Table of contents: issue9

From Aberystwyth to ADAM: Using the Skills Acquired on a Library School Course in the Real World

editor — Sun, 18 May 1997 23:00:00 +0000

Rebecca Bradshaw reflects on how the skills and knowledge she acquired when a library school student are relevant (or not) to her current role, developing a network-based subject gateway.

Library school? What library school? Oh yes, I spent four years there, didn't I?

After only eighteen months, I have to confess my memory isn't quite that bad, but immersed in my job with the ADAM Project [1] , library school certainly does seem an age ago. Everything I learned seems to have merged into one large mass of indefinable matter, and when asked to write about it for Ariadne a little wave of unease stirred within me.

The Librarian of Babel: The Key to the Stacks

editor — Sun, 18 May 1997 23:00:00 +0000

The Librarian, ably assisted by Mike Holderness, considers one of the obstacles to the unhindered dissemination of human knowledge, and makes a modest proposal.

Good morning, and welcome to the Library of Babel. Many of you will have heard of this great institution of learning only through the melancholy brochure produced for us by Jorge Luis Borges [1] in 1941. As, however, you will discover in the course of our tours, it is in the nature of this Library that the more closely one searches for the details of its foundation, the more complication one finds.

MIDRIB: Beyond Clip Art for Medicine

editor — Sun, 18 May 1997 23:00:00 +0000

Betsy Anagnostelis and Sue Welsh describe the recent launch of the MIDRIB (Medical Images Digitised Reference Information Bank) project, and describe the medical image resource the project will create.

A picture paints a thousand words, and in the field of medicine, images are essential. The recent launch of MIDRIB (Medical Images Digitised Reference Information Bank) [1] , and the announcement of the Visible Human Dataset UK Mirror, have demonstrated JISC's [2] determination to provide high quality content in this area for the UK higher education and research community.

Never Mind the Quality, Check the Badge-Width!

editor — Sun, 18 May 1997 23:00:00 +0000

Alison McNab, Betsy Anagnostelis and Alison Cooke compare and contrast the methods used to identify and indicate which Internet-based resources are of high "quality".

How does the World Health Organization rate compared to Medical Students for Choice (a reproductive health rights group)? How do the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention score across a range of review services? As commentators begin to question the value of much of the information currently available on the Internet, how helpful are stars, badges or seals of approval (SOAPs) in identifying quality resources? Is a "Cool site of the moment", an accolade that literally changes every moment, of any real use?

Preparing Students for a New Electronic Service

editor — Sun, 18 May 1997 23:00:00 +0000

Preparing students for a new electronic service : Elizabeth Gadd outlines the approaches and experiences of Project ACORN in training and promoting their new electronic 'short-loan' collection.

The JISC-funded eLib project, Project ACORN [1] was set up to explore the mechanisms for establishing an electronic 'short-loan' collection of journal articles for undergraduate students. Having received permission to make 236 high-demand journal articles from the reading lists of the departments of Geography, Human Sciences and Information and Library Studies available to registered undergraduates over the University computer network, the next vital step was to prepare students to use the new service prior to its launch on April 21st.

The NHS, the Internet and Libraries: The NHS Anglia and Oxford Internet Project

editor — Sun, 18 May 1997 23:00:00 +0000

Judy Palmer and Myles Chippendale describe an initiative that is using the Internet to connect widely dispersed health libraries.

In the Higher Education sector, following the Follett Report [1], there has been massive investment in developing and shaping the implementation of the electronic library through the Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib)[2]. Libraries in the NHS have not been so fortunate. Although health librarians are enthusiastic networkers, with no tradition of wide area networking, NHS libraries have had to operate as individual units, unable to communicate with each other apart from by post, telephone and fax.