Update to this particular week's gathering:
We rarely have any sort of "group business" to discuss at our weekly event, since I want to keep this an informal, fun and social thing, but this week I'm making a SMALL exception. I've been thinking about how we could "give back" as a group, to the wider nerd / geek culture in the Omaha area, and I think I've found the perfect way to dip our toes into that idea.
I read an article that said the Omaha Public Library system is seeing budget cuts, and is already having problems keeping up with demand for some books - with waiting lists for popular titles sometimes several months long, and hundreds deep. I'm thinking that SVS could inquire with the libraries to see if there are books that we, as a group, approve of (namely genuinely good science fiction and fantasy, or perhaps things related to science and technology - not pulp like Twilight), and pass a hat around at each meeting, with the money going toward buying good condition used books to fill those gaps at the library.
I haven't contacted the library about this yet - I want to get input from people first. I think it's a great idea though, and I know that we'd probably be able to get some press out of it even :)
Feel free to leave thoughts on the idea in the comments, but the decision will be made by those who show up in-person on Friday, so I hope I'll see even more of you there this week than our usually few dozen :)
(back to our regularly scheduled programming)
