Following a successful scoping project between HRI Digital and Carillion to explore the future of local public libraries and library management systems (a project funded by a University of Sheffield Collaborative R&D Award), Carillion has commissioned HRI Digital to develop Phase 1 of a new type of library management system that aims to overcome the deficiencies of existing systems in the library automation software sector. The press release notes that the "ambition is to develop a library management system that is familiar to us, in the sense that it looks and behaves like the rest of our digital universe."

The chief characteristics of Oxeye will be:

• Extensible database, so that new types of information, services and apps can be developed without the need to re-configure the existing database or bolt on additional components.
• A service-oriented architecture. Services are created as standalone but visually similar apps, built around the needs (workflow) of the user (customer or staff). A library might then choose to bundle apps into a single site (e.g. for desktop PC delivery) or as a workspace containing distinct apps (e.g. for mobile/tablet delivery).
• A web-based, system-agnostic architecture. In other words, the system can be used on any desktop, mobile and handheld device. The user only needs access to the internet via a web browser. Each app will be responsive to the device on which it is being used.
• Customers and staff see the same interface. Only the user’s status will determine what they can and cannot see.
• The interface will look clean and modern.

The full press release can be found at: http://hridigital.shef.ac.uk/o....

In this webinar for CILIP members, Elly O'Brien will discuss the concept of professional confidence and 'imposter syndrome'. She will reflect on how useful the concept of 'imposter syndrome' is, why we feel this way and what the consequences of low professional confidence are for individuals and our profession as a whole. The presentation will wrap up with some ideas of how we can individually and collectively work to increase our professional confidence, before opening up to extended discussion.

Date: Tuesday, 28 June 2016 from 19:30 to 20:30 (BST) 

(NB - this event is now fully booked. Please register anyway to join the waiting list.)
 

Who can attend?

This event is limited to individual CILIP members only. You will require your membership number to register for this event. 

Where is it held?

This webinar will be held online using CILIP's WebEx account. Details on how to log in will be sent to the registered email address the week before the event.
 

About the presenter

Elly is an Information Specialist and Research Analyst at Bazian, part of the Economist Intelligence Unit. She is passionate about professional development, having been a Candidate Support Officer and now a CILIP mentor, as well as contributing to numerous committees and groups. Through involvement with CILIP and the Radical Librarians Collective, Elly has become particularly interested in how we collectively address issues affecting the whole profession.
 

Professional Knowledge and Skills Base

This webinar supports the following areas of the PKSB:

9.1 Leadership skills 
9.4 Demonstrating value
9.5 Partnership development

Wider Library, Information and Knowledge Sector context

After the event

The webinar will be recorded, and the recording will be made available on the CILIP VLE for CILIP members after the event. By registering for this event you are agreeing to this.

Data Protection

The information you provide on the registration form will be used by CILIP to send you joining instructions for the webinar and email you reminders for this event. For further information please see the CILIP Privacy Statement.
 

Join the CILIP Yorkshire & Humberside Member Network for a tour of York Minster Library.

The Minster Library is the largest cathedral library in the UK, holding the historic printed collections of The Chapter of York, as well as modern reference and lending collections.

The Old Palace was built around 1230 by Archbishop Walter Gray as a private chapel, but later fell out of use and was restored in 1810 to accommodate the 6,000-volume Library. A major extension was completed in 1998, including a new reading room, a special collections room, an archive strong room, and a conservation studio.

The Library now contains more than 120,000 books, tracts and pamphlets, most of which are searchable via the University of York's YorSearch catalogue.

Cost
Free to all.

Booking
Please book tickets via Eventbrite by Friday 17th June. Places are limited, as the Minster Library cannot accommodate a large party. If the visit is sold out, please register on the waiting list, and you will be emailed if a space becomes available.

Directions
The Library is located in the Old Palace, in Dean's Park on the north side of York Minster. The Minster is 15-20 minutes' walk from York train station.

There is no parking at the Minster, and though there are some pay-and-display car parks nearby, these may be quite busy. Anybody driving is advised to use one of the Park & Rides.

Accessibility
Some parts of the planned tour are not wheelchair-accessible. If you have any accessibility concerns, please contact us before the visit.

CPD
For those doing professional registration, this visit will support the following PKSB areas:
6.4 Access to collections
6.7 Preservation
7.6 Collection promotion
Wider Library, Information and Knowledge Sector context

How odd/ Of God/ To choose/ The Jews
W.N.Ewer ‘How Odd’

Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics,
and the Catholics hate the Protestants,
and the Hindus hate the Muslims
and everybody hates the Jews.
Tom Lehrer ‘National Brotherhood Week’ (song)

I could, of course, have chosen from a multitude of the world’s irrational enmities. But prejudice against Jews is at once deeply ingrained, of long-standing and particularly perverse. Jewish history, since Abraham made his covenant with God in 1921BC, and particularly from the Diaspora, has across the globe been punctuated by pogroms, riots, accusations of killing children, banishments and, most recently, the Holocaust. But I don’t want to dwell on the wider history; not because it is not hugely significant, but rather in that it is already well known, a given. More interesting is the record in Britain, where I suspect that we generally have a certain smugness of mostly having been above such things. 
 

Nothing could be further from the truth. I am indebted to the writing of the late John Cannon, former Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University of Newcastle on Tyne, for an overview of our past malevolence towards Jewish immigrants. In The Oxford Companion to British History (1997) he notices that Jewish immigration, on any scale, came only after the Norman Conquest. He points out that because Christians were not allowed to practice usury, Jews quickly established themselves as financiers and money-lenders. But as such they were both ruthlessly exploited by monarchs and hated by the native population. During the crusades, there were attacks on Jews in London, and in 1190 some 150 Jews were slaughtered in York [many committed suicide]. As the number of Jews increased, they were confined to Jewries, and from 1218 “were obliged to wear badges, steadily increased in size.” Persecution continued during the rest of the 13th century: in 1278 hundreds of Jews were hanged, followed by an edict for their wholesale expulsion from the kingdom. This ban persisted until the Commonwealth, when to his credit Cromwell ignored the measure and began to allow Jews back; but despite an elevation of the status of some prominent individuals, hatred persisted. Jews were denied naturalization, and Catholic emancipation in 1829 left them as the only religious group still experiencing severe restrictions. Thereafter, although progress was unmistakeable and not to be denied, “the obstacles facing Jews remained substantial, but they were personal and social rather than legal”.

Similar animosity, of course, was common in other parts of Europe, finding perhaps its most explicit literary expression in Germany with the publication of Richard Wagner’s Das Judenthum in der Musik in 1850. Despite the fact that a revised version of 1869 appeared in an English translation (by William Ashton Ellis) in 1894, I suspect that this polemic is little known today outside a limited circle of musicologists and historians. 

In an explanatory note, Wagner represented himself as suffering under a yoke “of the ruling Jew-society in its crushing-out of all free movement, of all true human evolution, among its kith and kin”. In the essay proper, he certainly did not hold back. I must warn readers that even the brief extracts I have selected are grossly offensive. I repeat parts of this reprehensible text only to expose the virulent roots of his anti-Semitic prejudice. Wagner speaks of “the be-Jewing of modern art”, and saw his target as founded upon what had been called “Hebraic art-taste”. He felt impelled to explain an unconscious feeling that “proclaims itself among the people as a rooted dislike of the Jewish nature”. And although addressing this dislike primarily in relation to art, not to politics or religion, he felt it inescapable that “with all our speaking and writing in favour of the Jews’ emancipation, we always felt instinctively repelled by any actual, operative contact with them”. It was then necessary “to explain to ourselves the involuntary repellence possessed for us by the nature and personality of the Jews”. Their first objectionable trait was an attachment to money: “the Jew in truth is already more than emancipated: he rules, and will rule, so long as Money remains the power before which all our doings and our dealings lose their force”. This objection was strengthened by a dislike of a distinctive physiognomy: “The Jew – who as everyone knows, has a God all to himself – in ordinary life strikes us primarily by his outward appearance, which, no matter to what European nationality we belong, has something disagreeably foreign to that nationality: instinctively we wish to have nothing in common with a man who looks like that”.

Wagner gave even greater weight to “the effect the Jew produces on us through his speech”. “In particular,” he argued, “does the purely physical aspect of the Jewish mode of speech repel us”. This was especially pronounced in song – “the vividest and most indisputable expression of the personal emotional-being”, in which “the peculiarity of the Jewish nature attains for us its climax of distastefulness”.

I will spare the reader Wagner’s nuanced distinction between “the commoner class of Jew” and “the cultured son of Jewry”. Nor is this the place for his extreme views on Jewish music. Suffice it to say that he found: “Our whole European art and civilisation…have remained to the Jew a foreign tongue”. 
Predictably, the 1850 essay received a blisteringly hostile reception, a reaction addressed (for those who care) in the second edition. But as Wagner’s music came to be revered, so a legend, amounting to worship and enshrined in the Bayreuth Festival, was established – and an anti-Semitic theme perpetuated. Until, that is, one descendant broke ranks. Gottfried Wagner, the composer’s great-grandson, came to doubt the traditional narrative, turned renegade and told a different story. His impassioned and controversial autobiography, He who does not howl with the wolf: the Wagner legacy (tr. Della Couling), was published in 1998.  

Gottfried takes us beyond Judaism in Music, asserting that this was “by no means the end…but the beginning of Wagner’s anti-Semitism in the sense of a politico-cultural concept”. The same ideas [in relation to Meyerbeer] were repeated in his essay of 1851, Oper und drama, and reiterated through later prose writings. The last of these, Erkenne dich selbst (Know yourself, 1881), is available on the internet. In its penultimate paragraph, it features a remarkable passage. The text is pretentious, but the intention clear: “So let us save and tend and brace our best of forces, to bear a noble cordial to the sleeper when he wakes, as of himself he must at last. But only when the fiend, who keeps those ravers in the mania of their party-strife, no more can find a where or when to lurk among us, will there also be no longer – any Jews.” 

It would be extravagant to link Wagner directly to the gas chambers, but Gottfried has no compunction in saying that his great-grandfather “formulated ideas that today read like a horrifying anticipation of Hitler’s Final Solution, invoking a Germany free of Jews.”  Wagner’s perverted philosophy was deep-rooted, the academic foundation of more than a century of prejudice and hatred; the beginning, Gottfried argues, of a direct line, through Gobineau and the English-born Houston Stewart Chamberlain, and embodied in the Bayreuth Festival, to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. We all know where such thinking led.

I should say a little more about H.S.Chamberlain. Although born in Southsea, the son of a British rear admiral, he came through various influences to extol all things Teutonic, marrying Wagner’s step-daughter Eva in 1908, and gaining German citizenship during the first world war. He unreservedly espoused the doctrine of Aryan supremacy, proclaiming his distorted racial ideas in a two-volume book Die Grundlagen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, 1899). This study was to prove one of the most baleful influences in shaping Nazi ideology. It is interesting that Theodore Roosevelt, writing in 1913, recognised it for what is was, noteworthy for brilliancy and suggestiveness, but also for “startling inaccuracies and lack of judgment”. It is instructive here to quote Roosevelt directly:

“Mr. Chamberlain’s thesis is that the nineteenth century, and therefore the twentieth and all future centuries, depend for everything in them worth mentioning and preserving upon the Teutonic branch of the Aryan race. He holds that there is no such thing as a general progress of mankind, that progress is only for those whom he calls the Teutons, and that when they mix with or are intruded upon by alien and, as he regards them, lower races, the result is fatal…but Mr. Chamberlain himself is quite as fantastic an extremist as any of those whom he derides, and an extremist whose doctrines are based upon foolish hatred is even more unlovely than an extremist whose doctrines are based upon foolish benevolence. Mr. Chamberlain’s hatreds cover a wide gamut. They include Jews, Darwinists, the Roman Catholic Church, the people of southern Europe, Peruvians, Semites, and an odd variety of literary men and historians.”

A pity that the direction of these thoughts was not better heeded. But I hope I am not being dewy-eyed in sensing that at least in Britain we have turned away from anti-Semitism – now the territory of only a few unhinged extremists. As the excellent Aish website notices, the complaints traditionally employed against Judiasm have come to be recognised as excuses rather than causes. I would go further. I regard them as fallacious. It is nonsense to suggest that there are endemic grounds to despise the entire Jewish people: such charges, as Chekhov put it, are “wholesale, resting on worn-out commonplaces”. Like everybody else, some Jews are odd, some strait-laced; some benevolent, some selfish; some religious, some not; some bold, some withdrawn; some orthodox (one so much so, we are told, as to encase himself in a plastic bag when flying over cemeteries), some apostate. A surprising number have been great violinists, but relatively few in relation to the whole of Jewry. And, yes, some have great financial aptitude, a talent for making money, perhaps genetically based, but not all. If, over time, there have been some common characteristics, such as an unusual capacity for hard work, there is no longer any basis for thinking that Jews are all tarred with the same brush. In fact it has been argued that, for historical reasons, Jews have little in common with each other. In this construct the idea of an unlikable collective nationality and a nasty homogeneity are popular myths. Shylock and Fagin are fictional stereotypes. We cannot in principle defend the castigating of a community so diverse.

As Maurice Glassman implies in ‘Feedback’ there has also been a modern retreat – though not necessarily a conscious one – from god-based racial/religious orthodoxies, along with a gradual shift away from insularity and endogamic tendencies. As different tribal shibboleths merge into the common social milieu, so any propensity for enmity recedes. While we may continue to deplore such excesses as the bonus culture and inordinate rewards, I don’t think they can any longer seen as peculiarly Hebraic. Greed has become secular. While we must distinguish between racial/religious discrimination and legitimate criticism of Israel’s political policies, and uphold the right to free speech, it is time to salute diversity, and look for the continued demise of prejudice.

Do you work in a Further Education College Library?

Would you value an opportunity to find out more about measuring your impact, digital literacy, providing a service to both FE and HE students, and the chance to network with colleagues working in the same environment helpful?

Then you’ll find the Cilip ARLG East Midlands ‘Focus on Further Education Libraries’ particularly helpful. The event is aimed particularly at professionals working at all levels in FE although individuals from other library sectors are also welcome to attend.

Date & time:  Tuesday 14th June 2016 between 9.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m.
Venue:           Loughborough College, Radmoor Road, Loughborough       Leicestershire LE11 3BT

The cost of the day is just £30 for CILIP/ARLG members, and £35 for non-members.

(All prices include VAT.)

The deadline for bookings is Tuesday, 7th June 2016. So please book now to avoid disappointment.

How can I make a booking?

Please e-mail Sharon Reid at s.d.reid@lboro.ac.uk. or tel. 01509-222403 with your name, job title, details of your employer, your CILIP membership no. (if applicable).

Please send details of the address for invoicing and details of any special dietary or access requirements by Tuesday  7th June, 2016.

Please note that if you cancel your booking within three working days of the event, or book and are unable to attend on the day, and are unable to send a substitute in your place, you will be charged the full price.

Address for invoicing: ARLG East Midlands, c/o Katie Fraser George Green Library, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD. Telephone 0115 95 13247, E-mail katie.fraser@nottingham.ac.uk

The following e-mail from John Tait may be of interest to our members - it is quoted in full. 

The UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council is conducting an information gathering exercise which may have major implications for future EPSRC funding of especially academic research in the UK.

The IRSG has obtained agreement that the British Computer Society will make a submission which will include a component specifically focused on IR as part of information systems.

We are asking UK academics, in particular, to contribute to this exercise by filling in the attached form where appropriate. (The form is available in other formats on the website).

The evidence the EPSRC is looking for is existing published material, but NOT individual research papers. They are especially looking for publications which focus on horizon scanning, or are in the form of meta-analysis or other high level and systematic reviews.  Opinion material, especially individual opinions, cannot be submitted.

The evidence which is being looked for demonstrates a research area has international standing, can contribute to disruptive or transformative research, in which the UK has unique capabilities, that the area can contribute to the health of other disciplines, can enable new industries and is world leading. The EPSRC also wants information about people, both in leadership positions and at an earlier stage, and infrastructure.

Please submit completed forms to me John Tait, Chair of BCS IRSG, john@johntait.net by Close of Business Friday 20 May 2016. My apologies for the short notice, but this has been driven by a combination of BCS and EPSRC deadlines, and the difficulty of defining how to respond. I am happy to help to redraft forms into the appropriate format and to give advice on suitable submissions.

Further information may be found at: https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/bcevidencecall/

The call is not restricted solely to UK Academic Researchers, although they are the primary potential beneficiaries and we would be pleased to hear from people and organisations in industry, other research labs. etc. whether in the UK or not, and non-UK universities if they can contribute suitable material.

I would like to thank Iadh Ounis and Craig McDonald of Glasgow University for bringing this to the attention of the group and Andrew  MacFarlane of City University for agreeing to help collate the responses.

John Tait
john@johntait.net

Chair of BCS IRSG

The Library & Information History Group is seeking a new Events Coordinator. The role holder is responsible for organizing events such as library visits, seminars and our popular walking tours (currently two per year), and for managing and administering bookings. Most events are free, apart from the walking tours. Ideally we would like events organized around the country; while the walks currently only take place in London we would like to be able to offer them in other parts of the country. The Events Coordinator liaises closely with the Publicity Officer and Wed Editor to advertise events and coordinate our social media accounts.

This is an excellent opportunity for anyone with an interest in library and information history to enhance their personal and professional development by getting involved with an active Special Interest Group. It would suit a well-organised individual who likes to engage with Twitter and other social media. The role holder must be a member of the LIHG, or willing to join.

The successful candidate will be required to attend committee meetings wherever possible. We currently have two 'face-to-face' meetings and two online meetings. Travel costs will be reimbursed. The role holder spends approximately four hours a month on the role. We would like to fill the post by Monday 30 May.

If you are interested in applying for the role, or simply want more information about it, please contact Renae Satterley, Chair, at: r.satterley@middletemple.org.uk.

The event will cover everything candidates need to know to compile and submit their portfolios under the current regulations, with practical hints and tips for portfolio building, an overview of the regulations, and opportunity for networking and peer support from fellow candidates.

Dr Mark Towsey will give a free public gallery talk on 'Liverpool Libraries in the 18th and 19th centuries' to introduce the currrent exhibition, 'Knowledge is Power', at the Victoria Gallery & Museum, Liverpool. 

The exhibition runs until 18th June 2016.

Dr Mark Towsey, editor-in-chief of the international peer-reviewed journal Library & Information History, is standing down at the end of the current volume, following four successful years in the role. The Library & Information History Group (LIHG) is therefore looking to appoint a new editor this summer to work alongside our existing North American editor and editorial board, with active research interests in one or both of the journal’s main interests – the history of information and library history.

Library & Information History (formerly Library History) was established in 1967 under the aegis of the Library History Group of the Library Association, which merged with the Institute of Information Scientists to form the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals. It is the only British periodical devoted to the burgeoning field of information history, and the leading scholarly journal internationally devoted to the history of libraries, librarianship and library culture. Library & Information History is a fully-refereed, quarterly journal publishing articles of a high academic standard from international authors on all subjects and all periods relating to the history of libraries and librarianship and to the history of information, in its broadest sense.

The new editor will take over at an exceptionally exciting moment in the journal’s history. 2017 constitutes the journal’s 50th anniversary, while the new editor will have the opportunity to shape relations with our new publishers Taylor & Francis. Much of the copy for 2017 is already in hand or in advanced stages of development, guaranteeing a smooth transition.

Applications (to include a one-page expression of interest outlining your research interests, qualifications, and ambitions for the role, as well as a one-page CV) should be submitted by email to Renae Satterley (r.satterley@middletemple.org.uk), Chair of the Library & Information History Group, by 30 June 2016. Informal queries can be directed to current editor Mark Towsey (towsey@liverpool.ac.uk). The appointment will be considered and approved by a specially convened meeting of the Library & Information History Group Committee, and the successful candidate will be officially co-opted onto the LIHG committee at the next AGM in November 2016. For more information on how the committee works please see the website: http://www.cilip.org.uk/library-information-history-group/committee.

The journal’s website is at: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ylbh20#.VzBRyHq2WSc.

Dr Mark Towsey, editor-in-chief of the international peer-reviewed journal Library & Information History, is standing down at the end of the current volume, following four successful years in the role. The Library & Information History Group (LIHG) is therefore looking to appoint a new editor this summer to work alongside our existing North American editor and editorial board, with active research interests in one or both of the journal’s main interests – the history of information and library history.

Library & Information History (formerly Library History) was established in 1967 under the aegis of the Library History Group of the Library Association, which merged with the Institute of Information Scientists to form the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals. It is the only British periodical devoted to the burgeoning field of information history, and the leading scholarly journal internationally devoted to the history of libraries, librarianship and library culture. Library & Information History is a fully-refereed, quarterly journal publishing articles of a high academic standard from international authors on all subjects and all periods relating to the history of libraries and librarianship and to the history of information, in its broadest sense.

The new editor will take over at an exceptionally exciting moment in the journal’s history. 2017 constitutes the journal’s 50th anniversary, while the new editor will have the opportunity to shape relations with our new publishers Taylor & Francis. Much of the copy for 2017 is already in hand or in advanced stages of development, guaranteeing a smooth transition.

Applications (to include a one-page expression of interest outlining your research interests, qualifications, and ambitions for the role, as well as a one-page CV) should be submitted by email to Renae Satterley (r.satterley@middletemple.org.uk), Chair of the Library & Information History Group, by 30 June 2016. Informal queries can be directed to current editor Mark Towsey (towsey@liverpool.ac.uk). The appointment will be considered and approved by a specially convened meeting of the Library & Information History Group Committee, and the successful candidate will be officially co-opted onto the LIHG committee at the next AGM in November 2016. For more information on how the committee works please see the website: http://www.cilip.org.uk/library-information-history-group/committee.

The journal’s website is at: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ylbh20#.VzBRyHq2WSc.

PATMG Tour of the Dana Research Centre and Library, Science Museum, 165 Queen’s Gate, London SW7 5HD. www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/library   

CILIP are delighted to announce that that the Book History and Material Culture MSc from the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for the History of the Book has received CILIP accreditation.

The taught Master of Science was granted formal accreditation by CILIP following the institution’s assessment visit on 29th April.  The programme brings together theory and practice in new and innovative ways and is distinctive for its integration of traditional bibliography, training in special collections, and advanced theoretical approaches.

Helen Berry, CILIP’s Development Officer for Learning Providers said:

“With our first accredited programme in this field, the University of Edinburgh is a valuable addition to a growing global network of learning providers that offer quality assurance for those pursuing a career in the wide ranging library, information and knowledge profession.”

Independent assessor, Ann Hindson, particularly praised the strength of scholarship and intellectual endeavour, the relevance to professional practice, the variety of practical opportunities and the positive feedback from current students who see the course as contemporary and directly relevant to their careers.

Dr. Tom Mole (Director of the Centre for the History of the Book and Reader in English Literature) and Dr. Joseph Marshall (Head of Special Collections and Centre for Research Collections) expressed delight at the outcome.

The MSc in Book History and Material Culture is a taught postgraduate degree (taken over one year full-time or two years part-time). Students complete a range of core and option courses covering debates in book history, research methods, and essential skills in library and information management, before completing a 15,000-word dissertation.  Optional work placements are available in a range of libraries and other cultural institutions around the city.

CILIP’s learning provider accreditation programme is designed to help students choose academic information courses that cover essential skills and knowledge, and have been rigorously assessed by CILIP.  Accredited programmes are assessed using the CILIP PKSB which identifies the core knowledge and skills of a very broad profession.

-Ends-

Everyday people rely on Google for answers to their most personal, important and most trivial questions. How do you know if the information is reliable? A good place to start is with an information expert. We ask Copyright and Digital Literacy Advisor Dr Jane Secker to investigate “Do games improve learning?”

I’ve been reflecting a lot on whether games improve learning, partly in the run up to LILAC 2016, where I’d rashly agreed to take part in the games competition Lagadothan, organized for the first time by the conference committee. 

My interest in games and learning goes back several years but really started in earnest when I worked with Chris Morrison to help develop a game to teach librarians about copyright and the new exceptions to UK copyright law in 2014. It was a card game, you might have heard of it? You might have played Copyright the Card Game? 

It's been downloaded over 2500 times, and the general consensus seems to be it’s a fun and engaging way to learn about copyright. But has it led to people retaining more knowledge about copyright and can they transform what they have learnt into practice? These are important questions to consider on the real value of games in learning. 

There has been a lot of interest in the last few years in games-based learning in two of my fields of professional interest: learning technology and information literacy. I started off thinking that games were all about livening up your teaching, and finding a way of engaging students in what could otherwise be a rather dry subject. However, following the keynote at this year’s LILAC from Alex Moseley and Nic Whitton, I felt the time had come to do some serious research into whether games improve learning and why that might be. 

I’d been intrigued to hear about the idea of a ‘magic circle’ where new rules can apply and failure is acceptable. I’ve also learnt that designing good educational games is really hard work, and takes a lot of time and effort. So are the rewards really worth it? I decided to turn my attention to what Google can find for us on this topic:

Lesson 1: think hard about search keywords

First of all my simple Google search reveals 179 million results, with no clear reasoning behind what has been prioritized – it’s that famous Google algorithm at play. The top result for me (I was signed into Google, so what I find may not be the same as what you find), is in fact an article from the Telegraph from November 2014. 

The first four results you can see have all focused on video-games and learning (I didn’t put this into the search box at all). I was interested in games more broadly, not just video-games, but Google seems to have picked out articles with this focus for me. 

I always start by encouraging anyone who is searching for information to think hard about keywords. If I really want to know if games improve learning, I know there will be far more precise language that I should be using (‘cognition’ instead of ‘learning’, what about ‘play’ as well as ‘games’?) and there are undoubtedly some phrases I would want to use such as ‘games-based learning.’ 

So the first information literacy lesson I take from this exercise, is to think hard about what makes an effective search, but also to question why certain sources have been prioritized, is Google’s algorithm trying to help you or promote specific resources to you. Is there some reason why Google’s algorithm thinks I might be actually looking for information about video-games, not board games or card games? I’d then be tempted to apply some form of evaluation framework to the sources that come up on the Google list. You can’t go far wrong using the CRAAP test: Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy and Purpose, that the Information Literacy Group recently promoted for use in schools. 

Lesson 2: look at more than one source of information 

Returning to my simple search though, if I dive into the first article, ‘Fast-paced video games improve learning ability’, I note that the article says researchers have found the video-game Call of Duty increase our ability to learn motor skills.  The article tells me the research comes from University of Toronto, so probably the first thing I would want to do is to read the actual research paper rather than The Telegraph’s take on the story.  In fact a fairly quick read of this article suggests to me the research is not really about games improving learning as such, it’s how video-games help us develop sensorimotor skills. I’m going to move on, this is not the article I’m looking for. 

Link number two looks more promising on first glance because it actually comes from a university (what we might call an authoritative source), the University of Rochester in Canada: Playing action video games can improve learning. Daphne Bavelier is a research professor in brain and cognitive science and argues that video games improve not just the skills taught in the game, but learning capabilities more generally. 

I read on to find this study is also about Call of Duty, and was published around the same time as the Telegraph story from another Canadian university. It starts to ring alarm bells, that in fact this is the same story with some discrepancies. What I would start to question is why these two articles from well over 18 months ago are so high in the Google ranking, and neither in my mind are really what I’m looking for. But the discrepancies in the stories are also particularly interesting with the Telegraph article claiming the research is from a graduate student, Davood Gozli from the University of Toronto. Only later on in the article is Dr Bavelier mentioned and the findings are apparently written up in the journal Human Movement Science. Assuming I have access to this, through my university subscription, this would ideally be my next port of call to really understand if this article is valuable.

Lesson 3: think about authority and currency

Returning to my list of Google hits, I spend some time scanning the sources of the links before deciding whether to visit them. Authority is really important to me so I often discount popular news websites or stories on a .com domain.  The fourth hit on my list is a PDF, an article by Mark Griffiths on the Educational benefits of videogames, which according to Google has been cited 184 times. He’s a professor of Gambling Studies at Nottingham Trent. A few things to note though, the article dates from 2002, in a journal called Education and Health, so there are some useful references at the end, but ideally I would want to be looking at something more recent. I’m also puzzled as to why this PDF from a journal is available freely on the open web, so again I’d want to check the source to find out if Education and Health is peer reviewed and something my institution subscribes to before relying on this source. 

I am drawn to a blog post still on page one of my search results entitled, Can Classroom games improve learning? This seems to be more what I am looking for and I’m generally impressed by the quality of work I find on educational blogs.  My critical evaluation skills kick in though, when I see this is part of a US subscription magazine, Education Week and the blog post is a guest post written by someone who works for a company. The article has some useful links to schools that are embracing games in their curriculum design, and a useful infographic, however as authoritative sources go, I think this one scores fairly low for me. 

Lesson 4: Look past the first few results

Moving on to page two of the Google results (in fact very few people do this!), two links to UK university websites catch my eye as potentially useful. 

A recent news story from the University of Bristol asks Can computer games improve the ability to study? It’s scored well on authority and currency, it dates from January 2016. The article focuses on the affect of computer games on learning, and there is a peer reviewed article listed at the end. It’s based on a brain imaging study, which suggests that playing games leads to brain activity that positively supports learning. 

Further down the list I find a study from Queen Mary, University of London website dated August 2013 which suggests Playing video games can boost brain power. Again it’s good on the currency and authority and fairly likely to be accurate.

Lesson 5: Google isn’t always the answer

However, I am actually serious about really wanting to learn more about games-based learning, and so the librarian in me inevitably kicks into play. What I can learn from Google has not really proved particularly helpful so far and in fact led me down an alley of popular news stories all with a focus on video games which I wasn’t really looking for. 

In reality I’d be far more likely to first start by finding myself an authoritative book on the subject of games-based learning, and moving from that to some articles I would track down using the British Education Index, ISI Web of Science, or possibly PSYCHInfo from the American Psychological Association. I would have a look at joining the Association of Learning Technology’s special interest group on Games-based learning and the recent Jisc Guide on Gamification and Games-based Learning. 

I’d also see if I could find a good review article published recently to give me a heads-up on the key literature in the field and the key issues. And I think most importantly I would have a chat to some of the experts in this field already, such as Alex and Nic who I met at LILAC. Their keynote had some useful pointers for further reading.  Google Scholar might even be another port of call for me, just to see if there was anything readily available, but with a stamp of some authority. 

I guess finally I would really want to focus my search on the key research question I want to answer, which is ‘what the benefits of games are on helping people to learn, reduce their anxiety and have a long term impact on their practice.’ Developing a good research question is often the hardest part of the research process, but if you don't know what you are looking for, how will you know when you’ve found it?

Dr Jane Secker is Chair of the CILIP Information Literacy Group and presented with Chris Morrison at the CILIP Copyright Briefing on 7th April on the role of games-based learning in copyright education. Download Jane's presentation. Dr Jane Secker and Chris Morrison are also joint authors of a forthcoming Facet Publishing Book, Copyright and E-learning, 2nd edition (published in June 2016).

#AskALibrarian

Other blogs in the #AskALibrarian series include:

• #AskALibrarian: How can I find reliable hotel reviews? - Leslie Stebbins

9.45am to 4.00pm, Thursday 26 May at Taunton Library - YLG South West

The UK Government is consulting on developing a National Innovation Plan, which will be published later in the year. 

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) defines innovation as “the successful implementation of new ideas”. 

This is surely our space. Libraries are market places of ideas and information managers play a critical role helping entrepreneurs and teams in organisations generate and develop new ideas. It is time that we associated our profession with  innovation and linked ourselves firmly to the growth and prosperity agenda. 

NESTA estimates 63% of the UK’s economic growth between 2000 and 2008 was due to innovation, as opposed to simply investing in more capacity such as people or capital.

How does our community promote innovation? Where is the evidence for this? This is about enabling businesses to grow, develop new ideas, products and services as well as transforming the delivery of public services to support innovation.

If you agree that the library and information community supports innovation give your ideas through the consultation.

Share your ideas

We want BIS and the Government to understand how our profession promotes innovation, which means greater national prosperity and well-being.

The consultation includes eight questions that cover: 

• Regulation of businesses and organisations
• Public sector procurement
• Open data opportunities
• Opportunities for innovation
• Innovation finance
• Challenger businesses e.g. somenew banks
• Intellectual property
• General comments 

Outline CILIP Response

CILIP will provide a response by the 22 May deadline. An outline of our proposed submission is set out below. We value your views so do get in touch with comments, ideas and examples. Email policy@cilip.org.uk 

Summary (General Comments)

UK leads the world in advanced, knowledge and library skills. Ours is the profession that enables innovators and entrepreneurs.  There is a great opportunity to invest nationally in the information skills needed to sustain a knowledge-based economy and to renew the value of our under-utilised public library service. This should form the backbone of the National Innovation Plan

Regulation

• Focus on the moves to open access promoted by HE and research libraries especially, including open data and open science. HE and research libraries especially enabling free access to publicly funded research results  [see UKeIG white paper – “Open Science, Open Data, Open Access ...” ]
• Information managers as experts in information regulations, enabling businesses and organisations not only to comply with law but optimise benefits from information assets
• Points relating to intellectual property are dealt with in that section

Open Data

• Important role of the information manager  to “collect, organise, store and exploit information, data, expertise and other knowledge assets which are held within an organisation or network of organisations, ensuring that these assets remain available for future use”
• Need to manage data to ensure quality control, compliance with important regulatory requirements such as data protection and ethical treatment of the data
• Key role of Research Data Management in HE and research that some CILIP members are undertaking – current issues relating to big data and text and data mining
• Also need to help potential creators and entrepreneurs identify and use data successfully – whole area of data literacy [see recent blog by Tony Hirst on Open Data]

Opportunities for Innovation

• Need for national infrastructure of skills and advice centres for entrepreneurs, researchers and citizens
• Recommend the development of a national information skills strategy as part of the National Innovation Plan
  • a general level of digital and information literacy across the UK workforce
  • provision of specialist information management skills to optimise returns from exploitation of the knowledge assets  
• Need for a national network of information centres to help people navigate the information resources available and use them in new businesses as well as in daily life – this should be a key role for a renewed public library service
• This is about transforming  public services as well as growing the economy – example of “Knowledge for Healthcare Strategy” in NHS

Challenger businesses

• Scale of challenge as indicated by Lloyds Bank UK Business Digital Index (2015)  –23% of SMEs and 58% of charities lack basic digital skills to prosper in todays digital economy
• Excellent work of the British Library’s Enterprising Libraries programme with Business and IP centres delivered in partnership with 17 public library authorities. Impressive record on start-ups and reaches out to the entrepreneurial talent present in minority communities. Need to spread more widely across UK.
• More general work of public libraries  in encouraging creativity and digital literacy through Fab Labs, coding clubs and other provision 
• Knowledge transfer activities of HE and research libraries

Intellectual Property

• Hargreaves report (2011) – “Digital opportunity: a review of intellectual property and growth”. UK IP law reforms based on report’s recommendations  are about enabling more innovation and economic growth - the more liberal approach to IP based on opening up access to ideas for tomorrow’s creators and innovators as well as rewarding the efforts of today’s creators
• Library and Information professionals skilled in helping organisations and individuals make the most of IP regulations
• Specialist role of patent and trademark experts helping innovators gain the most from their invention

The award is presented to the man or woman who, in the opinion of the judges, has made the greatest contribution to information management or is the year's best exemplar of an information manager. Information Management is a key factor in the development of the UK economy, in which library and information professionals can, should and must play a vital role. It is to recognise and encourage this essential contribution that UKeiG, the CILIP Special Interest Group for promoting the effective exploitation and management of information tools, resources and technologies, with a particular focus on innovation created this Award in 2015.

Call for Nominations

For the 2016 Information Manager of the Year Award, judges will be looking for the person who has made a significant contribution to the discipline through his or her work and professionalism by meeting one of the following criteria:

• excellence in the use of Information Management techniques throughout the workplace
• raising the awareness by example of information management within the workplace and the profession
• a major contribution to the theory and practice of information management

Nominations are asked to include a short descriptive statement - around two or three pages - demonstrating how the nominee has excelled. The most successful applications will be those providing clear documentary support or evidence of the achievement.

A panel of judges will assess the nominations.

Nominations should be sent to awards@ukeig.org.uk no later than Friday 22nd July 2016.

sdf

Metadata remains the solution for describing the explosively growing, complex world of digital information, and continues to be of paramount importance for information professionals. Providing a solid grounding in the variety and interrelationships among different metadata types, Zeng and Qin’s thorough revision of their benchmark text offers a comprehensive look at the metadata schemas that exist in the world of library and information science and beyond, as well as the contexts in which they operate.

Cementing its value as both an LIS text and a handy reference for professionals already in the field, the book:

• Lays out the fundamentals of metadata, including principles of metadata, structures of metadata vocabularies, and metadata descriptions
• Surveys metadata standards and their applications in distinct domains and for various communities of metadata practice
• Examines metadata building blocks, from modelling to defining properties, and from designing application profiles to implementing value vocabularies
• Describes important concepts as resource identification, metadata as linked data, consumption of metadata, interoperability, and quality measurement
• Offers an updated glossary to help readers navigate metadata’s complex terms in easy-to-understand definitions.

HEA-ICS described the first edition as "An excellent textbook on metadata for learning and teaching” and the Journal of Documentation said, "this book is to be recommended without hesitation…it deserves a wide audience".

The book is the ideal guide to metadata for both students and working information professionals globally and is augmented with an online resource of web extras, packed with exercises, quizzes, and links to additional materials.

-ends

Press and review copies contact:

James Williams, Marketing Manager, Facet Publishing

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

The CILIP Ireland and LAI Annual Joint Conference and Exhibition was held in the Malton Hotel, Killarney, Co. Kerry from 13th to 15th April 2016. The conference attracted more than 100 delegates. Those present enjoyed a range of high profile speakers from all relevant library sectors. The speakers came from across the island of Ireland and they were joined by representatives from England, Wales and Scotland.

Events began with a Welcome Reception on the evening of the 13th April. Nick Poole, CILIP CEO and Philip Cohen, President of the LAI formally opened the Exhibition. Nearly twenty exhibitors were on hand to display and demonstrate awide variety of library supplies. Delegates were afforded the opportunity to network in a relaxed environment, explore the exhibitions and meet the exhibitors.

The Conference theme was "Survive and Thrive: Strategies for Success" and delegates enjoyed a packed programme with plenary sessions over two days covering a diverse range of topics including strategic planning and advocacy for libraries.There were also smaller scale learning sessions and workshops addressing topics including the recognition of CPD activities, marketing and how to make an impact and get published. These work shops also enabled exchanges of experience between participants and updates on the Decade of Commemorations, Open Libraries and a shared library management system.

Nick Poole, CILIP CEO delivered the opening plenary session with a thought provoking and inspiring talk on strategies for success. He began by sharing common distinctive characteristics of species which survive and thrive in nature before then applying these qualities to libraries.  He addressed each area in detail explaining and demonstrating how libraries already possess many of these crucial skills and attributes. He concluded his presentation by stating that:

“Libraries are one of the most resilient ideas on Earth. We have the services and skills people need to succeed in today's complex, information-rich world. We need to make sure they know it!”

The slides from Nick’s presentation can be viewed here.

A discernible mood of optimism permeated the conference and the theme continued as Helen Osborn, Director of Library Services for Libraries NI delivered a presentation entitled “Successful Strategies, Strategic Shaping”. Referring to the strategic approaches that Libraries NI had taken since its establishment in 2009, Helen highlighted measures taken to ensure that library services continued to thrive despite a challenging financial situation and other pressures. She also described how Libraries NI's approach is being adapted for the new environment that will follow the Northern Ireland Assembly elections in May 2016. Thereafter there will of course be a new government department and Minister.

Helen’s Conference presentation can be viewed here.

Other plenary speakers included Susan Reilly, Executive Director of LIBER who delivered a fascinating presentation entitled “Libraries enabling Open Science”. She described the role of LIBER and its advocacy actives in the areas of open science, open access and copyright. She observed that as library roles continue to become embedded we are all becoming involved in the knowledge creation process.

The final day of the Conference began with an inspirational presentation from Helen Shenton, Librarian and College Archivist at Trinity College Dublin. She asserted that there has probably never been such a riveting, interesting and challenging time to be involved in the world of information and libraries. It was against this backdrop that she described how Trinity College Dublin developed its new strategy for the Library, in step with the University’s strategic planning and with wide consultation.

The Conference concluded with a fantastic example of innovation. Judith Keene and Kathy Kirk from The Hive in Worcester discussed the creation of the first joint Public/University library in Europe, which is run in partnership by Worcestershire County Council and the University of Worcester.

A stream of tweets from delegates and speakers reflected the overwhelmingly positive “buzz” which was apparent throughout the Conference. Plenary sessions presented a timely opportunity to consider and explore key themes and developments within the profession.  The Conference also facilitated numerous networking opportunities where these themes could be discussed at length either formally at the Welcome Reception and Conference Dinner or informally during break times.

We take this opportunity to thank those who attended and look forward to seeing you again next year.

Please see here for presentations delivered at the Joint Conference

The London Library celebrates its 175th anniversary this week with a special programme of talks and events in St James's Square Gardens.  See the attached brochure for more details.

Following on from our original news item on January 13, the short commentary and a TSO press release, we are pleased to circulate the details of the following SCOOP event taking place at 2pm on Wednesday 11th May at CILIP HQ.

This year the world of Parliamentary Publishing is undergoing unprecedented change, with the majority of Parliamentary and Government publications moving to an electronic-only distribution model. SCOOP (the Standing Committee on Official Publications) have organised demonstrations by the major publishers of online Official Publications: TSO’s Official Publications Online, Dandy’s Public Information Online, and ProQuest’s Parliamentary Papers website.

The session will start at 2pm on Wednesday 11th May at CILIP HQ and is open to anyone interested in online OP provision. If you would like to attend or have any questions, please email me directly.

Thanks.

Steven Hartshorne
Secretary of SCOOP
steven.hartshorne@bolton.gov.uk

http://info.cilip.org.uk/Ac3~p...

CILIP North East Member Network is pleased to announce a free portfolio building workshop. This event will be facilitated by Patricia Crosier, NE Candidate Support Officer.

This workshop will cover details which candidates need to know to complete and submit their portfolios under the 2013 regulations, with practical hints and tips for portfolio building, an overview of the new regulations, and opportunity for networking and peer support from fellow candidates.

To book please email Patricia Crosier at p.crosier@tees.ac.uk 01642 342107 with your name, job title and which scheme you are working / intending working towards and any special requirements.

Places are limited so bookings will be taken on a first come, first served basis.

An afternoon visit organised by the North Eastern Members Network, this event is aimed at library and information professionals from all sectors interested in libraries.

On the 11th of January 2016, Newcastle University opened new library space on campus. The building features managed and supported innovative learning and social spaces.There is a mixture of silent and collaborative study spaces together with new technology such as “The Chatterbox” room which has a Skype enabled PC and plasma screen for students to use.

This is a free event.

The building is located on Sandyford Road 35 minutes’ walk from Newcastle Central Railway Station, or five minutes’ walk from Haymarket or Jesmond Metro. A campus map is available here: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/media/wwwnclacuk/abouttheuniversity/files/campus-map.pdf 

Access: The building has lifts to reach the upper floors. The Library Rooms are currently based on the ground floor and 2 upper floors.

If you are interested in coming along please email Kirstin Himsworth