A few publications [1] have recently tackled the hot topic of the changing librarian skillset (and you can see our previous discussion on this subject here).
In Computers in Libraries , Loretta Gharst argues that rather than usurping the role of the librarian, technology “exponentially increased the librarian’s ability to provide library services” including technical, circulation and reference services.
Meanwhile in Online, Walt Crawford looks at the pressure on library and information professionals to keep up with all manner of gadget and new technology (the TechMusts!) and whether this is sustainable or even necessary. TechNos and TechMusts discusses the proliferation of blog posts providing extensive computing competencies lists and challenges this approach.
The latest issue of Library Management (a special issue from the ALSR 2010 conference) has various articles exploring the shift in the role of the academic librarian. Unfortunately this is not currently available online due to a 1 year embargo but you can view the presentations from the conference held at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
1. These are available via the CILIP subscription to Proquest Library Science.
- Repositories Research Project – free onsite consultancy
- Search engine optimisation
- The Blio eBook reader platform
- Jorum Learning and Teaching Competition – closes 2 July
- New History in an Hour eBooks and iPhone apps
- Social networking and libraries – 9th July conference
1. Repositories Research Project – free onsite consultancy
The Repositories Support Project (RSP) http://www.rsp.ac.uk/ offers free onsite consultancy visits to any institutions requiring assistance on any aspect of starting or running an institutional repository.
If you would like to book an appointment, or would just like some more information, contact Dominic Tate dominic.tate@nottingham.ac.uk
Article on SEO from Google expert http://www.allaboutmarketresearch.com/articles/art067.htm
This tip comes via Internet World Stats – a free newsletter which you can sign up to at www.internetworldstats.com
| 3. The Blio eBook reader platform |
Useful article on the Blio eBook reader: “Is the Blio eBook reader a middleware that sits between systems, or is it a platform?” http://it-enquirer.com/2010/06/28/blio-ebook-reader-platform/ with thanks to IT Enquirer. http://www.it-enquirer.com/
4. Jorum Learning and Teaching Competition – closes 2 July
The Jorum Learning and Teaching Competition <http://www.jorum.ac.uk/altcCompetition.html> closes Friday 2nd July.
Enter via JorumOpen <http://open.jorum.ac.uk/xmlui>, with a chance to win £300, and present your winning resource at the Association for Learning Technology’s annual conference <http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2010/>. Full entry details can be found on the Jorum website <http://www.jorum.ac.uk/altcCompetition.html> .
5. New History in an Hour eBooks and iPhone apps
Easy to read apps about the Cold War, WW11 etc, targeted at GCSE, A Level students/ colleges, as well as commuters and developed by a librarian! www.historyinanhour.com
6. Social networking and libraries – 9th July conference
There is currently much discussion in libraries as to the use of social networking for marketing and publicity purposes. Several libraries have embraced opportunities allowed by the world of Web 2.0, and social networking in particular, whilst others face criticism for encouraging use of social networks (such as Facebook) within their library spaces.
Many libraries are benefitting from having their services and facilities promoted via Facebook and more and more library services are sending out alerts and updates via platforms such as Twitter. Join Cilip’s Multimedia, Information and Technology Group, as we investigate these developments in a half day seminar dedicated to ‘Social Networking and Libraries’, in which four speakers from UK Higher Education Libraries will present case studies on their experiences of using social networks.
Programme
1.30 p.m.. Registration and refreshments
1.45 p.m.. Introduction
1.50 p.m. Gareth Johnson, University of Leicester
“The Thing on the doorstep: networking socially at Leicester”
2.15 p.m. Zelda Chatten, University of Liverpool
“Social networking for the unsociable: the University of Liverpool experience”
3.20 p.m.. Refreshments
3.40 p.m. Dave Puplett, London School of Economics
4.15 p.m. Andrew Walsh, University of Huddersfield
“University of Huddersfield library or @hudlib? Moving the library into Facebook, Twitter and more…”
4.50 p.m. Close
Seminar Location
Liverpool, John Moores University, Lecture Theatre, John Foster Building,
Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, L3 5UZ
Price: £40.00 (excluding VAT) for MmIT members
£60.00 (excluding VAT for non MmIT members
Booking form: http://surveys.edgehill.ac.uk/mmit
- UKOLN’s annual Institutional Web Management Workshop
- Fairy Tales on the interactive whiteboard with Promethean and Ladybird
- Copac now includes British Museum Libraries’ holdings
- South Africa and football: new resources from ACTSA
- DVD Ripper 6 launches
- Jane Austen manuscripts go online
1. UKOLN’s annual Institutional Web Management Workshop
UKOLN’s annual Institutional Web Management Workshop, IWMW 2010 will be held at the University of Sheffield on 120-14 July. Bookings for the event are open on the event website at:
http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/iwmw2010/booking/
As can be seen from the details of the plenary talks (http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/iwmw2010/talks/ ) and workshop session (http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/iwmw2010/sessions/) many of the topics will be of interest to librarians as well as those who work in institutional Web management teams.
A blog to support the event is at: http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/blog/2010/
2. Fairy Tales on the interactive whiteboard with Promethean and Ladybird
Promethean has partnered with leading children’s book publishers, Ladybird, to extend its range of ActivLessons. A host of interactive whiteboard lessons and multimedia resources have been created to accompany the launch of Ladybird’s Read it Yourself series of classic fairy tales and enrich the reading experience in the classroom.
In the new series, traditional tales such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and The Wizard of Oz have been updated to include simple storylines and a high key word count. Complementing this, the Read it Yourself ActivLessons bring stories to life on an interactive whiteboard with the addition of sound, images and additional media. Read it yourself ActivLessons can be purchased and downloaded through Promethean Planet’s online store: www.PrometheanPlanet.com/Ladybird, priced at £4.99 per single user license.
3. Copac now includes British Museum Libraries’ holdings
The holdings of the British Museum libraries have been added to Copac. The library collections of the British Museum provide an invaluable research resource that supports the study of the rich history of human cultures represented by the museum’s object collection. The British Museum Library catalogue includes material held in all 10 of the Museum’s Libraries; Ancient Egypt and Sudan, Anthropology (the Library of the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas), Asia Department, Coins and Medals, Conservation and Scientific Research, Greece and Rome, Middle East, the Paul Hamlyn Library (the Museum’s public library), Prehistory and Europe, and Prints and Drawings.
Details of other libraries to be added to Copac are available from the Forthcoming Libraries pages on the Copac website http://copac.ac.uk/libraries/forthcoming/
4. South Africa and football: new resources from ACTSA
Football and freedom schools pack: Created with the NUT the pack from Action for Southern Africa is designed for teachers to use children’s interest in football to explore South Africa’s history, culture and context.
South Africa and football: ACTSA has also compiled a range of materials for those wanting to know more about South Africa, its history and relationship with football.
All the resources and the action can be accessed on the ACTSA website: http://www.actsa.org/page-1447-2010.html
5. DVD Ripper 6 launches
All 3 Editions of DVD Ripper have been upgraded to version 6.
http://www.imtoo.com/dvd-ripper.html
6. Jane Austen manuscripts go online
Jane Austen’s fiction manuscripts are the first significant body of holograph evidence surviving for any British novelist. They represent every stage of her writing career and a variety of physical states:
working drafts, fair copies, and handwritten publications for private circulation. The manuscripts were held in a single collection until 1845, when at her sister Cassandra’s death they were dispersed among family members, with a second major dispersal, to public institutions and private collections, in the 1920s. Digitization enables their virtual reunification and will provides scholars with the first opportunity to make simultaneous ocular comparison of their different physical and conceptual states; it will facilitate intimate and systematic study of Austen’s working practices across her career, a remarkably neglected area of scholarship within the huge, world-wide Austen critical industry.
Many of the Austen manuscripts are frail; open and sustained access has long been impossible for conservation and location reasons. Digitization at this stage in their lives not only offers the opportunity for the virtual reunification of a key manuscript resource, it will also be accompanied by a record in as complete a form as possible of the conservation history and current material state of these manuscripts to assist their future conservation.
The digital edition will include in the first instance all Jane Austen’s known fiction manuscripts and any ancillary materials held with them. http://www.janeausten.ac.uk/index.html
Ed Chamberlain’s detailed explanation as to why he has opted out of CILIP membership raises some vital points about both our profession and professional association. One point that particularly resonated with me was the lack of recognition of and training opportunities around core skills that are becoming increasingly technical. Yes, more and more librarians are finding coding to be part of their work. And this is not just limited to a bit of HTML to update the library website. It can (and often does) include dealing with datasets, mashups, SQL, XML and systems administration. This is just a few and I’d be interested to hear what other people see as core technical skills for librarians.
Colleges of Further & Higher Education London & South East Circle (CoFHE LASEC) have announced a training day to be held on the 23rd April in London and facilitated by Phil Bradley. The programme looks pretty hands-on and is aimed at people looking to gain more experience with social networking and other Web 2.0 tools. Visit the CoFHE LASEC website for more details.
Multimedia Information and Techology: journal news
3 March 2010
Plustek’s latest film scanner, the OpticFilm 7600i SE, has won ePHOTOzine’s coveted ‘Highly Recommended’ award. This compact device is for scanning 35mm slides and negatives. The scanner is ideal for producing high quality images on a computer for archiving, printing, enlarging, and sharing with friends and family.
Improvements include increase in D-max from 3.3 to 3.5 and a new multi-exposure function. The scanner can also now be used with Apple Mac computers. ePHOTOzine liked the OpticFilm 7200i when they tested it in 2006, and four years on they like the OpticFilm 7600i SE even more.
“Scan speed has improved dramatically since we tested the OpticFilm 7200i… and it compares extremely well against other scanners”, said ePHOTOzine. “The OpticFilm 7600i SE looks and operates like the OpticFilm 7200i we’ve already tested, but this scanner has three major differences: faster scanning times, a higher dynamic range, and multi-scan.
Pricing and availability
The OpticFilm 7600i SE costs £269 and can be purchased from Jessops.
Tips in recent e-news include:
Sign up for the training company’s newsletter at: http://www.mydigitaldialogue.com/
The Network Newsletter: tackling social exclusion in libraries, museums, archives and galleries. The Network’s Website is at www.seapn.org.uk and includes information on courses, good practice, specific socially excluded groups, as well as the newsletter archive.
Contents include:
- Role of public libraries in supporting and promoting digital participation
- NIACE’s annual survey of digital participation, 2009
The Library contains a wealth of material, over 400,000 items, ranging from rare, early 16th-Century printed music to standard musical repertoire and from 78 rpm recordings to compact discs and DVDs. The collections of music literature include much rare material as well as all the major encyclopaedias, bibliographies, catalogues and standard works in most musical genres, as well as over 600 music periodical titles.
Details of other libraries to be added to Copac are available from http://copac.ac.uk/libraries/forthcoming/
Everyone is talking about Twitter these days. Celebrities, politicians and the average person on the street are all posting tweets to keep their followers up to date on what they are doing, but is it also useful as a business information tool? What value can it provide to businesses and to you, as an information professional?
SLA Europe has three experts in the field of social media who will be sharing their views on how we can successfully use Twitter at work:
– *Julie Hall, *the founder of Women Unlimited and owner of Springmedia
– *Judith Lewis, *Director of Seshet Consulting and regular blogger on SEO Chicks
- *Dr Hazel Hall, *Director of the Centre for Social Informatics with
research expertise in online information sharing
- *Bob De Laney*, from our sponsor Lexis Nexis, will chair the evening.
Where: Balls Brothers at Minster Pavement, Minster Court, Mincing Lane, London EC3R 7PP
*When: **Tuesday 16th March, 6pm Registration 6:30pm Start* Followed by a networking opportunity over drinks and canapés.
*Tickets:* SLA Members – free; Non-Members £10.00 (cash or cheques please, paid on the door).
Register here: http://bit.ly/cuBdji
The Financial Times Historical Archive 1888-2006 offers complete digital run of world’s most authoritative daily business newspaper with annual updates, offering researchers and historians online access to the complete run of the world’s most authoritative daily business newspaper, from its first issue in 1888 to the end of 2006, with additional annual updates.
Approximately 790,000 fully searchable pages, including every article, advertisement and market listing, are now viewable individually and in the context of the full page and issue on the day they were published. Available as a subscription or one-off purchase to all academic, public and government libraries, the archive has been created from existing microfilm master copies and each item has been categorised by subject or topic to allow fast retrieval and review of relevant articles.
The full archive is now available by subscription or purchase and uniquely, this key title will soon be cross-searchable with The Times and The Economist, creating an authoritative historical newspaper resource spanning three centuries. For more information about the Financial Times Historical Archive or to request your free trial, please contact emea.marketing@cengage.com or visit: www.gale.cengage.co.uk/financial_times_historical_archive <http://www.gale.cengage.co.uk/financial_times_historical_archive> .
1. Free event for software developers
2. Wiley Blackwell offers free video tutorials
3. Marshall Breeding’s 2009 survey of library automation
4. New BUFVC courses: digital video
5. Digital media training company hosts open evening
6. E-Books and E-Content 2010
1. Free event for software developers – 24th to 27th February
Dev8D 2010 is a FREE event for software developers working in education and research. The event will be an opportunity for developers to learn and practice new skills, hear about development happening throughout the country and participate in hands on workshops. The event lasts 4 days but each day will stand on its own, so you don’t have to sign up for the whole event. http://www.dev8d.org/book.html
The event programme has now been released and more details are available, here:
http://data.dev8d.org/2010/programme/dev8d_programme.html
There are links to each session from this page and also more detailed information about the event can be found at: http://wiki.2010.dev8d.org/
2. Wiley Blackwell offers free video tutorials
Self-paced online tutorials are available in 10 languages and cover key products such as: Blackwell Reference Online, Health Economic Evaluations Database, Journals from Wiley-Blackwell. For more information, visit: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/
3. Marshall Breeding – 2009 survey on library automation
Marshall Breeding, of Library Technology Guides, has published Perceptions 2009: an international survey of library automation. Although focused on the US, 80 respondents were from the UK. http://www.librarytechnology.org/perceptions2009.pl
Marshall says: “Libraries make significant investments in technology in order to automate their libraries and deliver information resources and services through their websites. The integrated library system (ILS) for most libraries represents the most critical component of its technology infrastructure and can do the most to help or hinder a library in fulfilling its mission to serve its patrons and in operating efficiently. As libraries consider their automation strategies, such as moving to a new ILS, it’s helpful to have as much data as possible to make an informed decision.”
4. New BUFVC courses: digital video
Encoding Digital Video for Streaming and Network Delivery
Presenters: Greg Newton-Ingham and Murray Weston Tuesday 30th and Wednesday 31st March 2010 10.30 am – 5.00 pm
Day One: Introductory Course, 30th March 2010 Offers an introduction to digitising moving images for online delivery and tackles problems, which may be encountered in the process.
Day Two: Advanced Course, 31st March 2010 Designed to follow on from the introductory course, this course offers greater technical insight into the challenges involved with digitising moving images for online delivery, addressing considerations such as system software, compression and server technology.
Although this is offered as a one-day course, it is recommended that participants should have previously attended the introductory level course or will already have experience of delivering time-based media via the web.
Courses can be booked separately.
Contact: courses@bufvc.ac.uk
5. Digital media training company hosts open evening
Sounddelivery, digital media training experts, hosts open evening at its new premises in London: Friday March 26th at Cityside House, Alder Street E1 1EE.
http://www.sounddelivery.org.uk
6. E-Books and E-Content 2010: University College London, 11 May 2010
This year’s econtent meeting will consider the emerging and fundamental role of data as content. Once confined to analysts and researchers, raw data in the form of databases, databanks, images and spreadsheets has become easier to store, easier to make accessible and even to publish. This in turn has led to expectations from users as to its availability and prompted the need for a range of tools and techniques to deal with the burgeoning demand. Key issues are: how can such content be managed to ensure its longevity through digital curation and systematic preservation; the need for new standards to enable links with traditional formats and the narrower world of regular scholarly publishing; metadata and taxonomy – how we describe datasets and make them accessible and searchable; and perhaps of most concern, issues of validity and accuracy.
Expert speakers will Dr Michael Jubb of the Research Information Network; Helle Lauridsen of Proquest; Matt Day of Nature.com; Dr Jan Brase of the German Technical Library and recently appointed Manager of Datacite (www.datacite.org; Dr Simon Hodson, the Programme Manager for Managing Research Data at JISC.
Registration fee: £110 per delegate
For further information, please email infostudies-conferences@ucl.ac.uk
JISC Digital Media has just announced their training schedule for the first quarter of 2010.
Workshops available are:
More information about JISC Digital Media’s training programme is available at:
http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/training/
