[vox-announce] LUGOD meeting tonight (Monday March 17th): OSSIM

[Bill Kendrick]

LUGOD meets tonight at the Davis Public Library.  The topic will be
the Open Source Security Information Management project (OSSIM), a
collection of tools designed to aid network administrators in computer
security, intrusion detection and prevention. Its goal is to provide a
comprehensive compilation of tools which, when working together, grant
a network/security administrator with detailed view over each and
every aspect of his networks/hosts/physical access devices/server/etc.

Brian Lavender will discuss the project, and then set up a virtual
environment of machines, and OSSIM for monitoring.

  http://www.lugod.org/meeting/



Additionally, the following by-law change will be proposed:
"Proposal to remove LUGOD's library and librarian officer"

Background
----------
  - LUGOD maintains a free-to-use lending library.
  - As of 3/2008, we have a collection of approx. 150 books.
  - LUGOD purchased a few books, but the majority were donations from
    individuals (usually used), publishers and booksellers (usually new).
  - The collection has not been expanded much in recent years
    (last update to the catalog on the website was 6/2004).
  - The collection takes a considerbale amount of space
    (it is currently housed at Henry House's office in Davis).
  - Maintaining the catalog on the website takes a lot of work.
  - The library is barely utilized.  (As of 3/2008, Henry House,
    LUGOD librarian for many years, states that no books have been
    checked out in the past 12 months, despite regular announcements
    at meetings and mentioning the library in the widespread
    meeting announcement emails in recent months.)
  - In 9/2007, the discussion of dissolving the library and donating books
    to a local public library was brought up at a meeting, and has been
    mentioned at meetings since.
  - This will provide more ready access to books (libraries are more accessible
    than Henry's office, which is only accessible with notice).
  - This will provide a wider range of people access to these books
    (more people know about libraries than know about LUGOD).
  - LUGOD can benefit by having "Donated by..." faceplates inserted into books.
    (Would this cost LUGOD?  If so, how much?)


Proposal
--------
* Dissolve the LUGOD library and donate the books to one or more public
  library systems, getting "Donated by..." faceplates in them, if possible.
  (Possibly also turn this into an event, similar to the donation of new
  books that LUGOD helped get donated to the Davis Branch Library in
  October 2000 [1]).


Proposed Bylaw changes [2]
--------------------------
* The library and librarian are included in our bylaws, so a bylaw change
  is necessary to dissolve the libary.

* Strike section 2 ("Appointed Officers"), subsection vi ("...Librarian...")
  from the ByLaws. [3]
  (Renumber subsection vii.)

* Strike Article IV ("The Library") from the ByLaws. [4]
  (Renumber articles V through VII.)

* Per Article IV section 4, "Outdated items", we may technically need to
  bring ALL books to at least one meeting, to offer them to attendees,
  however it should be possible to ignore that rule either because
  (1) we'll have striken all of article IV from the bylaws first, or
  (2) we invoke the 'sudo' rule (Article II, Section 3). [5]


Donation
--------
* Attempt to donate all books deemed suitable for donation
  to Yolo County library system [6] (of which Davis Branch is a branch)
  and/or Woodland Public Library [7] (which is a partner with the
  Sacramento Public Library system).


Clean-up
--------
* Archive the "Library" section of website do note that it existed in the
  past, and what became of it.

* Remove Library news from standard meeting agenda.

* Remove Library from standard meeting announcements.


References:
---------- 
[1] LUGOD book donation, October 2000:
    http://www.lugod.org/projects/yololibrary/
    http://www.lugod.org/photos/2000.10.28/
    http://www.lugod.org/photos/yolo/

[2] Rule for bylaw changes, per Article II, Section 2 of ByLaws:
  Section 2:  Amendment of the Bylaws
     Anyone can bring up an amendment to the bylaws at any time.  The
     amendment will be addressed during the discussion period of the meeting.
     In the absence of objection to voting, a vote will take place
     immediately.  Otherwise voting will take place at the next meeting.
     A 2/3 majority will pass the amendment.

[3] Current section 2.vi.
    vi: The Librarian is responsible for:
         a: Keeping LUGOD's library in a safe and convenient location.
         b: Bringing requested items to members and ensuring LUGOD gets the
            items back in a timely manner.
         c: Updating and maintaining the library page of LUGOD's website.

[4] Current Article VI:
  Section 1:  Contribution and Purchasing
     The library is property of LUGOD.  All members are invited to contribute
     to the library.  typescript is in charge of receiving contributions.
     Any member may suggest that the library obtain something with funds from
     /dev/null during a meeting.  The decision to purchase should be
     approved either by consent or by the majority.
  Section 2:  Lending
     Those who wish to borrow from the library may do so by contacting
     typescript.  typsecript will bring the item in question, if available,
     to the next meeting, or, at typescript's option, invite the interested
     party to receive the item at another location of typescript's choosing.
     The borrower may keep the item until the next meeting, but may keep it
     longer if noone else has requested it.  It is the duty of the borrower
     to make certain noone else is waiting for the item before keeping it
     longer than the allowed time.
  Section 3:  Giveaways
     Certain library items of a non-reusable nature, such as stickers and
     t-shirts, may be designated by typescript as giveaways.  These shall be
     given to any member who requests them.  At typescript's discretion, an
     additional voluntary contribution to /dev/null may be requested in
     exchange.  If more members want giveaways than there are available,
     typescript is the final arbiter of who said 'Me! Me!' first, or is
     more deserving, in a non-discriminatory manner as prescribed by the
     Constitution.
   Section 4: Outdated Items
     Root, sys and the librarian can declare certain items belonging to the
     LUGOD library as being "outdated."  Outdated items must be brought to at
     least one general meeting and offered 'up for grabs' to whomever wants
     them.  If not taken, the officer can dispose of that item however the
     officer sees fit.

[5] Article II, Section 3, "sudo" bylaw:
     A bylaw may be temporarily suspended with the consent of root, sys,
     and at least one other elected officer.  The officers are strongly
     cautioned against abuse of this power; if tempted to use it more
     than once for the same thing, consider amending the bylaws.

[6] Yolo County Library system:
    http://www.yolocounty.org/org/library/default.htm

[7] Woodland Public Library:
    http://cityofwoodland.org/indexSub.cfm?page=343686


-bill!
sys at lugod.org
http://www.lugod.org/
Linux Users' Group of Davis