http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/authors/john-maccoll/ Recent content in John Maccoll on Ariadne Hugo -- gohugo.io en-gb Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/55/maccoll/ Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/55/maccoll/ RLG Programs became part of OCLC in the summer of 2006. In November of last year, RLG Programs announced the appointment of a European Director, John MacColl. This article explains the rationale behind the combination of RLG with the OCLC Office of Research, and describes the work programme of the new Programs and Research Group. It argues for co-operation as the necessary response to the challenges presented to research libraries as the Web changes the way researchers work, and it lays out a new programme dedicated to research outputs, which will have significant European Partner involvement. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/52/maccoll-dempsey-rvw/ Sun, 29 Jul 2007 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/52/maccoll-dempsey-rvw/ Cambridge University Press has, with the first two volumes of its three-volume history of libraries in Britain and Ireland, provided a wealth of fascinating information on the development of libraries and librarianship from a sterling collection of historians and scholar librarians. The publication of an edited history results in a denser packing of detail than would be achieved by a work of single authorship, since so many specialists each have an abundance of knowledge to cram into their relatively small allocations of space. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/46/editorial/ Wed, 08 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/46/editorial/ Ten Years of PathfindingJohn MacColl reflects upon the choice of Ariadne’s name in the light of the publication’s guiding mission. The Follett Report [1] which started everything off, appeared in December 1993. When the subsequent JISC call for proposals for electronic library project activity appeared in the summer of 1994, I was only a few months into my new post as a Depute Librarian at Britain’s newest (and probably smallest) university, the University of Abertay Dundee. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/46/maccoll/ Wed, 08 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/46/maccoll/ Introduction: A ‘Googly’ for Libraries?A googly, or a ‘wrong’un’, is a delivery which looks like a normal leg spinner but actually turns towards the batsmen, like an off break, rather than away from the bat. (BBC Sport Academic Web site [1]. Search result found in Google).How should we understand Google? Libraries still feel like the batsman at whom something has been bowled which looks familiar, but then turns out to be a nasty threat. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/40/edina-rpt/ Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/40/edina-rpt/ EDINA [1] held its first general information event for the Higher and Further Education communities on Tuesday 11 May 2004. EDINA Exchange took place in the National E-Science Centre at the University of Edinburgh. The day began with an introduction by EDINA Director Peter Burnhill, who took us through the programme for the day, and highlighted some of EDINA's notable recent achievements. The morning session then began with presentations on the various subject and resource type clusters in which EDINA is active. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/36/maccoll-rpt/ Tue, 29 Jul 2003 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/36/maccoll-rpt/ This event was organised jointly by UKOLN and the National e-Science Centre (NESC) [1]. Liz Lyon, Director of UKOLN, gave the introduction, reminding us that this was the second UKOLN-NESC workshop. The first happened about a year ago, bringing together the digital library and Grid computing communities for the first time. The presentations were as follows: Building a Semantic Infrastructure - David De RoureWhy Ontologies? - Jeremy RogersPublishing and Sharing Schemas - Rachel Heery and Pete JohnstonImplementing Ontologies in (my)Grid Environments - Carole GobleKnowledge Organisation Systems - Doug TudhopeConcluding Remarks - Carole GobleBuilding a Semantic InfrastructureIn his introductory talk, Building a Semantic Infrastructure, Professor David De Roure of the University of Southampton, provided a history lesson at a gallop on the Grid and the Semantic Web. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/33/sherpa/ Wed, 09 Oct 2002 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/33/sherpa/   JISC announced its FAIR Programme (Focus on Access to Institutional Resources) in January of this year. The central objective of the Programme is to test ways of releasing institutionally-produced content onto the web. FAIR describes its scope as: “to support access to and sharing of institutional content within Higher Education (HE) and Further Education (FE) and to allow intelligence to be gathered about the technical, organisational and cultural challenges of these processes. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/32/theses-dissertations/ Sun, 07 Jul 2002 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/32/theses-dissertations/ ‘ETDs’ is the acronym widely used in the US to stand for ‘Electronic Theses and Dissertations’. The father of the ETD movement, Professor Ed Fox of Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech), explains the acronym as containing an implicit Boolean ‘OR’: ‘ETs’ OR ‘EDs’ equals ‘ETDs’. This makes for a very convenient shorthand, whereby a digital object which is either an electronic thesis or an electronic dissertation can be referred to as ‘an ETD’. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/31/eprint-archives/ Wed, 10 Apr 2002 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/31/eprint-archives/ This article outlines some of the main stages in setting up an institutional e-print archive. It is based on experiences at the universities of Edinburgh and Nottingham which have both recently developed pilot e-print servers(1). It is not the intention here to present arguments in favour of open access e-print archives – this has been done elsewhere(2). Rather, it is hoped to present give an account of some of the practical issues that arise in the early stages of establishing an archive in a higher education institution. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/29/maccoll/ Tue, 02 Oct 2001 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/29/maccoll/ This report covers a selection of the papers at the above conference, from those which I chose and was able to attend in a three-strand conference held over three days (with two additional days for workshops, which I did not attend). It includes the three keynote papers, as well as the paper which won the Vannevar Bush award for best conference paper. The conference was held in Roanoke, Virginia, in the Roanoke Hotel and Conference Center, which is owned by Virginia Tech (located in Blacksburg, some 40 miles away). http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/29/open-archives/ Tue, 02 Oct 2001 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/29/open-archives/ A one day Open Archives event co-ordinated by the DNER, CURL and UKOLN was held on Wednesday 11th July at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, Birdcage Walk, London. Birdcage walk is in a very impressive part of London, circumscribed by Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and the Houses of Parliament. Lucky for us the hot sun added to the splendor of the location. Catherine Grout giving the opening presentation The Institute of Mechanical Engineers building itself is also very grand. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/27/maccoll/ Fri, 23 Mar 2001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/27/maccoll/ This 1-day conference was the third in a series of events organised by the Hybrid Libraries projects funded by JISC via the eLib Programme, and supported by the DNER. The prior two events had been held at the British Library, in November 2000, and Manchester Metropolitan University, in the previous week. The event was late in starting due to heavy snow having delayed several of the delegates. Indeed, many of those who had intended being in Edinburgh had to call off altogether. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/22/ariadne-reader/ Tue, 21 Dec 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/22/ariadne-reader/ The ARIADNE Project was born in September 1995, and the first meeting of the participants from the two partner sites of Abertay Dundee and UKOLN took place in a restaurant after a one-day meeting at the Library Association, in the couple of hours between the Dundee editors leaving the meeting and having to leave for the overnight train from King’s Cross. In our time-limited discussion, we drafted out a shape for the print and web versions of ARIADNE, defining regular feature titles and listing ideas and contacts to be pursued. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/19/ims/ Fri, 19 Mar 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/19/ims/ Background At the University of Edinburgh, the Science and Engineering Library, Learning and Information Centre (SELLIC)[1] combines a physical learning resource centre development with the introduction of a learning management system for the Faculty of Science and Engineering. The new building, which will meet the demand for a science library for the University of Edinburgh which was first expressed over forty years ago, and has grown more insistent every since, will open its first phase for the beginning of session 2001⁄2. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/18/rusbridge/ Sat, 19 Dec 1998 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/18/rusbridge/ Almost four years ago, the Follett Implementation Group on Information Technology (FIGIT), brought Chris Rusbridge back to the UK from his post as Information Systems Coordinator in UniSA Library, Australia, for the second time in his career (he had previously returned to become Director of IT Services at the University of Dundee). This time, the challenge was to direct the newly-born FIGIT Programme, shortly to be re-christened the Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib), a major pump-priming initiative following the recommendations in the Follett Report of 1993, funded to the tune of £15 million per annum for three years. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/18/editorials/print.html Sat, 19 Dec 1998 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/18/editorials/print.html At the end of three years of regular appearances of Ariadne, we publish our final issue. The funding provided by JISC via elib for an initial two years, which was extended to a third, finally came to an end this year. Despite the efforts of the Ariadne Project Board to secure further JISC funding, it was decided that Ariadne was too expensive, and funding must cease. Despite this, we feel that Ariadne has been successful. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/17/publication/ Fri, 18 Sep 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/17/publication/ This article sets out to explore some of the issues to do with the establishment of a new periodical publication for information and IT professionals in Higher Education (HE). It addresses the need for a channel of communication which reflects the developing broad spectrum of information services in academic and related institutions, and is intended as an aid to further discussion. Over the last ten years the changes in both conventional library facilities and in the provision of electronic information have accelerated and arguably become even less predictable than they were, for example, in the mid- to late- 80’s. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/17/info-ecosys/ Fri, 18 Sep 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/17/info-ecosys/ The third UKOLN international conference devoted to Networking and the future of libraries was the place where decontextualisation met rechaoticisation. Inhabiting a world of URLs, it seems, has given us a taste for lengthy character strings. The conference was held in Bath, which triumphed as always as a venue, from 29 June - 1 July. In the report which follows, shortage of space requires that not every paper from this fascinating conference can be discussed. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/16/editorials/ Sat, 18 Jul 1998 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/16/editorials/ ARIADNE readers will be aware that this publication has been fully supported since its inception by JISC through the Electronic Libraries Programme. Initially funded only for two years, we were successful in obtaining a third year of eLib funding, allowing the publication to continue with its mission of featuring developments in networked information in the HE community and commissioning writing from key figures in the field. In the three years of our existence we have provided coverage of all of the major developments which have emanated from the Programme’s many projects, and provided a forum, both in print and on the Web, for individuals and teams working on projects to describe their work. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/11/conference/ Thu, 18 Sep 1997 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/11/conference/ One month before the Dearing Report was published, when the findings of the National Committee of Enquiry into Higher Education still amounted to no more than an insistent trickle of leaks, a major conference considered digital libraries in a rapidly changing HE sector. Beyond the Beginning: The Global Digital Library, held in London on 16-17 June, was co-ordinated by UKOLN and represented a joint effort by JISC, the US Coalition for Networked Information, the BLRIC, CAUSE - the Society for academic computing staff in the US, and the Council of Australian University Librarians. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/11/editorials/jm.html Thu, 18 Sep 1997 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/11/editorials/jm.html Culture emerges as a strong theme in this issue of ARIADNE. Our Interface interviewee, on the opposite page, is Dan Fleming of the Formations Project, which is launching a pre-prints server for cultural studies. How do you change the working culture of academics working in cultural studies? Are they more susceptible to change and paradigm shifting than colleagues in other disciplines? The organisational culture of library and information services also moves into the spotlight in this issue. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/10/editorials/jm.html Fri, 18 Jul 1997 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/10/editorials/jm.html In the mind of optimists, new computing and communications technologies are hard at work smoothing the path towards an ideal future. For pessimists, they combine to seduce us into activities which will ultimately ruin us because of the prevalence of foolish optimism. In our profession, it is possible to be either optimistic or pessimistic about the changes which are occurring. What we cannot simply assume, however, is that any of the key professional concerns of the last hundred years have simply disappeared from the agenda. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/10/view-hill/ Fri, 18 Jul 1997 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/10/view-hill/ The Authors’ Licencing and Collecting Society (ALCS) [1] has an international role in ensuring that UK authors are paid for the use of their works. As such, it is represented in various international groups, which means a healthy globe-trotting schedule for its recently appointed new Secretary General, Chris Zielinski. On the morning that we met in his office overlooking Oxford Street in London, he was in early, trying to catch up with mail which has accumulated during his most recent trip, to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) conference in Seville. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/8/cover/ Wed, 19 Mar 1997 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/8/cover/ The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) [1] this month releases a circular inviting higher education librarians and information staff to propose ways of developing the electronic library infrastructure of the UK. The document begins by retracing the creation of ‘the successful eLib programme [2]’, starting with the Follett Report of 1993, and moving forward to the present time with 60 funded projects across the UK. JISC’s five-year strategy document of last year described a new structure, including the creation of a Committee for Electronic Information (CEI) which has responsibility for developing the work eLib has begun. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/8/print-edit/ Wed, 19 Mar 1997 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/8/print-edit/ The impact of the eLib programme [1], now two years old, is becoming increasingly apparent in the electronic library infrastructure of the UK and beyond. The significance of the work of the MODELS [2] project in designing a national system of resource discovery, is recognised by the new Call for proposals from JISC’s Committee for Electronic Information. As our cover article [3] indicates, with physical and virtual ‘clumps’ of the national metadata resource actively being sought, the electronic catalogue infrastructure of the UK, begun several years ago when the first university library OPACs were connected to the JANET network, appears to be coming of age. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/8/survey-results/ Wed, 19 Mar 1997 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/8/survey-results/ Here are some concise comments, both plus and minus, regarding Ariadne: What respondents like about Ariadne That on the whole it is written in English rather than technospeak (but with significant lapses). Thin. Readable - varied, some good intelligent writing - information. Up to date information. Glossy, some interesting items. Good production values. Nice format. Easy to read. Up-to-date, informed articles. A good way to keep up to date/informed about ‘key’ issues. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/7/acrobat/ Sun, 19 Jan 1997 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/7/acrobat/ As electronic library initiatives begin to move out of the research phase and into full production, one product is emerging as a dominant force in the presentation of electronic documents. Adobe's Acrobat software [1], which is used for both generating and viewing Portable Document Format (PDF) files, is gaining widespread acceptance in the world of higher education. PDF files allow documents to look like on-screen versions of their print equivalents. The format is based upon Adobe's own PostScript page-description language, which has for years been the industry standard. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/7/view/ Sun, 19 Jan 1997 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/7/view/ The main reason why the eLib projects are so aware of the need to evaluate what they do is that the Follett Implementation Group in Information Technology (FIGIT), in establishing the programme, commissioned the Tavistock Institute [1]to assist projects in the preparation of self-evaluation strategies. Founded in London in 1947, the Tavistock is an independent not- for-profit organisation which combines social science research with professional practice. At around the time that it was setting up its Evaluation Development and Review Unit (EDRU) about six years ago, John Kelleher - a social science researcher who had done some European-sponsored research and development work into technology transfer - moved from County Cork to the Tavistock. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/6/editorial/ Tue, 19 Nov 1996 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/6/editorial/ Ariadne: The compact edition.... Welcome to this, issue 6 of the Web version of Ariadne. Comparisons with the last edition will show a large reduction in the number of articles, features and stories. This is explained in the editorial for the last edition, but to recap, each edition of the Web version of Ariadne is split into two "happenings": An edition to appear at the same time as the parallel paper edition. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/6/cover/ Tue, 19 Nov 1996 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/6/cover/ Information is the foundation on which any strategic plan is based" stated Gareth Roberts, Vice- Chancellor of the University of Sheffield and Chair of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals (CVCP), opening a conference of University Librarians, Computing Centre Directors and Directors of Information Services in Sheffield last month. Universities, like many large companies, now recognise that information is a resource which can be used to strategic advantage. While it is clear that no planning document could ever appear without it, it is only recently that universities have begun to develop strategies for the management of information in its own right. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/5/jisc/ Wed, 18 Sep 1996 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/5/jisc/ Liberalisation of the UK Higher Education network, a drive for greater economy and efficiency, and the promotion of training and awareness, all emerge as key recommendations in the Five Year Strategy, 1996-2001 published by the Joint Information Systems Committee last month. In his Chairman's Preface, Professor John Arbuthnott spells out JISC's role as one of "facilitating, not dictating or managing" the use of IT across the sector. The document talks of the advance of the 'virtual university', with services such as electronic teaching materials, bibliographic and statistical datasets and full-text journals distributed to students in geographically remote areas or in their own homes and workplaces. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/5/view/ Wed, 18 Sep 1996 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/5/view/ So what is an Internet café anyway? Most of us have heard of them, but how many have actually ventured in? The very idea seems incongruous at best, totally nerdish at worst. Those of us who have experience of controlling library environments will wince at the very idea. Cappuccino and baguettes at the keyboard? What about spillages? What about crumbs? What about the incessant distraction of slurping and chewing? Quite clearly – our own offices excepted, of course – these conditions are quite impossible for serious intellectual endeavour. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/4/nathan/ Thu, 18 Jul 1996 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/4/nathan/ <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN”> Interface: Peter Nathan John MacColl talks to Peter Nathan, acting president and distinguished professor of Psychology at the University of Iowa. Peter Nathan, Acting President and Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Iowa, does not mince his words. “It is rare” opines Nathan, “for the price of journals to bear any relation to the cost of producing them. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/4/kingston/ Thu, 18 Jul 1996 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/4/kingston/ <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN”> View from the Hill View from the hill: Ian Kingston John MacColl meets Ian Kingston, a professional whose traffic problems are confined to data. For Ian Kingston, more than for most people, time is money. He saves both through having one of the shortest commutes in the country, travelling the distance of the staircase of his home in a Nottingham suburb. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/3/loans/ Sat, 18 May 1996 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/3/loans/ Short Loan Collections have long been a necessary evil in academic libraries. Sometimes called 'Reserve' or 'Heavy Demand' collections, they were developed as a compromise solution to the problem of providing sufficient copies of undergraduate texts to meet the demands of large numbers of students all requiring access to the same texts at the same time. Among the latest group of eLib projects to be funded are four in the new 'Electronic Reserve' area. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/2/ejournals/ Tue, 19 Mar 1996 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/2/ejournals/ Electronic journals could overturn the dominant force of print in a scenario created by a 'domino effect'. At a conference on scholarly publication held recently at the University of Stirling, Stevan Harnad, Professor of Psychology at Southampton University and editor of the well-respected print journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences and the online journal Psycoloquy, described how a rapid switch away from paper journals could occur. The catalyst will be the creation of electronic preprint archives in the main academic disciplines. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/1/sidelines/ Fri, 19 Jan 1996 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/1/sidelines/ Not a PC in sight. Not a torn fly-poster left over from the end of last session's revelries anywhere. Instead, seven storeys of the blandest of Midlands hotels, on a smeary wet couple of September days towards the end of the summer vacation. This is a course for eLib Project Managers new to the business of balancing the three key Project Management variables (Time, Quality and Cost). Delegates have had their hotel bills generously paid by FIGIT.