Yan Fu points out that the 19 July issue of the AAAS online magazine carries a series of articles and media exploring the challenges and opportunities created by demographic changes around the world.

http://www.sciencemag.org/site/special/population

APLIC members gathered in Washington DC in late March for three eventful days of presentations, special events, and catching up with old friends. The nation’s capital provided some wonderful moments outside the session rooms.

Enjoy a brief slide show . . . .

One of Washington’s best-kept secrets, The Brewmaster’s Castle  is the most intact late-Victorian home in the country, and a Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1892-1894 of poured concrete and reinforced steel by German immigrant, local brewer and philanthropist, Christian Heurich, it is also the city’s first fireproof home. Heurich was Washington’s second largest landowner, the largest private employer in the nation’s capital, and as the world’s oldest brewer, ran his brewery until his death at 102.

It is maintained by a private foundation and a dedicated director lives on site. The house is large, but the tours have an ‘initmate’ feel.  You can schedule a private tour on a Wednesday or walk-in at their scheduled times Thursday, Friday or Saturday (11:30 and 1 each day, with an added 2:30 tour on Saturday).

For years I drove past this mansion (located at the intersection of 20th and New Hampshire in northwest DC) on the way to my hotel in Georgetown and never knew what it was. Finally this summer I planned a visit.  It is within easy walking distance of Dupont Circle.  If you enjoy historic homes, this is a real treat. The history is fascinating, including romance and tragedy. The local DC brewery was located at the site of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts  (another gem, but not hidden).  A blog post on the brewery has some interesting anecdotes.  And a little bit about the beer can be found at Foggy Bottom.com .

Many APLIC members are local to the DC area and I am sure they have suggestions on places off the beaten track that are worth checking out.  I have traveled often to DC from the Northeast for business and have stayed to visit the major and some minor attractions of the area.  

I thought it might be fun for the membership (locals and tourists) to share information on some of the un-ordinary and sometimes extra-ordinary sights that APLIC visitors to DC might want to check out when they attend the conference in DC next March. [APLIC 44th Annual Conference in Washington, DC, March 28 - 30, 2011] 

I will plan on posting a new location each week.

The membership will be able to add new places of interest as a comment to my posts or as new blog posts.  New blog posts should use the category: APLIC conference

All the “gems” will be collated for a handout at the conference.

The latest APLIC Communicator has just been posted. Check it out at : Communicator Summer 2010

APLIC members attending the SLA conference in New Orleans got together for dinner, and then met up again at the International Reception. We looked good at dinner, but forgot to take a picture. We got caught in one of those famous Southern rainstorms just before the International Reception, so we don’t look quite as good, but we did finally remember to take a picture. (Nancy Minter was also at SLA but unfortunately was not available for the picture.)

APLIC President Claire Twose was featured in an article about embedded librarians on Inside Higher Ed.

Embedded librarianship is a hot topic (there were two sessions about it at the SLA conference last week). APLIC members got an early look at what Claire is doing at the Hopkins Population Center during the 2005 APLIC conference.

Following is a report on Amy Tsui’s presentation at the 2010 APLIC conference.

Tsui, a professor in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, began her talk by saying that APLIC president Claire Twose has been “invaluable” to her research.

Tsui continued talking about research infrastructure, saying it is not often you get money to develop research capacity for the long term – but she got just that from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Tsui is director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health, which works with African universities to develop research and training programs.

» Continue reading “Amy Tsui: Building capacity in African universities”

In addition to the APLIC conference (my favorite, of course) I also regularly attend the much larger SLA annual conference. Because SLA is so big, I thought it might be helpful to pick out a few programs that would be of particular interest to APLIC members. If you’ve spotted a good one I missed, please add it in the comments. I’d also like to have an APLIC get-together during the conference – watch for information on the APLIC listserv.

» Continue reading “SLA 2010: Picks for APLIC members”

Working with Tara Murray last week on the APLIC Policies and Procedures manual (transition to electronic format), it struck me that we do this kind of thing above and beyond our regular work for a reason. This excellent item picked up from IBM’s Smartplanet site might explain why.

Even if it doesn’t it’s a great presentation. . . .