http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/authors/david-parkes/ Recent content in David Parkes on Ariadne Hugo -- gohugo.io en-gb Sat, 29 Jul 2006 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/48/parkes-rvw/ Sat, 29 Jul 2006 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/48/parkes-rvw/ More than ever libraries and information services need to be accountable to their users, to their institutions and to their funding bodies. They need to demonstrate their value, outcomes and impact - but how? Traditionally we have gathered statistics - slightly obsessively perhaps - as if the very act of gathering the variables provided us with some solace and comfort that we were performing well. We could inform our funding bodies just how many books we had, how many we had issued, how many we had shelved - counting them out and counting them back in again - a myriad of variables pouring in from every service point, from every transaction, from access and egress, from dawn to dusk, week to month, year to year - we had been quantified. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/41/parkes-rvw/ Fri, 29 Oct 2004 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/41/parkes-rvw/ This is the 5th collection of papers from the biennial Libraries Without Walls Conference (LWW5). Reference to the preceding 4 volumes published in 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002 respectively is rewarding to see how discourse and practice has developed. Access collaboration is now commonplace; 135 institutions are members of the UK Libraries plus access scheme, 157 are signed up for Sconul Research Extra. The Peoples Network has put 4000 Internet centres into public libraries, Athens passwords and off-campus access to databases has provided access to a growing collection of electronic content.