At 03:40 PM 11/19/2015 -0600, glaws wrote:
Concession: there is sometimes, and possibly in this case, the tendency
to equate North America (23 countries per Wikipedia) with the United
States. That is more a careless, linguistic peccadillo, I suggest, than
a felony warranting a call-to-arms.
Very respectfully, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America> lists 45
countries (colourful table about 20% down the page)[1] including what
"old-fashioned me" used to call "Central America" and "the Caribbean."
North America is, at the very least, Canada, the USA, St Pierre et Miquelon
and Greenland.
The phrase "Koha North America User's Group would like to invite agencies
and libraries located within the United States to host its third annual
meeting" is *NOT* a "linguistic peccadillo", it is an explicitly
discriminatory invitation.
Paul
[1] Including, btw, La Navasse which is seen by most historians as an
anomalous US land-grab under the Guano Islands Act of 1856 which allows the
US President to "consider as appertaining to the United States" any piece
of real estate covered in ... guano.
B. Time of Meeting
I don't think meeting in a particular month carries the same weight of
concern as your first point about inclusiveness, or even your last about
attendance fees.
C. Attendance Fees
Libraries, few in the US rich, don't always have good conference rooms,
especially if there are conference break-out sessions. That may mean
renting some hotel meeting room space for $1,000 a day. If it requires a
$20 charge per person to get some good facilities I think that's reasonable.
I have always, albeit typically privately, supported the idea of a
reasonable attendance fee. I greatly appreciate it when a hosting
organization provides coffee, maybe juice, and pastries for breakfast so
that I don't have to run all over a hotel in the morning trying to find
the $5 coffee and $4 donuts, being late for the inaugural address, and
spilling now-cold coffee all over the nice lady in the row in front of
me as I say "excuse-me, excuse-me" as I trip over people trying to get
to the only open seat in the middle of the row in the middle of the
room. Having coffee and donuts provided at the event is worth some coin
to me and something more to the ex-nice lady soaked in cold vanilla
hazelnut coffee which clashes terribly with her /parfum du jour/.
Greg
--------------------------------------
On 11/19/2015 02:19 PM, BWS Johnson wrote:
> Salvete!
>
>
>> The Koha North America Userâs Group would like to invite agencies and
>> libraries located within the United States to host its third annual
meeting
>> held in early August, 2016. This meeting offers participants two days of
>> instructional sessions and presentations, followed by a two day hackfest.
>
> At risk of beating a dead horse, I am once again disappointed that
this body has taken up the mantle of "North America". There are plenty of
Libraries, Organisations, and Agencies within North America that do not
fit your group's stringent United States centric viewpoint. I am also
continually saddened that this body will only consider meeting in early
August. It is further too bad that you all charge fees for your meeting.
The three of these problems in combination send a strong repeated message
that inclusivity is not an aim of your organisation, whether that be a
valid conclusion to draw or no. I do so hope that at some point in
future, this group might reconsider any or all of those matters.
>
>
> Cheers,
> Brooke
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