   Notices will be sent to the borrowers, and phone calls will be placed in an effort to collect these wayward selections. If you located one of these TVS titles during your spring cleaning, please contact Jim Alves at jim_alves_engr@yahoo.com, or return the item at the May 19 general meeting. If you suspect that you may have an overdue club library selection, but are not sure, please contact Jim.


Status of the stacks

   You have probably noticed a change in the library. Our most relevant materials have been consolidated onto one rolling cart. Most duplicate selections and older editions of current titles are archived in a storage room that TVS rents from the church. Believe it or not, most of our current selections fit on this one cart. This is a temporary solution until a better method for displaying our library materials can be found. Unfortunately, our stacks have no logical order at this time. The "best fit" system is used for now. Using the single ready-to-open cart is easier and faster to

Would you use TVS logowear?

   The board is considering offering a variety of apparel decorated with the club's recently adopted logo. (See the color logo on our website.)

   Local and national sources, including the clothier Lands' End, are being investigated for the variety of apparel that can be decorated with our logo. Items requested by club members at one time or another have included polo shirts, tee shirts, windbreakers, and true cold-weather jackets.

   Signe McIntire is checking with a source in Tracy, and vice president Frank Rogue reports that embroidered logo patches can be produced by Livermore Tees for a price less than $10.

   At the May 19 general meeting members will be polled regarding their interest in club logowear. Your input is very much appreciated.

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