[bookstar]

I am a member of the MPAS like Dave. I have been a member for about 8 years [gulp] and have been running our society's library for baout the last 3 years. We have a lot of books which are very helpful for observing: books on astrophotography, testing your telescope, making your own telescope etc. All members get to borrow stuff for a month or two months with renewal. This is a much longer period of time than in any public library. Indeed, the only people who would get borrowing rights that generous would be postgraduate university students doing their masters etc. That being said, 2006 wasn't the best of years for running the library ; I forgot to turn up 1 night [ shame on me], and another night I became so engrossed with talking to the speaker that I never picked the keys up, and many of the people who were frequent borrowers have left [ Carl went to Moe and Jakob went back to his homeland of the Czech Republic.]

The Briars is our main dark site for viewing. It is a big place where you can get lost ; I got lost the first time I went there. It might be a good idea for Dave to stick a map of the Briars somewhere with the viewing area marked out.