Owner: info NeoGnostic URL:http://i-a-l.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 05:54:19 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: iNG is a blog for 'new' thoughts about information science - including librarianship, knowledge management, information architecture, content management, collection management - with an emphasis on electronic resources. Also about professional issues, oft Site statistics:Click here
Information World Review editorial 2006-10-04 00:15:00 Law and disorder
Powerful editorial
in the October 2006 issue of IWR - unfortunately not yet available on the website - but strong stuff. Mark Chillingworth has a go at government for their poor track record on ICT and information projects (not to mention recent legislation) and wonders whether the many calls for an overhaul of IP laws will fall on deaf ears. The British Library - in the shape of its Chief Executive, Lynne Brindley - has pointed out that the current position is due to a government that is out of touch... something recent posts here might suggest too.
Mark Chillingworth quotes Gordon Brown as talking about Britain's future as a knowledge economy and points out that this is only possible with suitable and appropriate IPR in place. Without the information industry, and the nation, will suffer. Definitely worth a read.
And talking of 'knowledge economy', I expect to be commenting on the July report on 'Public Libraries in the Knowledge Economy' soon.
>>Technora Read more:World
Public Libraries 2006-09-29 18:15:00 By way of drawing a line (for now at least) under this particular theme, I copy below the text of a letter from Mark Field MP, Shadow Minister for Culture which was published today in The Bookseller, and which was sent to me by Libri: I agree with every word that Richard Charkin wrote in last week's Bookseller especially his recommendations and his final comment that the government should stop pretending things are fine in the library service.
I have not yet met or conversed with Mr Charkin but his global knowledge of the value of books, reading and libraries will surely far exceed my own and, I suggest, most of the government's advisers.
The British public is greatly concerned that our public book lending service is being cruelly damaged through this government's lack of vision and direction. The Conservative Party can and will battle to represent the library customer in this deepening crisis. We aim to encourage local councils to review their strategies and build on t Read more:Public
, Libraries
Public Libraries: Criticism and CILIP (2) 2006-09-26 10:54:00 Following the publication of my message yesterday, I have received a lone supportive response from the profession, support from Tim Coates (naturally!), and an endorsing email from the Chairman of Libri, which I reproduce in full below.
Dear Mr ArmstrongI have been shown your recent e mail of 25 September and am sending you copies of recent media coverage related to the public library service.A lot of work has been done to assess the various published statistics and consultancy reports as well as replies to Parliamentary Questions etc.I have also spent considerable time meeting with the Minister, the shadow team, officials, MLA, SCL , LGA, PKF and PwC consultants and concerned organisations (eg Society of Authors, PA, Library Users) to understand the issues and to try to find solutions.There seems to be a serious lack of leadership, an absence of a shared vision for public libraries in the 21st Century and a task force to help the 149 library authorities implement urgen Read more:Public
, Libraries
, Criticism
, CILIP
Public libraries: Criticism and CILIP 2006-09-25 10:46:00 Many of us will have read, probably with mounting frustration, the continued attack by Tim Coates on the management and policies surrounding public libraries in the UK. Recently, Richard Charkin of Macmillan Publishers was invited to speak to the National Acquisitions Group during their conference, and he has summarized what he said - and what he has since published in The Bookseller - on his blog. Broadly speaking, he is of one accord with Tim Coates, at least insofar as being appalled by the statistics of decline. Less interestingly, he also has a solution - but that, like the statistics themselves, for which I cannot vouch and which I do not recommend to you in any way other than to suggest that they need investigating and verifying if you are a public librarian, is not the point of this posting.Rather, it is to suggest that two things should be happening in the light of the ongoing publication and publicising of this issue; indeed should have been happening for Read more:Public
, Criticism
, CILIP
Cost vs. Value - Staff vs. Books? 2006-08-30 10:25:00 An article in The Books
eller by Katherine Rushton (25th August) suggests that libraries are over-staffed and that employees should be dropped before branches are axed. Tim Coates (in his Blog) agrees: "I have been saying for 6 years that all the evidence I can find suggests that local council library services have a lot more staff than they need to do the job they do. Not only do they have more staff but those staff incur overhead costs which also mean that the service costs much more than it should. That money could be better spent, particuarly on books, longer opening hours and redecoration of buildings." I make no comment on the rightness of these assertions, but they clearly relate to the discussions on librarians' value to their organisation which is currently taking place in the new CILIP Communities of Practice... and they deserve wider debate.
Coates wonders, as do I, where is a response from CILIP?
>>Technorati tags:
CILIP; Coates; libraries; staffing
>>IceR Read more:Value
, Staff
CILIP UKeiG Awards: Nominations still open 2006-08-28 15:35:00 The closing date for nominations is September 15th - you still have time to nominate.The UKeiG Tony Kent Strix Award is given in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the field of information retrieval. The Award is sponsored by Sage Publications.Nominations are now invited for the 2006 Award. Nominations should be for achievement that meets one or more of the following criteria:development of, or significant improvement in, mechanisms for the retrieval of information, either generally or in a specialised field;development of, or significant improvement in, accessibility to an information service;a sustained contribution over a period of years to the field of information retrieval; for example, by running an information service or by contributing at national or international level to organisations active in the field;a major and/or sustained contribution to the theoretical or experimental understanding of the information retrieval process;a major contribution to fostering the e Read more:CILIP
, Awards
Publishers sell - libraries buy! 2006-08-28 13:46:00 Richard Charkin (Macmillan) is to attend the September annual conference of National Acqusitions Group, and in preparation says (Chark Blog) that he is "keeping my ears open for library relevant material". I wonder what he will make of the coincidence of the MLA Better Stock, Better Libraries, which according to their press release, "outlines a national library purchasing model. The new procurement arrangements, which maintain local accountability for stock selection, would mean better availability and more efficient management of stock, more flexibility to meet local needs and reduced unit costs of stock" and the article in The Bookseller by Katherine Rushton, which - according to Tim Coates' Good Library Blog - says that the public library service is "severely over-staffed" ... and that money could be better spent, particuarly on books.At least Mr Charkin has a positive spin on libraries: "Working with libraries seems to me an essential part of a publisher's support for a Read more:Publishers
CILIP and its new business model (NOT) 2006-08-11 12:22:00 About: CILIP
's New Business Model Working Group
I was disappointed to find (according to the report in Gazette 11-24 August, page 3) that in their discussions to identify CILIP's core functions there appears to have been little or no consideration of possibilities, but only an agreement on the status quo - Regulate the LIS profession; Support LIS professional development; Provide advocacy.
Shouldn't such an important working group, working in a time of crisis for CILIP, have thought "outside the box' - considered new and exciting functions, which could both attract and retain members? I do not think members want a reaffirmation of more of the same in the new business model
- the Terms of Reference make it clear that the model should generate income, not allow CILIP to carry on as it is.
If you agree with this statement, please make it known by emailing CILIP (info@cilip.org.uk) directly "For attention of the New Business Model Working Group"
>>Technorati tags: Read more:business model
Two new sites 2006-11-19 09:50:00
Information World Review
recently had an article about the Open Rights Group (ORG), which has the following worthy goals:
To raise awareness in the media of digital rights abuses
To provide a media clearinghouse, connecting journalists with experts and activists
To preserve and extend traditional civil liberties in the digital world
To collaborate with other digital rights and related organisations
To nurture a community of campaigning volunteers, from grassroots activists to technical and legal experts
They also have a blog, which pointed me to website I never expected to visit, let alone recommend(!) - 10 Downing Street. It has a new petition site that mySociety has built for it, which allows anyone to set up a petition and collect signatures. Certainly worth a look, the more especially as you can sign the petition to: scrap the proposed introduction of ID cards one of my personal drives. While you there, you can also look at Sue Charman's (of ORG) copyright petition to: create a
Online Information 2006 - UKeiG Free Seminars 2006-11-20 20:46:00 Karen Blakeman will be giving two free seminars as part of the seminar and master class programme at the Online Information exhibition:
Tricks and Tips for better web search. Tuesday 28th November 2006, 11.45-12.15. Grand Hall Olympia, London, Theatre E.
What's new in search tools. Thursday 30th November 2006, 11.00 - 11.30. Grand Hall Olympia, London, Theatre E.
Shaida Dorabjee offers:
Pharmaceutical Information - Traditional and not-so-traditional sources. Wednesday 29th November 2006, 12.00 - 12.30. Grand Hall Olympia, London, Theatre A.
Details of these and the rest of the seminar programme are at http://www.online-information.co.uk/ol06/seminars.html
>>Technorati tags:
UKeiG; seminars; Online; Olympia
>>IceRocket tags:
UKeiG; seminars; Online; Olympia
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Online Information 2006... 2006-12-01 21:20:00 Its what everyone is blogging about, so not to be outdone...I can't quite claim to have been to all 30+ shows, but its in the high twenties, and I have to agree with everyone else who has been counting (all the ONLINE gang for a start) it has certainly changed over all those years! When I was a lad, we hadn't even thought of Web, let alone Web 1.0 or 2.0! From the conference floor, this year, the talk was of 'Search' and wikis and social software; open access and social networking. On the exhibition floor it was all networking too! UKeiG met a host of old friends at their stand and a walk (one of many) around the stands found many more. e-Books and eContent feature on a number of stands - MyiLibrary looks set to rival giants such as NetLibrary and eContent is the name of the game. Another aspect of e-books is the e-book reader, and - if you knew where to look - the iLiad was there too!Taxonomies also featured in a couple of conference sessions - which was a happy coincidence as the
Writings about e-books 2006-12-03 10:03:00 The latest entry on my Writings
about e-book publishing, 2006 is to an e-book - a collection of short essays entitled
Books, edited by Michael Maiello and Michael Noer, and published on December 1st. Their introduction begins:
Are books in danger? The conventional wisdom would say yes. After all, more and more media--the Internet, cable television, satellite radio, videogames--compete for our time. And the Web in particular, with its emphasis on textual snippets, skimming and collaborative creation, seems ill-suited to nurture the sustained, authoritative transmission of complex ideas that has been the historical purview of the printed page. But surprise--the conventional wisdom is wrong.
The essays include:
Dave Eggers' Small Notion
Joe HaganThe staggering genius has built McSweeney's into a modestly sized (and modestly profitable) multimedia publishing empire, all without advertising.
Giving It Away
By Cory DoctorowI let readers download my books for free. It's a livin
Blooks: Blog e-Books 2006-12-10 14:50:00 Walt Crawford posted an interested item on AutoBlooks a couple of days ago on his Walt at Random blog. Blog Slurper is apparently a tool which will vacuum up the content of a blog and produce a hard-copy book from it - at a cost, which is the topic of Walt's post. It struck me that this is very much what the team at the Friday Project do, but that is another story.The reason for my post - apart, of course, from drawing attention to the Walt at Random original - was to take issue with the middle bit (the implied definition) of statement: I'm not saying blooks-books based on blogs-never make sense...This seems to imply, given the context, that blooks are print books based on blog; I think it would be more correct to say that a blook is a book written using a blog, available (as a book or an emerging book) on a blog, for reading on a blog. Or, if you like, a blook is a form of e-book. Certainly, some will be subsequently paper-published, but that is another story and not what what Read more:Books
Moving beyond licences? 2006-12-17 09:50:00 Despite the use of model licences, librarians and publishers spend time handling and negotiating licences. In the US, the Association of Research Libraries, the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers, SPARC, and the Society for Scholarly Publishing agreed that finding an alternative to licenses was a worthwhile cause. Karla Hahn of ARL has written a short overview of progress to date: "Do I have to negotiate a license for every e-resource I buy? Developing a best practice option".This is an advance of which the JISC, university librarians, UK publishers, and the UK Publishers Association should be aware. It has huge potential. I quote from the article:Model licenses have been helpful in many ways, but both libraries and publishers report that by and large they do not eliminate handling costs for librarians and publishers because some negotiations typically remain... One indicator that an alternative to licenses might be possible is the observation that some publis Read more:Moving
, beyond
CILIP's Principles of Governance 2006-12-18 23:28:00 As a first step in the process of changing the governance structures at CILIP
, the Implementation Group has published the Principles
which will act as the benchmark against which all governance activities are judged. The principles are divided into those which relate directly to governance and those which relate to organisational communications.
The principles can be found at: http://www.cilip.org.uk/aboutcilip/governance/ governanceimplementation.htm
>>Technorati tags:
CILIP; governance
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Blog Tag: 5 Things you don't know about Chris Armstrong 2006-12-21 09:30:00 OK, so it's Chris
tmas and party games time! Thank you so very much Karen! Actually seriously thank you for tagging me while there are a still few untagged people left for me to tag! And so we go... 5 things (most of) you (probably) don't know about Chris Armstrong
:Back in the sixties, I had long hair and spent a lot of my time surfing (OK, and I listened to the Beach Boys!)About 34 years ago I found myself wrestling with a stowaway on the aft deck of a container ship in the Southern Oceans trying to prevent him from jumping overboard. He was outside the rails and came very close to loosing his life... but was not in the least thankful to me for stopping him! When I was joined by the Bosun and I suggested he hit the man to gain us the advantage, he asked me - this rough, tough sailor of many ports - 'How hard?'!I once lived for a couple of months in Hamburg at the end of the Reeperbahn (the 'red light' district) in Sankt Pauli in Hamburg. My excuse is that it was while I was in ch
Copyright Petition - deadline 2006-12-22 11:02:00 The petition:
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to create a new exception to copyright law that gives individuals the right to create a private copy of copyrighted materials for their own personal use, including back-ups, archiving and shifting format. Available at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/privatecopy/ has a deadline of 26th December 2006. The petitioner, Suw Charman, explains:
Thousands of people own MP3 players which they have filled with copies of CDs that they have legally purchased, yet making this copy is itself illegal. Copyright law is out of step with this common behaviour which is seen by the majority as morally and ethically acceptable. The law should be changed to reflect new, fair uses of copyrighted materials. Currently the petition has 3,263 signatures but I imagine that it would have many more if the site was better publicised.
Note that in the right hand column of my blog, iNG, there remain 3 petitions which I support. Please sign by clicking on the link
Happy Christmas! 2006-12-22 17:31:00 ... Not that I imagine anyone will be reading blogs between now and then - so hope you had a good one!Wishing everyone peace for 2007Chris Read more:Christmas
, Happy
Mac-books: eBooks / iPhone 2007-01-13 20:45:00 Ever since I heard/watched Steve Jobs presentation on the iPhone
and heard him mention audiobooks, I was struck by the possibilities within the landscape-view 3.5 inch screen. It seems that I am not the only one! A posting on O'Reilly Radar points to another posting on BookSquare blog, and Tim O'Reilly, the anonymous BookSquare and I are of one mind - if the iPhone were to add e-book reading to its already wide spectrum of use, it would be not just a winner, but a must-have! While I am a great fan of e-Ink devices such as the iLiad (from iRex Technologies), it has always seemed to me that, for the money, I want convergence... and a device that not only presents a library of e-books as something that is e(asily)-readable, but that gives me, in one device, all the other technology I lug around: phone, diary, address book, web browser, camera, music. (I mean, just how many chargers can one man carry?)So, at the moment we have: (in the red corner) the e-ink device with its excellent read Read more:eBooks
Writings about e-book publishing, 2006 2007-01-15 10:25:00 I have just added a couple more items to:
Writings
about e-book publishing, 2006, which may be found at: http://www.i-a-l.co.uk/resource_ebook2006.html
These will probably be the final additions to the 2006 issue, which now lists over 40 items related to the publication of e-books: social books, licensing, user studies, Google, print-on-demand, e-book readers, etc.
The resource is not intended to be comprehensive, but it is a guide to the most important writings/readings during the year.
The 2007 bibliography will be started soon.
>>Technorati tags:
ebooks; e-books; publishing
>>IceRocket tags:
ebooks; e-books; publishing
CILIP: And so to new governance 2007-01-23 10:20:00 Following CILIP
's acceptance of the report of the Government Review Task Force at the December Council Meeting, much has been going on behind the scenes in preparation for tomorrow's first meeting of the Governance Review Implementation Group. Hopefully, readers will have seen my previous posting, which pointed to the principles under which the new governance
will function; a copy of the Task Force's report is now also available on the CILIP web site. Preparations have been made, legal advice taken and an important item on Wednesday's agenda is the implementation schedule.
Those of us who sat on the Task Force and now sit on the Implementation Group are determined on two things: transparency or openness, and timeliness - or "progress the implementation as swiftly as possible" (p.6) as the report says. To quote: "Most importantly, however, we believe it important that the membership sees progress being made on implementation rather than giving an appearance of inactivity until Byel
Does this mean e-books have arrived? 2007-02-06 09:35:00 Most librarians - in the UK, at least - would probably describe e-books as something that they are aware of, that have great potential, that their users do not know enough about, that their users may not use, and consequently that they, themselves, are unsure of. In short, despite the large collections available - and in place in libraries - e-books have not really 'bedded down'.An article published in the Journal of the Medical Library Association [pdf] describes how, in the University of Pittsburgh, they have facilitated federated searching of their e-book collections. It seems to me that this suggests that, here at least, e-books are core to the library and that the library is committed to managing their collection to a significant extent. It may also suggest initial underuse, but it does demonstrate that it is not always easy for users to find what they want in the new and unfamiliar format. As they say, "Users need more efficient ways to access the content of a library's e-b
Paedophilia: Naïve or what? 2007-02-06 20:34:00 Like Phil Bradley, I heard this news item (British Government is considering forcing sex offenders to list their email addresses) and thought: "You what?!"
Read Phil's post - it expresses what I would say, and I don't think I can put it better!
>>Technorati tags:
government; Paedophilia
>>IceRocket tags:
government; Paedophilia
Scholarly Publishing: e-books to the rescue (again) 1970-01-01 00:59:59 When Ray Lonsdale and I did our study in the late nineties, we commented in our report, The publishing of electronic scholarly monographs and text books, that the financial pressures on University presses were leading them to turn to electonic publishing. So it was interesting to read today in Inside Higher Ed that the crisis in scholarly publishing is still driving e-books forward: It's hard to attend scholarly meetings these days without someone talking about the "crisis of scholarly publishing," which goes something like this: Libraries can't afford to buy new scholarly books; in turn, university presses can't afford to publish books no one can buy and so cut back on their sales of monographs; in turn, junior professors can't get their first books published and have a tough time getting tenure.Rice University on Thursday announced a plan to shake up those interconnected problems. Rice University Press, which was killed in 1996, will be revived. But unlike every other uni Read more:Publishing
ICANN can not, and so cedes Internet control 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The Register reported yesterday that, despite being: the internet's instigator and, since 1998, its voluntary taskmaster, the US government finally agreed to transition its control over not-for-profit internet overseeing organisation ICANN
, making the organisation a more international body. In an unintentional irony it noted that:Ultimately, what came out of a gathering of the (English-speaking) great and the good regarding the internet was two things: That the US government recognises it has to transition its role if it wants to keep the internet in one piece (and it then has to sell that decision to a mindlessly patriotic electorate)That ICANN has to open up and allow more people to decide its course if it is going to be allowed to become the internet's main overseeing organisationI suppose if you are called ICANN you cann do pretty much anything including inventing new English verbs! >>Technorati tags: Internet
; ICANN>>IceRocket tags: Internet; ICANN
Biometric data and teaching your grandmother... 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I read with great concern the news that up to 3,500 schools use biometric software to record the data of approximately three quarters of a million children. It is I presumed, the thin end of the wedge, a practice that this government will encourage in their own interest, and another means of gathering personal information.Then I read the item on broken biometric passports in The Register. Apart from a mixture of alarm (that millions of people may get needlessly and interminably stopped at passport control - a service which apparently is destined to slow to a standstill - literally - as biometric data gets checked "Immigration Officers will, until September 2007, have to leave the front desk to undertake additional checks of the digital signature using the readers located in back offices.") and relief (that the system will never work), I was left with the thought that:... if schools can manage it, perhaps government should consult with them about how it can be done!Of course (I suppose) Read more:Biometric
First eInk; now ePaper 1970-01-01 00:59:59 eBook readers have come a long way since the early days and iRex Technology's iLiad is an excellent example: it holds up to 200 e-books and has a display that is described as close to print-on-paper, and gives a very comfortable reading experience.Now Polymer Vision have launched their READIUS display. A five-inch monochrome screen unrolls from a neat and slim device, which could be thought of as the book's spine. Slashgear says: Polymer Vision have cut a deal with Telecom Italia to market the device along with the network's personalised news services. A built-in SIM card slot means it can be constantly connected to an EDGE/UMTS network as well as DVB-H IP data-casting, and take advantage of e-mail, news, location sensitive maps and ebooks, as well as user-loaded information on the 4GB of internal storage transferred via mini-USB. For those watching the e-book industry, and thinking about carrying the e-library in their pocket (think: students with a year's reading list), this I Read more:First
Petition against ID cards 1970-01-01 00:59:59 A reminder that there are only two days left to sign this petition, which so far has a tremendous 23,076 signatures:We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to scrap the proposed introduction of ID cards.You can sign at: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/IDcards/If you need convincing about the need to scrap the idea, please read my blog, iNG, and The Register article.Thank you.>>Technorati tags: ePassports; government; personal_information; IDcards>>IceRocket tags: ePassports; government; personal_information; IDcards Read more:against
CILIP and the Governance Implementation Group 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Colleagues may like to know that the CILIP
Governance ImplementationGroup
- the group charged with implementing the recommendations of the Governance Review Task Force - have opened a thread (The Governance Implementation Group
Thread) in the "CILIP - the Organisation' forum of the CILIP Communities of Practice.Members can access and comment at: http://communities.cilip.org.uk/forums/28/ShowForum.aspx As it says in the initial message: "One of the first statements in the Task Force's report notes that "the interests and needs of the membership are paramount'. It also states that, "The membership is at the heart of the Institute. It will be the aim… to facilitate all members involvement… The Institute is a democratic organisation. Its good governance is critically dependent on the membership's active involvement in the governance and the electoral process.' Consequently, the GiG undertakes to take note of all your comments"Chris ArmstrongNational Counci
CILIP and the Governance Implementation Group 1970-01-01 00:59:59 CILIP's Governance ImplementationGroup
has announced the 'timeline' of events leading up to the beginning of the new governance regime.TIMELINE24 January: First meeting of GIG12 February: Draft Byelaws written by CILIP lawyers19 February: GIG meets to consider draft Byelaws13 March: GIG meets to finalise Byelaws with CILIP lawyers13 March: Draft Byelaws ready for Council4 April: Council16 April: GIG meets to sign off draft Byelaws30 April: Draft Byelaws (and "tidy up" of Royal Charter) to Privy Council16 July: Councilmid August: Approval in principle from Privy CouncilAugust/Sept: Documentation prepared for CILIP AGM18 October: AGMOctober/November: Privy Council to confirm approvalsOctober to December: Election process for new Council12 December: Council (last meeting under old governance arrangements)1 January 2008: Effective Date for new governance arrangementsWeek commencing7 January 2008: New Council meets for the first time.>>Technorati tags: CILIP; governance>>IceRocket t Read more:CILIP
, Implementation Group
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