This just in from Ashley the Bookmobilist in Egypt on day 2.

Date: 27 June 2003
Time: 4:44pm

Hello everyone! Day 2 has gone really smoothly here. We've managed to get all the equipment (printers, cutters, scorers) out of the tighter-than-tight Egyptian customs and have had the Library's engineering dept. construct some tables. We hope to have things up and running soon.

On Monday the filmmakers (who are making a documentary about these goings on) and I will be travelling around, shopping for some sort of vehicle to create the BibAlex Bookie.

We've also begun to think about a catalog system where users will be able to see if a text in the Library is available in digital form, and then, if they want, go upstairs (or downstairs, there are 11 floors) and print and bind it.

Things are looking good: the setup is housed in its own space right next to the Children's Library at an entrance to the building.

Warning: the photo below is linked to a really big file that may crash your browser if you're on an older system or a system with lousy memory! So don't click on it if that may be a problem.