Overview of content related to 'cerlim'

Survive or Thrive

editor — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Ed Fay reports on a two-day conference organised by UKOLN on behalf of JISC to consider growth and use of digital content on the Web, which was held in Manchester in June 2010.

Survive or Thrive [1] is the punchy title given to an event intended to stimulate serious consideration amongst digital collections practitioners about future directions in our field - opportunities but also potential pitfalls. The event, which focused on content in HE, comes at a time of financial uncertainty when proving value is of increasing importance in the sector and at a point when significant investment has already been made in the UK into content creation, set against a backdrop of increasingly available content on the open Web from a multitude of sources.

Editorial Introduction to Issue 64: Supporting the Power of Research Data

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Richard Waller introduces Ariadne issue 64.

In these cash-strapped times among all the admonitions to save money here, and resources there, I rather hope to hear much about the necessity of protecting and building the knowledge economy if the UK is to make its way in the globalised world, since we cannot pretend to compete easily in other areas of endeavour. Hence research has to be regarded as one of the aces remaining to us, and thus I hope the importance of gathering, managing and preserving for long-term access research outcomes will be widely appreciated and supported.

Book Review: Access, Delivery, Performance - The Future of Libraries Without Walls

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Michael Day reviews a Festschrift celebrating the work of Professor Peter Brophy, founder of the Centre for Research in Library and Information Management.

It is normal in some subject disciplines to publish volumes of edited papers in honour of a respected colleague, usually to mark a significant birthday or career change. The contributors to such Festschriften* are usually made up of former colleagues or pupils of the person being honoured. This volume celebrates the work of Professor Peter Brophy, the founder of the Centre for Research in Library and Information Management (CERLIM), which since 1998 has been based at the Manchester Metropolitan University. This volume contains twelve chapters written by sixteen contributors, many of them colleagues or ex-colleagues of Professor Brophy.

Peter Brophy has had an outstanding career both as a librarian and researcher. Alan MacDougall, Visiting Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University provides an outline in the opening chapter. A career that started at the Library Research Unit at Lancaster University in the early 1970s progressed to professional posts at Strathclyde University and Teeside Polytechnic, before Brophy eventually became Librarian at Bristol Polytechnic. From there, he moved to the University of Central Lancashire in 1989, where in 1993 he set up CERLIM. A selected bibliography of works by Professor Brophy fills eleven pages at the end of the volume, revealing the range and diversity of his research interests over the past few decades.

The contexts of the early years of Professor Brophy's career are sketched in more detail in the opening chapter by Michael Buckland, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. Buckland was a colleague of Brophy's at the Library Research Unit at Lancaster in the early 1970s.This chapter gives a good flavour of how library and information research was undertaken in this time when the libraries at what were then 'new universities' had an active interest in innovation and when almost all library research in the UK was funded by the Office for Scientific and Technical Information of the Department of Education and Science.

Libraries and e-Learning

The remainder of the book is organised into four broad themes. The first covers libraries' role in supporting e-learning. The opening chapter in this section is by Gill Needham and Nicky Whitsed of the Open University. It is a series of reflections on a decade of developing library services for distance learners. Starting with the Follett Report of 1993 [1], the chapter identifies three main phases in the Open University's approach to delivering services to around 200,000 students and 8,000 tutors. The first phase was concerned with fairness; knowing exactly when to introduce online services at a time when a majority of Open University students did not have access to the relevant technologies or skills and when many tutors were reluctant to change their traditional ways of working. Responses to this included the development of library-mediated collections of quality-controlled Internet resources, supplemented by an online skills tutorial focused on generic information skills. Despite all of this, actual use of online resources remained relatively low (p. 30). The second phase, therefore, was mainly about integrating online services more deeply into the core learning activities of courses. The focus switched to the training of tutors and the integration of information resources within the university's emerging virtual learning environment (VLE), based on Moodle. In the interim, a pilot project using the open source MyLibrary software was found to be useful in helping to integrate library services into the learning experiences of individual students. The third phase - which Needham and Whitsed note is still ongoing - concerns the embedding of information literacy and resource-based learning concepts within the university more widely. The chapter ends with some comments on the, perhaps inevitable, tension between the 'invisible library' – 'quietly and strategically … [insinuating] resources and services into all those places where they have the most impact' - and the need to defend library budgets and status within the wider institution (pp. 35-36).

The following chapter, by Professor David Baker of the University College Plymouth St Mark and St John, is a general overview of the development of e-learning technologies in UK Higher Education over the past decade. Starting again with Follett, Baker explains how e-learning concepts and technologies have been taken up, focusing in particular on the facilitating role taken by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in providing a national-level approach to the provision of both infrastructure (e.g., networks, access management tools) and content. In addition, the chapter refers to a number of JISC-funded programmes and initiatives focused on breaking down the barriers that prevent the sharing and re-use of e-learning content. The final sections look at some wider factors influencing the current transformation of learning, teaching and assessment practices. These include the need to integrate institutional services like VLEs with the generic social networking tools and mobile devices familiar to new generations of learners. However, successful integration is not just a matter of technology but of overcoming cultural differences. Baker uses a synthesis of the JISC-funded Learner Experiences of e-Learning projects [2] to note that there might have been 'an increasing "divide" between the needs, expectations and wishes of the learners and the expectations of the teachers, who were more "traditional" and perhaps not engaged with e-learning in the same way' (p. 49).

Book Review: Web Accessibility

editor — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Martin White reviews a book that provides advice for managers on how to ensure that Web sites, intranets and library services are fully compliant with guidelines and legislation on accessibility.

There are many books on Web accessibility but they tend to come at the subject from quite a narrow area of Web design. This is especially true of books published in the USA, a country which has quite limited Federal legislation on the need to implement accessible Web sites and intranets. It is a subject that should be of passionate interest to our profession in its commitment to providing access to information to all who request it. We not only have a duty under legislation to provide accessible access but, as the back cover of the book highlights, also a moral duty.

Libraries of the Future

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Michelle Pauli reports on the National e-textbook Debate and Libraries of the Future panel sessions held by JISC in Birmingham over 14-15 April 2008.

Supporting Creativity in Networked Environments: The COINE Project

editor — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 23:00:00 +0000

Geoff Butters, Amanda Hulme and Peter Brophy describe an approach to enabling a wide range of users to create and share their own stories, thus contributing to the development of cultural heritage at the local level.

News and Events

editor — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 23:00:00 +0000

Ariadne presents a brief summary of news and events.

Introduction to Federated Searching Technology & Developments

Date: 11 May 2007
Venue: Conference Room, Southport College, Mornington Road, Southport, PR9 0TT
Delegate Fee: £50.00

News and Events

editor — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Ariadne presents a brief summary of news and events.

Technical Advisory Service for Images (TASI) Training Programme

Either: Birmingham, Bristol or London, 8 February to 27 April 2007
http://www.tasi.ac.uk/training/

The TASI programme of practical hands-on training includes three brand new workshops:

Stargate: Exploring Static Repositories for Small Publishers

editor — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 23:00:00 +0000

R. John Robertson introduces a project examining the potential benefits of OAI-PMH Static Repositories as a means of enabling small publishers to participate more fully in the information environment.

With the wider deployment of repositories, the Open Archives Initiative - Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) is becoming a common method of supporting interoperability between repositories and services. It provides 'an application-independent interoperability framework based on metadata harvesting' [1]. Nodes in a network using this protocol are 'data providers' or 'service providers'.

Involving Users in the Development of a Web Accessibility Tool

editor — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 23:00:00 +0000

Jenny Craven and Mikael Snaprud describe how the EC-funded European Internet Accessibility Observatory Project is involving users in the development of a Web accessibility checking and monitoring tool.

The European Union (EU) is increasingly focused on design for all issues and ensuring that access to information and telecommunications meets the needs of all people in order to address the digital divide and create an information society for all. This includes the estimated 37 million people with disabilities in the EU, as well as other groups who could face barriers to e-inclusion such as older people and people with access limitations. This could include users of alternative devices (e.g. PDAs) or with limited bandwidth.

10th CETIS-TechDis Accessibility Special Interest Group Meeting

editor — Fri, 29 Apr 2005 23:00:00 +0000

Ann Chapman reports on a one-day meeting that focused among other things on accessibility in virtual learning environments and personal learning profiles.

Having recently joined the CETIS-TechDis Accessibility SIG (Special Interest Group), I attended the 10th meeting of the group in York on 16 March 2005. The meeting was held in the very new (opened that week) Higher Education Academy Building on the University of York campus where TechDis now has its offices. There was in interesting mix of digital artists, metadata officers, lecturers, project staff and programmers from both universities and colleges, along with people from Becta, JORUM and Key2Access Ltd.

News and Events

editor — Fri, 29 Apr 2005 23:00:00 +0000

Ariadne presents a brief summary of news and events.

Netskills Workshops in May 2005

Web: http://www.netskills.ac.uk/

Netskills will be running the following workshops at North Herts College in Letchworth Garden City in May 2005:

10 May : e-Assessment: Tools & Techniques

Focuses on the tools available for creating e-assessment and the practical techniques required to use them effectively. The tools are considered both in terms of their functionality as well as their interoperability with other systems.

Hyper Clumps, Mini Clumps and National Catalogues: Resource Discovery for the 21st Century

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

John Gilby reports on a one-day conference about resource discovery, held at the British Library Conference Centre, London in November.

Introduction
Keynote Speech: The Concept of a 'National Catalogue' - Jean Sykes
Interoperability: Architectures and Connections - John Gilby & Ashley Sanders
Making Sense of Hybrid Union Catalogues: Collection Landscaping in Complex Information Environments - Gordon Dunsire
Interoperability: The Performance of Institutional Catalogues - Fraser Nicolaides & George Macgregor

News and Events

editor — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Ariadne presents a brief summary of news and events.

Digital Cultural Content Forum 2005

11-13 February 2005, Oxford, UK

The Digital Cultural Content Forum (DCCF) is an annual international gathering of key stakeholders in the digitisation and delivery of our global cultural assets. The focus of the meeting is to explore how public institutions that steward cultural content, the agencies responsible for public policy, and organisations in the public broadcast sectors can collaborate to deliver services to public audiences.

Book Review: Libraries Without Walls 5

editor — Fri, 29 Oct 2004 23:00:00 +0000

David Parkes reviews the fifth compilation of the biennial Library Without Walls Conference. He finds how far we have come and how far we have to go in delivering services to distributed learners.

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.

JISC Terminology Services Workshop

editor — Thu, 29 Apr 2004 23:00:00 +0000

Sarah Shreeves reports on a one-day workshop on current developments and future directions for JISC terminology services held in London, February 2004.

Co-sponsored by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and UKOLN, the JISC Terminology Services Workshop was held at the CBI Conference Centre in London on 13 February 2004. Terminology services are networked services which use knowledge organisation systems (such as ontologies, controlled vocabularies, and classification systems) that can be accessed at certain stages of the production and use of metadata.

The JISC 5/99 Programme: What's in a Number?

editor — Fri, 30 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Rachel Bruce and Balviar Notay give an overview of the outputs and influences of the JISC 5/99 Learning and Teaching and Infrastructure Programme.

The 5/99 Programme, as it became known, was funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) [1] in the year 2000. Quite simply the name, 5/99, refers to the number of a JISC circular letter. It was the fifth circular issued by the JISC in 1999. So the name is pretty meaningless to those outside the JISC or not involved in one of 54 projects that were funded via the circular. The majority of the projects have now completed, the programme end date was July 2003.

Book Review: Joining Up the Dots

editor — Thu, 30 Oct 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Stuart Hannabuss seeks the tenor among the diversity of voices provided by Challenge and Change in the Information Society.

Any work on the information society attracts that ambivalent reaction that it might be trite and it could be seminal. But, with the logic that nothing that becomes cliché can be other than centrally relevant, above all when published by a professional body, (which should know these things), Challenge and change promises well.

Web Focus: WWW 2003 Trip Report

editor — Tue, 29 Jul 2003 23:00:00 +0000

Brian Kelly writes on the recent WWW 2003 conference and outlines some of the latest Web developments.

WWW 2003 was the 12th in the series of international World Wide Web conferences organised by the IW3C2 (the International World Wide Web Conference Committee). The international WWW conferences provide an opportunity for the Web research community to describe their research activities. Other tracks at the conference cover areas such as cultural resources, e-learning, accessibility, etc. In addition W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium) gives a series of presentations which describe many of the new Web standards being developed.

Editorial Introduction to Issue 35: The Art and Craft of Portalage

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2003 23:00:00 +0000

Philip Hunter provides an editorial introduction to Ariadne 35.

Welcome to the March/April issue of Ariadne. This issue of Ariadne focuses on the Portal concept. The term 'portalage' (the making of portals) crept (unforced) into a discussion of the portal concept held on the 25th April at the University of London Library (Gateways to Research and Lifelong Learning: Portals in Perspective).

What Features in a Portal?

editor — Tue, 29 Apr 2003 23:00:00 +0000

Geoff Butters analyses the features found in various types of portal, and includes a comparison with the planned features for the JISC Subject Portals.

EDNER - the formative evaluation of the UK higher education sector's Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER) - is a three-year project being undertaken by the Centre for Research in Library & Information Management (CERLIM) at the Manchester Metropolitan University and the Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technology (CSALT) at Lancaster University. One strand of the project is to undertake an evaluation of the JISC Subject Portals. As part of that work a systematic investigation of portal features was undertaken in the summer of 2002 to help develop a profile

Student Searching Behaviour in the JISC Information Environment

editor — Wed, 09 Oct 2002 23:00:00 +0000

Jill R. Griffiths and Peter Brophy report on work in progress and air some initial findings on the EDNER project, which undertakes evaluation of the developing JISC Information Environment.

The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) Information Environment (IE, a development from the DNER - Distributed National Electronic Resource) is intended to help users in the UK academic sector maximise the value of published information resources by developing a coherent environment out of the confusing array of systems and services currently available.

Development of Digital Libraries for Blind and Visually Impaired People

editor — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 00:00:00 +0000

Jennie Craven reports on the IFLA/SLB conference in Washington in August 2001.

The 2001 IFLA pre-conference SLB took place in Washington with a theme of Digital Libraries for the Blind and the Culture of Learning in the Information Age [1]. Papers delivered at the 2001 conference were from a wide range of subjects relating to digital libraries for the blind. Subject areas included meeting the educational needs of children and youth through libraries for the blind, digital library services and education, creating inclusive models of service and building small digital libraries for the blind.

Establishing a Digital Library Centre

editor — Tue, 02 Oct 2001 23:00:00 +0000

John Kirriemuir outlines some of the issues for the establishment of digital library centres in UK Higher Education institutions.

This article discusses some of the issues that arise when an academic department, unit or institution moves from possessing a few digital library projects and services, to possessing an integrated digital library centre.

The article is based on:

ACM / IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries

editor — Tue, 02 Oct 2001 23:00:00 +0000

John MacColl reports on a selection of the papers given at this conference in Roanoake, Virginia, June 24-28 2001.

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.

Information Skills and the DNER: The INHALE Project

editor — Thu, 21 Jun 2001 23:00:00 +0000

Margaret Weaver describes the work of the Information for Nursing and Health in a Learning Environment (INHALE) Project team.

The Information for Nursing and Health in a Learning Environment (INHALE) Project [1] at the University of Huddersfield is one of forty-four projects supported nationally by the JISC as part of the DNER (Distributed National Electronic Resource) learning and teaching development programme [2]. INHALE is creating portable, interactive learning materials for nursing and health students for use within a virtual learning environment such as Blackboard ©.

The Future Is Hybrid: Edinburgh

editor — Fri, 23 Mar 2001 00:00:00 +0000

John MacColl and Philip Hunter report on 'The Future is Hybrid' project day in Edinburgh.

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.

Newsline: News You Can Use

editor — Fri, 23 Mar 2001 00:00:00 +0000

Ariadne presents a brief summary of news and events.

The Bridgeman Art Library acquires photographic archive of the Hamburg Kunsthalle Museum, Germany

The Bridgeman Art Library announced today its acquisition of the photographic archive of the Hamburg Kunsthalle. All of the museum's works will be available through Bridgeman on an exclusive basis, providing image users with a rich source of German art.

AGORA: The Hybrid Library from a User's Perspective

editor — Wed, 10 Jan 2001 00:00:00 +0000

Bridget Robinson and David Palmer look at the Agora user studies.

Agora is one of the five Hybrid Library Projects that began in January 1998, forming part of phase 3 of the elib programme investigating issues surrounding the integration of digital and traditional library resources. It is a consortium-based project, led by the University of East Anglia; partners are UKOLN [1], Fretwell Downing Informatics and CERLIM (the Centre for Research in Library and Information Management). The project also works with several associate groups: libraries, service providers and systems developers.

Understanding the Searching Process for Visually Impaired Users of the Web (NoVA)

editor — Wed, 10 Jan 2001 00:00:00 +0000

Jenny Craven gives an overview of the Resource funded NoVA project (Non-visual access to the digital library).

Background to the NoVA project

It is recognised that in order to participate fully in today’s society it is vital that citizens are not excluded for any reason, whether by virtue of birth, belief, aptitude or circumstance. Exclusion takes many forms and must be countered in many different ways.

In Vision: The Internet As a Resource for Visually Impaired People

editor — Thu, 22 Jun 2000 23:00:00 +0000

Ann Chapman on the Internet as a resource for visually impaired people: a survey of accessible sites, resources, current research and software.

Introduction

Until recently, visually impaired people (VIP) were poorly served by the library and information provision that is routinely available to sighted people. They have relied to a great extent on specialist voluntary organisations transcribing a limited range of materials into accessible formats. This situation is changing with advances in technology and recent initiatives on social inclusion. Increasingly visually impaired people will be able to locate and use information independently, as sighted people already do.

Agora: From Information Maze to Market

editor — Thu, 22 Jun 2000 23:00:00 +0000

Bridget Robinson, David Palmer and Rosemary Russell outline the Agora cross-searching software project, and its technical background.

Agora is one of the five elib hybrid Library projects which began in January 1998 and are all due for completion at various times this year. They form part of Phase 3 of the elib Programme that is investigating issues of digital library implementation and integration.

The word Agora comes from the Greek word meaning meeting place or assembly point. On further investigation the Perseus project, part of the Department of Classics, Tufts University)[1] describes an agora as: -

LONGITUDE: The Users in the Digital Landscape

editor — Thu, 22 Jun 2000 23:00:00 +0000

Linda Berube on the Longitude project, designed to test a toolkit of qualitative survey methodologies to assess user needs in the digital library.

"May you live in interesting times." I think we in library-land, and particularly public library-land, can lay claim to our share of those. On the national level, we have infrastructure, content creation, and training, all activity that the roll out of the People's Network will require. In addition, regional strength and co-operation ensures participation and development on all levels.

VITAL services? Evaluating IT access in Public Libraries

editor — Wed, 22 Sep 1999 23:00:00 +0000

Project officer Juliet Eve discusses the value and impact of end-user IT services in public libraries.

Since the publication of the hugely influential New Library: the People’s Network, [1] and the follow-up document detailing the plans for rolling out the network, Building the New Library Network, [2] we have seen a whole range of government policy documents and initiatives stressing the importance of the role of the public library in the developing "information society" [3].

Hybrid Libraries

editor — Sat, 19 Dec 1998 00:00:00 +0000

Stephen Pinfield describes the role of Hybrid Libraries and Clumps

Hylife

editor — Mon, 19 Jan 1998 00:00:00 +0000

Ian Winkworth describes a Hybrid Library project for all.

Old Ghosts Rear Their Heads

editor — Wed, 19 Nov 1997 00:00:00 +0000

Peter Brophy calls for effective use of email.

NewsAgent for Librarians

editor — Wed, 18 Sep 1996 23:00:00 +0000

Mark Kerr, research assistant on the NewsAgent for Libraries Project, describes a project to build a news and current awareness service for the LIS community.

Information overload has created a need for information delivered to the desktop at a time, in a format and covering topics chosen by the user, not the provider.

NewsAgent for Libraries started on April 1st 1996, and runs for two years. Located within the Electronic Journals strand of the eLib programme, the project will develop a personalised news and current awareness service for the LIS community. The main partners involved in the project are:

JUGL

editor — Thu, 18 Jul 1996 23:00:00 +0000

Emma Wright put on her woolies and went to Preston to report on the annual JUGL (JANET User Group for Libraries) conference.