The new issue of our open access Journal of Information Literacy has just been published. Access the latest in IL research, plus conference reports and book reviews at http://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL

Facet Publishing have announced the release of the 3rd edition of the Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

The Directory is the only publication to bring together rare book and special collections from all kinds of libraries across the UK and Ireland and is an essential research tool for researchers and librarians throughout the world.
 
Fully updated since the second edition was published in 1997, this comprehensive and up-to-date guide encompasses collections held in national libraries, academic libraries,  public libraries, subscription libraries, clergy libraries, libraries for other professions, school libraries, companies, London clubs, museums and archives, and libraries in stately homes. 

Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian at the University of Oxford said,

"The new edition is a long-awaited reference work which will help researchers identify the UK and Republic of Ireland’s great collections of research materials. It provides detailed and authoritative information and is a must for all serious researchers."

Edited by Karen Attar, Curator of Rare Books and University Art at Senate House Library, The Directory:

• contains a national, cross-sectoral overview of rare book and special collections 
• offers full contact details, and descriptions of rare book and named special collections including quantities and particular subject and language strengths
• provides a quick and easy summary of individual libraries’ holdings
• directs researchers to the libraries most relevant for them
• assists libraries to evaluate their special collections according to a ‘unique and distinctive’ model
• enables libraries to make informed decisions about acquisition and collaboration
• helps booksellers and donors to target offers.  

David Prosser, Executive Director of Research Libraries UK said,

"Together, institutions in the UK and Ireland hold unrivalled special collections.  From our great National Libraries, through university collections to the smaller collections of specialist societies, cathedrals, historic homes, and museums we have a centuries-old tradition of collecting, preserving and giving access.  Scholars from around the world and across disciplinary differences rely on the treasures held by libraries listed in the Directory to pursue their research and help us make sense of the world in which we live."

-ends

Press and review copies contact:

James Williams, Marketing Manager, Facet Publishing

Tel: +44 (0)20 7255 0597
Email: james.williams@facetpublishing.co.uk

Notes:

Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections in the UK and Republic of Ireland, 3rd edition | May 2016 | 752pp | Hardback | 9781783300167 | Price: £175.00 | CILIP members price: £140.00

About the editor:

Karen Attar is Curator of Rare Books and University Art at Senate House Library and a Research Fellow of the Institute of English Studies, both of the University of London. She has published widely on library history and aspects of special collections, is the reviews editor for Library & Information History, and in 2012 edited the treasures volume Senate House Library, University of London.

Karen has written a blogpost about some of the most interesting collections contained in the Directory.

The book is published by Facet Publishing and is available from Bookpoint Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)1235 827702 | Fax: +44 (0)1235 827703 | Email: facet@bookpoint.co.uk | Web: www.facetpublishing.co.uk. | Mailing Address: Mail Order Dept, 39 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4TD. It is available in North America from the American Library Association.

The National Theatre Archive is a treasure trove of material, encompassing all of the creative, technical and administrative records of the National Theatre.

Formed in 1933, The Wiener Library houses a unique collection of over one million items includes published and unpublished works, press cuttings, photographs and eyewitness testimony on the Holocaust and Nazi era.

Find out what makes these Royal Botanic Gardens whose history dates back to 1852, one of the most important botanical reference sources in the world.

Visit includes complementary entrance to Kew Gardens, open until 9pm on the day.

Supreme Courts Library - Edinburgh

The Cataloguing & Indexing Group in Scotland warmly invites you to its 2016 Annual General Meeting, which will take place at Glasgow Colleges Riverside Campus on Friday 22nd July.

If you are interested in joining the committee, or wish to raise items for the agenda, please contact CIGS Secretary, Paul Cunnea, at cigscot@gmail.com

Post AGM seminar: Metadata for putting historical maps online - a look behind the scenes at maps.nls.uk

We are delighted to welcome Chris Fleet from the National Library of Scotland to talk at this year’s AGM. Chris will talk about putting the Library’s historical maps online.

The National Library of Scotland’s Map Images website currently makes available 150,000 maps, with around 5,000 visitors, and 30,000 page views every day. This talk will look at the metadata and technologies that make this possible, particularly the central role of geographical coordinates in finding maps, as well as the growing value of open standards and web services in presenting maps. What are the main ways that people use to find maps online, how are these relevant to finding and presenting other content based on place or geography, and what is georefencing?

Chris is Map Curator at the National Library of Scotland where he has worked since 1994, with a focus on digital mapping and on making available historical maps online.

Registration
Both the AGM and seminar are free and open to members and non-members, but registration is required. You can register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cig-scotland-agm-post-agm-talk-tickets-25865665903 

Further details
Date: Friday 22nd July
Time: AGM starts at 1.30pm; post AGM talk starts at 2pm
Venue: Glasgow Colleges Riverside Campus, 21 Thistle Street, Glasgow, G5 9XB

Refreshments will be available.

Directions are available at http://www.disabledgo.com/access-guide/city-of-glasgow-college/main-teaching-tower-building

We look forward to seeing you at this year’s AGM.

With thousands of special collections around in the British Isles covering 550 years and a vast range of topics, how does one choose one’s favourites? Ultimately there are no ‘best’ collections, and it comes down entirely to personal predilection. Here, based on the third edition of the Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, are my super seven:

The Miss Great Britain collection

The Miss Great Britain collection at Morecambe Library, part of Lancashire Library Service. While the Directory has many collections on unexpected subjects, this is the one that jumped out at me as the most unusual. It comprises over 1,000 images and ephemera from the Miss Great Britain competition from about 1950 to 1980. It is an excellent example of the value of collection-level descriptions: one suspects that the collection as a collection amounts to more than the sum of  the individual parts. 

The Wizard of Oz collection

The Wizard of Oz collection at Reading University. I have a fascination with single-author collections, which can easily be among the most unique and distinctive in the country (what library in the British Isles would set out to buy editions of a popular English or American author in Chinese or Russian?), and the single-book collection is an extension of that. There are two Alice in Wonderland collections in England, but this is the only Wizard of Oz collection – and one of few collections devoted to an American writer. The collection consists of about 800 volumes including many editions and translations of The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1856-1919), and associated items. It includes sequels by other authors, and other books by Baum, including those written pseudonymously. 

The Nineteenth-Century Novels collection

Source: The Nineteenth-Century Novels collection at Newcastle University / original cropped and resized

The Nineteenth-Century Novels collection at Newcastle University. This contains some 1,500 nineteenth-century novels, almost entirely by lesser-known writers, such as Rosa Carey, Emma Jane Worboise and Alexander Grant. This is the only collection in the Directory to mention Emma Jane Worboise (1825-1887), a writer of decided views and strongly evangelical family fiction whose works I am in the process of collecting. Hence my fascination! Extremely popular in their time, the novels are scarce now. 

The St George’s Lutheran Church Library

The St George’s Lutheran Church Library (Whitechapel) at the British Library. The Directory contains numerous English parish libraries but very few libraries of foreign-language churches in England. Receiving the entry for the St George’s library was a major triumph, as I had despaired of tracing it from the starting-point of the 1997 Directory: ministers of the German churches in London had been unable to answer my questions about it. This is a library of 600 volumes originally in the parish library of St George's Lutheran Church in Alie Street, Whitechapel, London, purchased by the British Library in 1997 (and far more easily accessible there). The contents are mostly eighteenth- and nineteenth-century German works on theology, including some rare London German imprints. 

Collections pertaining to food, wine and cookery

Caption: Mrs Agnes Marshall’s The Book of Ices (1885). Source: AS 883 from the Andre Simon Collection (Wine and Food Society) / original cropped and resized

Collections pertaining to food, wine and cookery at the Guildhall, City of London. The Directory includes many special collections of local relevance (take, for example, a golf collection at St Andrews University) and the printed connection of food with the City of London feels like an extension of this, given that banquets in the City can make news headlines. London’s Guildhall has several collections on matters appealing to the palate with getting on for 7,000 books and pamphlets between them, mostly focusing on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The largest are the libraries of the International Wine and Food Society (3,000 items) and the Institute of Masters of Wine Library (2,100 items from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century, including auction catalogues). Others stem from the libraries of the cookery writer Elizabeth David and the food writer and potter Mary Wondrausch, from the Guild of Food Writers; and from the Hallgarten family of Hallgarten, Druitt & Novum Wines.

The Pressler Kahan Tauchnitz collection

The Pressler Kahan Tauchnitz collection at the National Library of Scotland. This is an almost complete set (about 8,000 volumes) of the collection of British (and American) Authors series published by the German firm of Bernhard Tauchnitz of Leipzig, 1841-1943, and later Tauchnitz editions published in Germany in the 1940s-50s. Collections based around publishers abound in the Directory, from the Aldines in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries onwards. The Pressler Kahan Tauchnitz collection is the largest of three Tauchnitz collections in the United Kingdom. It has not yet been catalogued, and what I really like is the demonstration of the value of the collection-level description: the researcher wanting Tauchnitz books can easily ascertain the value of visiting Edinburgh without the help of individual catalogue records.

Cardiff Rare Books collection: Incunabula

Caption: Salvator Mundi from Rolevinck’s “Fasciculus temporum” (1474), with manuscript annotations. Source: Cardiff Rare Books collection: Incunabula / original cropped and resized

Cardiff Rare Books collection: Incunabula at Cardiff University Library. These 180 incunabula represent a cross-section of book publishing in Continental Europe from 1470 to 1500. They are among the books that came to Cardiff University from Cardiff Public Libraries last decade. Of course there are many larger collections of incunabula in the British Isles, with those at Glasgow and Cambridge Universities standing out for recent cataloguing projects and resulting treasures volumes. But an accession of 180 incunabula in one go is to be despised by nobody. These books would have more than doubled the fifteenth-century holdings at my own institution, so that the reason this collection jumped out at me was sheer envy!

These are a selection of my favourite special collections. Share yours in the comments below.

About the Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections

The Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections in the UK and Republic of Ireland, 3rd edition is edited by Karen Attar.

It is the only publication to bring together rare book and special collections from all kinds of libraries across the British Isles and is an essential research tool for researchers and librarians throughout the world.

Fully updated since the second edition was published in 1997, this comprehensive and up-to-date guide encompasses collections held in national libraries, academic libraries,  public libraries, subscription libraries, clergy libraries, libraries for other professions, school libraries, companies, London clubs, museums and archives, and libraries in stately homes. 

With thousands of special collections around in the British Isles covering 550 years and a vast range of topics, how does one choose one’s favourites? Ultimately there are no ‘best’ collections, and it comes down entirely to personal predilection. Here, based on the third edition of the Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, are my super seven:

The Miss Great Britain collection

The Miss Great Britain collection at Morecambe Library, part of Lancashire Library Service. While the Directory has many collections on unexpected subjects, this is the one that jumped out at me as the most unusual. It comprises over 1,000 images and ephemera from the Miss Great Britain competition from about 1950 to 1980. It is an excellent example of the value of collection-level descriptions: one suspects that the collection as a collection amounts to more than the sum of  the individual parts. 

The Wizard of Oz collection

The Wizard of Oz collection at Reading University. I have a fascination with single-author collections, which can easily be among the most unique and distinctive in the country (what library in the British Isles would set out to buy editions of a popular English or American author in Chinese or Russian?), and the single-book collection is an extension of that. There are two Alice in Wonderland collections in England, but this is the only Wizard of Oz collection – and one of few collections devoted to an American writer. The collection consists of about 800 volumes including many editions and translations of The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1856-1919), and associated items. It includes sequels by other authors, and other books by Baum, including those written pseudonymously. 

The Nineteenth-Century Novels collection

Source: The Nineteenth-Century Novels collection at Newcastle University / original cropped and resized

The Nineteenth-Century Novels collection at Newcastle University. This contains some 1,500 nineteenth-century novels, almost entirely by lesser-known writers, such as Rosa Carey, Emma Jane Worboise and Alexander Grant. This is the only collection in the Directory to mention Emma Jane Worboise (1825-1887), a writer of decided views and strongly evangelical family fiction whose works I am in the process of collecting. Hence my fascination! Extremely popular in their time, the novels are scarce now. 

The St George’s Lutheran Church Library

The St George’s Lutheran Church Library (Whitechapel) at the British Library. The Directory contains numerous English parish libraries but very few libraries of foreign-language churches in England. Receiving the entry for the St George’s library was a major triumph, as I had despaired of tracing it from the starting-point of the 1997 Directory: ministers of the German churches in London had been unable to answer my questions about it. This is a library of 600 volumes originally in the parish library of St George's Lutheran Church in Alie Street, Whitechapel, London, purchased by the British Library in 1997 (and far more easily accessible there). The contents are mostly eighteenth- and nineteenth-century German works on theology, including some rare London German imprints. 

Collections pertaining to food, wine and cookery

Caption: Mrs Agnes Marshall’s The Book of Ices (1885). Source: AS 883 from the Andre Simon Collection (Wine and Food Society) / original cropped and resized

Collections pertaining to food, wine and cookery at the Guildhall, City of London. The Directory includes many special collections of local relevance (take, for example, a golf collection at St Andrews University) and the printed connection of food with the City of London feels like an extension of this, given that banquets in the City can make news headlines. London’s Guildhall has several collections on matters appealing to the palate with getting on for 7,000 books and pamphlets between them, mostly focusing on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The largest are the libraries of the International Wine and Food Society (3,000 items) and the Institute of Masters of Wine Library (2,100 items from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century, including auction catalogues). Others stem from the libraries of the cookery writer Elizabeth David and the food writer and potter Mary Wondrausch, from the Guild of Food Writers; and from the Hallgarten family of Hallgarten, Druitt & Novum Wines.

The Pressler Kahan Tauchnitz collection

The Pressler Kahan Tauchnitz collection at the National Library of Scotland. This is an almost complete set (about 8,000 volumes) of the collection of British (and American) Authors series published by the German firm of Bernhard Tauchnitz of Leipzig, 1841-1943, and later Tauchnitz editions published in Germany in the 1940s-50s. Collections based around publishers abound in the Directory, from the Aldines in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries onwards. The Pressler Kahan Tauchnitz collection is the largest of three Tauchnitz collections in the United Kingdom. It has not yet been catalogued, and what I really like is the demonstration of the value of the collection-level description: the researcher wanting Tauchnitz books can easily ascertain the value of visiting Edinburgh without the help of individual catalogue records.

Cardiff Rare Books collection: Incunabula

Caption: Salvator Mundi from Rolevinck’s “Fasciculus temporum” (1474), with manuscript annotations. Source: Cardiff Rare Books collection: Incunabula / original cropped and resized

Cardiff Rare Books collection: Incunabula at Cardiff University Library. These 180 incunabula represent a cross-section of book publishing in Continental Europe from 1470 to 1500. They are among the books that came to Cardiff University from Cardiff Public Libraries last decade. Of course there are many larger collections of incunabula in the British Isles, with those at Glasgow and Cambridge Universities standing out for recent cataloguing projects and resulting treasures volumes. But an accession of 180 incunabula in one go is to be despised by nobody. These books would have more than doubled the fifteenth-century holdings at my own institution, so that the reason this collection jumped out at me was sheer envy!

These are a selection of my favourite special collections. Share yours in the comments below.

About the Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections

The Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections in the UK and Republic of Ireland, 3rd edition is edited by Karen Attar.

It is the only publication to bring together rare book and special collections from all kinds of libraries across the British Isles and is an essential research tool for researchers and librarians throughout the world.

Fully updated since the second edition was published in 1997, this comprehensive and up-to-date guide encompasses collections held in national libraries, academic libraries,  public libraries, subscription libraries, clergy libraries, libraries for other professions, school libraries, companies, London clubs, museums and archives, and libraries in stately homes. 

We will meet in the Illustrious Room, at Wallsend Library & Customer First Centre, 16 The Forum, Wallsend, Newcastle upon Tyne NE28 8JR, which has good disabled access and facilities.

There are good public transport (Metro) links from the centre of Newcastle to Wallsend and there is free parking available alongside the Library.  We hope to convene at 1.30 p.m. but exact time is still to be confirmed.

Please email paula.wride@sevenstories.org.uk to register your attendance and for further information.

The Summer 2016 Newsletter is now available online and can be downloaded as a pdf.

The Crane Court Library (established in 1742) operated in London for over twenty years and was run by Samuel Fancourt, a Trinitarian minister. It was a proprietary subscription library open to the public and can be described as the first such library in England and as an early example of a 'community' library influenced by ideas of mutual improvement.

Keith Manley is Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, where he was Assistant Librarian for 29 years. He is joint convenor of the Seminar in the History of Libraries held jointly at the Institute of English Studies, Institute of Historial Research, and the Warburg Institute, and edited the journal, Library History.

Looking to celebrate the great work done by some of the unsung heroes of the library and information profession, the CILIP Mentor of the Year Award will highlight the dedication of CILIP members who give their time and knowledge to help others develop and grow.

CILIP knows the vital role sage guidance, support and a critical friend can play in a person’s career; from applying for that all-important first job to taking high-level, strategic decisions. As well as a valued source of career advice and support, the CILIP mentoring scheme gives experienced professionals the chance to shape their sector and spread the wisdom of their experience.

CILIP is asking everybody who has a mentor that has helped, inspired, and guided them, and had a positive impact on their personal and professional development to nominate this individual for the award. All nominees must be current CILIP members and registered on the CILIP mentoring scheme.

The winner will be able to evidence the following characteristics of a good mentor:

• Being approachable and accessible, committed to aiding personal development
• Value and respect for their mentees’ professional views
• Willingness to share the breadth of professional knowledge and understanding they have gained from their experiences across the library and information community
• Help to develop confidence to understand and deal with professional challenges

Those wishing to nominate their mentor are asked to write a short submission in 500 words or less describing how their mentor meets the criteria above. Entries must be received no later than Friday 15 July 2016.

Find out more and download a nomination form.

The winner of the CILIP Mentor of the Year Award will be announced at the CILIP AGM in September 2016. 

Members are invited to please complete the UKeiG Membership Survey 2016 by the 30th June 2016. We are keen to get feedback from as many members as possible to allow the UKeiG management committee to make sure that our activities reflect the needs and interests of our membership. We will analyse the data and use it to inform our strategy, training programme, articles in eLucidate and social media presence. Please let us know what is important to you.

The Membership Survey can be found at: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk....

The last Membership Survey was conducted in 2013 as a result of that as we told you are the time we would be:

Continuing to offer competitively priced and relevant training courses Scheduling more training courses in venues outside London Offering networking events for members to give you an opportunity to meet face to face Continuing to commission rich content for our website and eLucidate to sustain and improve the quality and range of topics and current awareness information.

What is important to you in 2016? Let us know so we can develop UKeiG for the benefit of it's members. By completing the survey you will also be eligible to enter our prize draw to win a £30 Amazon voucher.

Visit to the Archaeological Collections Store for English Heritage (East) and go behind the scenes with the Collections Archivist. The visit will include a guided tour of the archaeological collections store (led by an EH volunteer) and a discussion (with one of the archivists) about curating the collection, supporting researchers, managing volunteers and other issues.

There is a café and picnic area at Wrest Park.

If you would like to extend your visit, join us on the following options (additional £3 per person plus entry price to Wrest Park – free to English Heritage members)

• Wallpaper Room Tour (allow 30 minutes)
• Guided Garden Tour (allow 2 hours, golf buggy provided)

The visit is limited to 25 places. Cost:  £5 per person (plus any options).

Imagine you find a letter in your library, archive or museum. It is old, really old; an important historic document that has never seen the light of day before. This might include letters written in the First World War, diaries by Suffragettes and even notes from the Easter Uprising and the Battle of Waterloo. 

You would think that you could freely publish it and share its contents with the world. Wrong. 

In the UK, the duration of copyright in certain unpublished works is to the end of the year 2039, regardless of how old the work is. Normally, copyright in text based works lasts for the life time of the author plus a further 70 years. 

This extra long duration of copyright, until 2039, presents severe resource implications for the UK’s cultural heritage sector at a time when it is under unimaginable funding pressures. In addition, the likelihood of rights research and possible licence fees associated with  these works results in an inexcusable double whammy effect of extra costs when resources are so stretched. 

The Free our History Campaign

In 2013, the UK Government passed the Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act (ERRA) which included provisions to reverse this absurd international copyright duration anomaly. In 2014, the Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance (LACA) supported by CILIP, led a high profile media campaign together with the Imperial War Museums, the National Library of Scotland and Leeds University Archives - "Free Our History" - to raise awareness of this issue and try and influence the Government to see good their commitment in the ERRA. 

With press and media coverage across the world, a petition and public support, the campaign was a success in raising the issue and making the argument that this duration of copyright is considerably more costly and restrictive, than of benefit. Despite this, the UK Government decided that the reduction of term in unpublished text based could be a breach of the Human Rights Act and backtracked.  

What is the impact?

Since the Government chose not to reform the 2039 provisions in unpublished text based works:

1. The centenary of the out break of the First World War, the Easter Up Rising and the bi-centenary of the Battle of Waterloo have been and gone, representing a significant resource impact on UK cultural heritage organisations because of 2039 affected works.
2. The UK is amongst other EU members who recognise that 28 copyright laws across the 28 member states is bad for the Single Digital Market. Harmonisation of copyright duration is a vital component of this work.
3. Imminent anniversaries to commemorate the Battle of the Jutland (May – June 2016) and the first vote for women in the UK in 1918, are continuing to stretch our cultural heritage organisations more than they should because of unnecessary rights research and related costs.
4. Some cultural heritage organisations are choosing not to engage with 2039 works because of the resource implications and therefore contributing to the “black hole” of 19th and 20th century cultural heritage.
5. Hundreds of museums, libraries and archives have shut down across the UK because of a lack of money.
6. The Museum of London Archaeology has just discovered what is believed to be the oldest hand written tablet from the Roman period. Under the 2039 rule, this is now likely to be the oldest in copyright orphan work in the UK, if not in the world.

LACA, supported by CILIP, believes that this is not good enough and the UK Government needs to understand the costs to the sector of the 2039 provisions. This is why LACA is launching a survey to try and cost the impact of these provisions and therefore persuade UK Government that the costs of 2039 outweigh any perceived risks.

Complete the survey

The AGM will be followed by our Annual Planning meeting. This is where we brainstorm ideas and themes for events and visits relevant to further and higher education for the forthcoming academic year. For the first time, we are issuing an open invitation if you would like to stay on after the AGM and join us for this meeting. This is your opportunity to have a say in what continuing professional opportunities we will be providing. Your ideas are very welcome!

Please let Patricia Crosier know by Monday 4th July if you are coming to the AGM and if you’ll be staying for the planning meeting as well.

We look forward to you joining us for this meeting

Location

The meeting will take place in the ‘Elvet’ Room on Level 4 of the Bill Bryson Library on the Mountjoy site off the A177 Stockton Road and the A177 South Road. This is the building formerly known as ‘Main Library’ on what was formerly known as ‘The Science Site’, which some of you may have been to before. The building is clearly labelled at several points on the outside. The location is illustrated well on Google Maps and there are annotated versions available on the University’s page for visitors - https://www.dur.ac.uk/map/

Parking

Lack of spaces and the University’s green travel agenda is making it awkward to get visitor parking permits and visitors are encouraged to use public transport. The Mountjoy site is about 20mins walk from Durham train station and about 15mins from the bus station on North Road. If using the Park & Ride, those who park at Belmont (just off the A1) will need to alight at Milburngate Bridge (immediately after passing by the Price Bishops Shopping Centre). However, the Park & Ride site at Howlands (on South Road) is much closer to us and you can alight directly opposite the Bill Bryson Library at the crossroad featuring the New Inn pub. A Park & Ride ticket costs £2 for a day’s use. There are a limited number of designated visitor parking spaces. If anybody will need to park on-site, please let Richard Holmes know at least ten days in advance and we can apply for a permit.

Access Procedure

Visitors will be met in the foyer between the main entrance (with revolving door) and the access gates. If you wish to find your own way, you should turn left immediately upon entering through the turnstiles, which will take you to the Main Staircase. Climb up to the 4th floor and proceed through the double doors. As you pass through these double doors from the Main Staircase, the Seminar Room is on your right.  If anyone has difficulty with stairs, there is a lift adjacent to the ‘Returns’ area, which is directly ahead as you enter the Library. On exiting the lift on the 4th Floor you will need to bear left and after about thirty paces, with the books still to your left, you should see the Seminar Room up ahead next to the self-issue machine.

Refreshments

We hope to arrange for hot drinks and biscuits and there is a cold water dispenser in the Room. We are not at liberty to provide lunch but if anybody wishes to eat before the meeting there is a café selling sandwiches, [packet] bakes, fruit and snacks immediately inside the library building before you pass through the access control gates. There is also a similar facility in the Calman Learning Centre (the round multi-coloured building visible to your right as you approach the library entrance) and another in the Palatine Centre (the large new building immediately opposite the Library’s East Wing extension) selling a wider range of hot foods. Most of their products can be eaten in or taken away.

Suzie Kitchin
ARLG NE Chair

New from Facet Publishing: Managing Metadata in Web-scale Discovery Systems edited by Louise F. Spiteri, Dalhousie University.

Libraries are increasingly using web-scale discovery systems to help clients find a wide assortment of library materials, including books, journal articles, special collections, archival collections, videos, music and open access collections. Depending on the library material catalogued, the discovery system might need to negotiate different metadata standards, such as AACR, RDA, RAD, FOAF, VRA Core, METS, MODS, RDF and more.

With this new book, you can harness the power of linked data and web-scale discovery systems to manage and link widely varied content across your library collection.

Editor Louise Spiteri and a range of international experts show you how to:

• maximize the effectiveness of web-scale discovery systems
• provide a smooth and seamless discovery experience to your users
• help users conduct searches that yield relevant results
• manage the sheer volume of items to which you can provide access, so your users can actually find what they need
• maintain shared records that reflect the needs, languages, and identities of culturally and ethnically varied communities
• manage metadata both within, across, and outside, library discovery tools by converting your library metadata to linked open data that all systems can access
• manage user generated metadata from external services such as Goodreads and LibraryThing 
• mine user generated metadata to better serve your users in areas such as collection development or readers’ advisory.

The book will be essential reading for cataloguers, technical services and systems librarians and library and information science students studying modules on metadata, cataloguing, systems design, data management, and digital libraries. It will also be of interest to those managing metadata in archives, museums and other cultural heritage institutions.

-ends

Press and review copies contact:

James Williams, Marketing & Sales Manager, Facet Publishing

Tel: +44 (0)20 7255 0597
Email: james.williams@facetpublishing.co.uk

Notes:

Managing Metadata in Web-scale Discovery Systems | May 2016 | 188pp | Paperback; 9781783300693; £54.95

About the authors:

Dr Louise Spiteri is Director of the School of Information Management, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Dr. Spiteri has published extensively in the areas of social tagging, folksonomies, social discovery systems, and library cataloguing. Dr. Spiteri teaches in the areas of information management, metadata, records management, cataloguing, classification, and taxonomies.

The book is published by Facet Publishing and is available from Bookpoint Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)1235 827702 | Fax: +44 (0)1235 827703 | Email: facet@bookpoint.co.uk | Web: www.facetpublishing.co.uk. | Mailing Address: Mail Order Dept, 39 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4TD. It is available in North America from the American Library Association.

We've collected together some of the interesting, contentious and important library and information stories that were discussed around the world last month. There were lots of interesting discussions in April, including: 

1. In the interests of health
2. Leading by influence
3. Evolving forms
4. The ebook is dead...
5. What information sources can we trust?
6. Information experts

Let us know what you think or if you have any other important issues that we missed in the comments section below.

1. In the interests of health

Let's consider some of the threats and opportunities for public health in the information age. 

France is proposing to ban out of hours to emails, in a bid to reduce employee stress and ‘digital burnout’, according to BBC Magazine. 

We’re well on our way to smart robot surgery, according to this piece by Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, after robots outperformed surgeons in a recent operating room test procedure.

Virtual reality therapy is an emerging intervention in the treatment of paranoia, Wired has reported, as a new study says this approach has shown benefits for people who still had difficulties after traditional mental health treatments.

2. Leading by influence

20 years after Oprah launched her book club encouraging America to read, books appear to be the hottest accessory favoured by Hollywood stars on Instagram, according to USA Today.

The favourite book of young UK royal Prince George is Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo as reported in Hello Magazine.

The iPhone has been named ‘the most influential gadget of all time’ by Time Magazine, reports the Good E-Reader.

3. Evolving forms

Death to the feed... the reverse-chronological sorting of information on social media platforms will be a thing of the past according to New York magazine, as we welcome the advent of the curated feed.

Craft remains as relevant as ever in the information age, as art students breathe new life into old forms, according to Grayson Perry writing for the Guardian.

Some early, rare editions of Shakespeare’s plays have been made available to download from specially-designed wallpaper featuring virtual library bookshelves.

4. The ebook is dead...

... well, not really. The Telegraph is, though, announcing that "books are back" as printed book sales rise for first time in four years as ebooks suffer decline. This is partly attributed to, in the article, the rise of adult colouring books as well as readers realising the pleasure of a physical, as opposed to digitial, book. The pleasure of reading books, specifically children’s books, is eloquently described by SF Said on the Amnesty blog.

At the same time, Michael Kozlowski reports in The Goodereader, that many leading UK e-book companies are going out of business as they’re unable to compete with Amazon. Recently, Waterstones have announced that they are closing down their digital download service.

It’s not all good news for publishers of physical books, though. The Bookseller reports that "Publishers and retailers could owe HMRC millions of pounds of uncollected VAT following the adult colouring book craze of last year."

And we shouldn’t triumphantly dismiss ebooks as a fad. One of the clear advantages of the digital book over the more established technology of the physical book is how much more accessible they can be. This is very concisely explained in a letter to The Guardian and in a blog on the CILIP site by Alistair McNaught.

5. What information sources can we trust?

UK Government research suggests that two thirds of UK businesses were hit by a cyber breach or attack in past year.

It’s not just a problem for businesses. Motherboard are reporting on what looks like a pretty useful tool for checking whether your data has been exposed after a website you use has been hacked (Linkedin is a big one!).

It’s interesting to see how much data can be exposed (and how casual we can feel about it). It’s also a pretty good reminder to use strong passwords and update them regularly or, as Google seem to be moving towards, getting rid of passwords altogether (in some instances)...

It’s not just hackers, either. There are lots of trust-based questions about how we access information.  Can you trust news sites? Can you trust your smartphone? Can you trust Google?  

They’re complex questions with overlapping technical and ethical issues involved. It’s because of questions like these that we need information experts! 

6. Information experts

Speaking of needing information experts – lots of people have spoken out recently about the importance of library and information professionals.

Stephen Fry gave his support to libraries by appearing in our new #PoweredByLibrarians poster campaign. You can download the poster for free. Stephanie Boland, a writer based in London, wrote a powerful piece on medium.com in which she interviewed her mum to provide a perspective on the changing ways people use libraries over two generations.

Join them in showing your support for the importance of library and information professionals. Ask your local MP to pledge their support for libraries. Or donate to our new library fund, which will invest in the development and modernisation of UK library and information services in all sectors.  

Join CILIP

CILIP is the leading body representing the information professions. 

We build the professionalism of our members by supporting the development of skills, knowledge and excellence. We provide unity through shared values and advocate on behalf of the information professions.

The benefits of CILIP membership include:

• A weekly email containing a top 10 round-up of library and information stories
• A subscription to Update magazine, he leading publication for the library, information and knowledge management community. 
• The option to apply for professional Certification, Chartership, Fellowship or Revalidation, CILIP's internationally recognised qualifications.

Join CILIP

Libraries in all sectors have a crucial role in contributing to social justice which is central to CILIP's vision of a fair and prosperous society.  Additionally, concern for the public good in all professional matters, including respect for diversity within society, and the promoting of equal opportunities and human rights is the heart of CILIPs Ethical Principles.

The Diversity Award is occasionally made by CILIPs Community, Diversity and Equality Group (CDEG) and aims to recognise outstanding achievement in the promotion of diversity.  It is given to an individual or team who has shown commitment to the advancement of diversity within a library or information setting.

Previous winners have included Shiraz Durrani, Ayub Khan, John Vincent and Margaret Watson.

The winner will be announced at the CDEG AGM on Wednesday 14th September 2016, at Ridgmount Street.

If you would like to make a nomination for the 2016 awards, please contact CDEG Secretary karen.berry@talktalk.net

Closing date:  31st August 2016

Challenging questions about social justice are being raised across all spheres of public life.  What aspirations do we have for social justice? Do our public policies reflect a set of values which could enable us to achieve a fairer and more equal society?

The University of Worcester and the William Temple Foundation are holding a conference to explore these issues in the contexts of faith, education, health, welfare, public policy, economics, gender and sexuality. Academic speakers from America, Australia, Israel, Canada and the UK will present on all these themes, led by 4 outstanding keynote speakers.

The Conference opens with a free public lecture in the Cathederal on Thursday 23 June 2016, 'Faith in the Public Sphere? - in search of a fair and compassionate society for the 21st century' delivered by Professor Chris Baker, Director of the William Temple Foundation and Professor of Religion and Public Life at the University of Chester.

The main task of the study was:

to explore the extent to which new scientific practices based on digital technologies are emerging, what they consist of, and how they are changing the relation of science and society. The impact of Open Science practices is most evident in scientific publication (Open Access). A new generation of researchers uses digital tools in practically all steps of the scientific workflow, from research funding to critical discourse. This has led to concepts such as Citizen Science, Open Innovation, Open Methodology and Open Notebook Science, for which good practice examples are described. New ways of assessing scientific merit (altmetrics) and of funding (e.g. crowd sourcing) are also emerging. Six futuristic scenarios developed in this study depict potential impact of new open science practices. The study concludes with a set of indicators to measure open science implementation and to create an Open Science Observatory.

Open Digital Science (ODS) and Open Science describe new and open practices in science, research and innovation that make extensive use of digital technologies. The use of digital technologies facilitates openness regarding data, methods, results, actors or publications with an emphasis on scalability of the approach in terms of data, access or computation.

The PDF report - Open Digital Science (SMART 2014/0007) Final Study Report by E. Prem, F.S.Sanz, M. Lindorfer, D. Lampert, J. Irran - can be downloaded from https://ec.europa.eu/digital-s...

CILIP West Midlands is sponsoring UXLibs-in-a-day in Birmingham:

The UXLibs bus will next park up at Aston University Library on 7th July. This day of User Experience research methods will persuade you to go beyond library surveys and focus groups to discover a whole new world of techniques that reveal a more detailed and valuable picture of user behaviour as well as need. 

Practical, interactive and fun, this course has been touring the UK and beyond and as a result will be better than ever by the time it reaches Birmingham.

Feedback from past attendees: 

'A great day - inspiring, thought-provoking, fun'

'Excited to try out all these new methods - thank you!'

'Didn't think I would enjoy this, but I was proved very wrong'

'Thought UX was just about websites, now I know it's about spaces and services too'

CILIP Cymru Wales has launched a Library Champion Award at the annual CILIP Cymru Wales Library and Information Conference.

The inaugural award was made to Ian Anstice, public librarian and author of Public Libraries News, a website that chronicles and comments on the changes to UK public libraries. 

The CILIP Cymru Wales Committee created the award to honour the work of an individual who has helped raise the profile of libraries and spread understanding of the work done by library, information and knowledge professionals in the UK. CILIP CEO Nick Poole announced the award at the conference dinner in Swansea on Thursday 26th May.

http://info.cilip.org.uk/cSjQZ...