One of the most interesting reports to come out in recent months is the UK report on libraries and research which is a must read for all academic library managers.
The value of libraries for research and researchers
The report was jointly commissioned by RIN and RLUK in the U.K. and it presents the findings of a systematic study of the value of the services that libraries provide to researchers, and of the contributions that libraries from a wide range of institutions make to institutional research performance.
The key points are compelling and clearly state the benefits of libraries for research:
1. Good libraries help institutions to recruit and retain top researchers
2. Libraries help researchers win research grants and contracts
3. Libraries promote and exploit new technologies and new models of scholarly communications
4. Repositories increase the visibility of the institution and raise its research profile
5. Outward-facing libraries contribute to institution-wide initiatives
6. Specialist staff work in partnership with academic departments
7. Connecting with researchers enhances the value of the library's services
8. Dedicated spaces provide a better work environment for researchers
9. Easy access to high-quality content is a key foundation for good research
10. Libraries are a physical manifestation of the values of the academy and of scholarship
Friday, 3 June 2011
Thursday, 2 June 2011
Books read so far, in 2011
I'm trying to read more this year. Here's a list with comments on the books I have read so far in 2011.
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
a classic that has stood the test of time
Burying the Bones by Hilary Spurling
a biography of Pearl Buck's life in early 20th Century China
Passage to Juneau by Jonathan Raban
I had not read JR before and was blown away by his erudition and wonderful descriptions of sailing the inside passage, from Seattle to Juneau
Coasting by Jonathan Raban
an earlier book by JR, about sailing around the British Isles
Larry’s Party by Carol Shields
my expectations on hearing positive reports about this book from friends when it first came out, were not quite met
Enchantment and Sorrow by Gabrielle Roy
Gabrielle Roy is not well known in Australia at all, but is one of the most famous French Canadian writers. She wrote in French and this is a translation of the first part of her autobiography, set in Manitoba in the 1920-1940s. If the French Canadians had it rough in Quebec, those in the isolated French communities were even worse off.
Flashman Papers by Macdonald Fraser
well what can I say. Politically incorrect, but very flashy in a boy's own adventure way!
The Resurrectionist by James Bradley
a strange dark tale about "body snatchers" in 19th Century London. It is based on the story of the Burke and Hare murders. I will seek out some more of James Bradley.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
you must read this post-colonial classic from Nigerian writer
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Must read some more of CMcC have seen the film of The Road and the book is equally stark and grim
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
terrific
Mothers and Sons by Colm Toibin
short stories, set in Ireland, all around this theme, each quite different.
Dancing Backwards by Salley Vickers
one of her latest, but not as good and her previous books such as Miss Garnet's Angel and The Other Side of You
Ruby in her navel by Barry Unsworth
Forget the silly title, this is a terrific well researched historical novel set in Sicily in the 12th Century, when Sicily had a Norman king (Roger) and Saracens and Christians worked along side and shared power for one brief period in history. Very informative and enjoyable. I am an Unsworth fan.
Barry Unsworth by Pascali’s Island
this is one of Unsworth's earlier books set in pre- WW1 in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire. Good read
Five Bells by Gail Jones
this is the first book of Gail Jones that I have read. It's set in Sydney on one bright summer day and tracks the intertwining lives of four adults and a child. The title comes from classic Australian poem Five Bells by Kenneth Slessor which I have also been delving into. A wonderful book. The various story lines propel you forward and the language is beautiful and poetic. The subject of the poem, Five Bells, is echoed in the novel as well.
The Angel and the Octopus by Simon Leys
some great essays here and I especially enjoyed the ones about China under Mao.
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
a classic that has stood the test of time
Burying the Bones by Hilary Spurling
a biography of Pearl Buck's life in early 20th Century China
Passage to Juneau by Jonathan Raban
I had not read JR before and was blown away by his erudition and wonderful descriptions of sailing the inside passage, from Seattle to Juneau
Coasting by Jonathan Raban
an earlier book by JR, about sailing around the British Isles
Larry’s Party by Carol Shields
my expectations on hearing positive reports about this book from friends when it first came out, were not quite met
Enchantment and Sorrow by Gabrielle Roy
Gabrielle Roy is not well known in Australia at all, but is one of the most famous French Canadian writers. She wrote in French and this is a translation of the first part of her autobiography, set in Manitoba in the 1920-1940s. If the French Canadians had it rough in Quebec, those in the isolated French communities were even worse off.
Flashman Papers by Macdonald Fraser
well what can I say. Politically incorrect, but very flashy in a boy's own adventure way!
The Resurrectionist by James Bradley
a strange dark tale about "body snatchers" in 19th Century London. It is based on the story of the Burke and Hare murders. I will seek out some more of James Bradley.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
you must read this post-colonial classic from Nigerian writer
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Must read some more of CMcC have seen the film of The Road and the book is equally stark and grim
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
terrific
Mothers and Sons by Colm Toibin
short stories, set in Ireland, all around this theme, each quite different.
Dancing Backwards by Salley Vickers
one of her latest, but not as good and her previous books such as Miss Garnet's Angel and The Other Side of You
Ruby in her navel by Barry Unsworth
Forget the silly title, this is a terrific well researched historical novel set in Sicily in the 12th Century, when Sicily had a Norman king (Roger) and Saracens and Christians worked along side and shared power for one brief period in history. Very informative and enjoyable. I am an Unsworth fan.
Barry Unsworth by Pascali’s Island
this is one of Unsworth's earlier books set in pre- WW1 in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire. Good read
Five Bells by Gail Jones
this is the first book of Gail Jones that I have read. It's set in Sydney on one bright summer day and tracks the intertwining lives of four adults and a child. The title comes from classic Australian poem Five Bells by Kenneth Slessor which I have also been delving into. A wonderful book. The various story lines propel you forward and the language is beautiful and poetic. The subject of the poem, Five Bells, is echoed in the novel as well.
The Angel and the Octopus by Simon Leys
some great essays here and I especially enjoyed the ones about China under Mao.
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Blog every day of June 2011
Last year a group of librarians on Twitter brought together by @flexnib embarked upon a blogging challenge and set themselves the goal of posting one blog post a day throughout June.
It's on again and starting today and I've decided to give it a go and see if I can maintain the pace and write something interesting.
I hope to also revive my blogging enthusiasm which I have to admit has flagged since I started devoting more time to Twitter.
Here's the getting started post from Libraries Interact, the Australian Library group blog, where all the participants names are listed.
Best of luck to all those who have decided to join in, it will be fun to see how we go. I imagine half way thorough the 2nd week will be the time we strike writer's block!
It's on again and starting today and I've decided to give it a go and see if I can maintain the pace and write something interesting.
I hope to also revive my blogging enthusiasm which I have to admit has flagged since I started devoting more time to Twitter.
Here's the getting started post from Libraries Interact, the Australian Library group blog, where all the participants names are listed.
Best of luck to all those who have decided to join in, it will be fun to see how we go. I imagine half way thorough the 2nd week will be the time we strike writer's block!
The Twitter tag for this is #blogeverydayofjune
Thursday, 19 May 2011
CCA-EDUCAUSE Australasia presentation on Summon
Many of the presentations from the recent CCA-EDUCAUSE Australasia Sydney conference are now on the Conference program website.
The full list of presentations, posters and so forth is here
We gave a presentation on the usability studies conducted during 2010 and 2011 of the Serials Solutions Web scale discovery product, Summon. One key finding was that although students found the product easy to use, their skills at sifting through the results screens were not so good.
There is no full paper of the Summon presentation, however an article will be published this month's New Library World. More of that soon.
The full list of presentations, posters and so forth is here
We gave a presentation on the usability studies conducted during 2010 and 2011 of the Serials Solutions Web scale discovery product, Summon. One key finding was that although students found the product easy to use, their skills at sifting through the results screens were not so good.
There is no full paper of the Summon presentation, however an article will be published this month's New Library World. More of that soon.
Discovering Scholarly Resources
View more presentations from Julia Gross
Monday, 11 April 2011
Anzac Day post
It's Anzac Day here so I was reminded of the photos I have and that I must get around to contacting the Australian War Memorial to see if they are interested in seeing them.
Here's a photo from the family archives of two unknown Aussie soldiers taken around the time of the Battle of El Alamein in 1942. All I know about them is they were part of the Australian Ninth Division which I wrote about previously. Here they were obviously enjoying a day off.
Monday, 21 February 2011
Early birds for CCA-EDUCAUSE Australasia conference 2011
CCA-EDUCAUSE Australasia conference is on again in Sydney this year: 3-6 April 2011 at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour. CCA-EDUCAUSE conference is organised by CAUDIT, CAUL and ACODE and the focus is on information technology in higher education.
This conference is attended by a range of professionals working in the higher education sector:
Theme for 2011 is: The game has changed
"The game has changed for information technology in higher education. Fundamental shifts in learning and teaching, research, resources, and technology mean we’re not using the same rules or playing fields anymore. According to some leading thinkers, the very survival of the university is on the line if we're not able to adapt.
What game changers do you see in your organisation? What are the new rules and who are the players? What do we need to do to adapt? And what things remain constant, no matter what the external appearances of transformation?"
Early Bird registrations close on 3 March.
Keynote speakers include:
Bryan Alexander – Director of Research at NITLE. Emerging technologies, mobile and wireless computing, digital gaming, social media.
Shirley Alexander – Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Teaching, Learning and Equity) at the University of Technology, Sydney. Professor of Learning Technologies.
Richard Katz – Consults on strategy, technology, and assessment issues with universities, governments, and corporations worldwide.
Diana Oblinger – President and CEO of EDUCAUSE. Co-author of What Business Wants from Higher Education. Co-editor of The Learning Revolution.
McKenzie Wark – Author of Gamer Theory and A Hacker Manifesto. Chair of Culture and Media, Eugene Lang College, The New School, New York.
Brad Wheeler – CIO, Indiana University. Co-founder of the Sakai Project and Kuali. Transformative software and service collaborations.
Follow @ccaeducause on Twitter for news and updates
This conference is attended by a range of professionals working in the higher education sector:
- IT practitioners and managers
- Teaching and learning technology practitioners and managers
- Librarians and knowledge managers
- Developers of information technologies and services for higher education
Theme for 2011 is: The game has changed
"The game has changed for information technology in higher education. Fundamental shifts in learning and teaching, research, resources, and technology mean we’re not using the same rules or playing fields anymore. According to some leading thinkers, the very survival of the university is on the line if we're not able to adapt.
What game changers do you see in your organisation? What are the new rules and who are the players? What do we need to do to adapt? And what things remain constant, no matter what the external appearances of transformation?"
Early Bird registrations close on 3 March.
Keynote speakers include:
Bryan Alexander – Director of Research at NITLE. Emerging technologies, mobile and wireless computing, digital gaming, social media.
Shirley Alexander – Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Teaching, Learning and Equity) at the University of Technology, Sydney. Professor of Learning Technologies.
Richard Katz – Consults on strategy, technology, and assessment issues with universities, governments, and corporations worldwide.
Diana Oblinger – President and CEO of EDUCAUSE. Co-author of What Business Wants from Higher Education. Co-editor of The Learning Revolution.
McKenzie Wark – Author of Gamer Theory and A Hacker Manifesto. Chair of Culture and Media, Eugene Lang College, The New School, New York.
Brad Wheeler – CIO, Indiana University. Co-founder of the Sakai Project and Kuali. Transformative software and service collaborations.
Follow @ccaeducause on Twitter for news and updates
Monday, 14 February 2011
Perth Library Unconference goes national
The Perth Library Unconference is going national for 2011.
The annual Perth Library Camp or Library UnConference has been going for a number of years, due to the enthusiasm of the "unorganisers" and the support of some local institutions.
This year it will be held to coincide with a number of national conferences happening in Perth:
The ALIA 5th New Librarians Symposium (2011) Friday 16 – Sunday 18 September 2011 and the ALIA National Library & Information Technicians Conference (Libtech) 12 - Friday 16 September 2011.
Library Camp Australia will be held in Perth on 19 September 2011, 9am to 4pm at the State Library of Western Australia:
"This will be an unconference for anyone who works in, researches, uses or is interested in libraries, following the principles that session topics are set on the day and that everyone contributes in some way. It is being organised by volunteers and so far is being supported by our generous sponsors the State Library of Western Australia and Public Libraries Western Australia.
There's also a competition to design a logo for Library Camp Australia. Check out this librariesinteract blog post.
The Twitter hashtag for Library Camp Australia is #libcampoz
The annual Perth Library Camp or Library UnConference has been going for a number of years, due to the enthusiasm of the "unorganisers" and the support of some local institutions.
This year it will be held to coincide with a number of national conferences happening in Perth:
The ALIA 5th New Librarians Symposium (2011) Friday 16 – Sunday 18 September 2011 and the ALIA National Library & Information Technicians Conference (Libtech) 12 - Friday 16 September 2011.
Library Camp Australia will be held in Perth on 19 September 2011, 9am to 4pm at the State Library of Western Australia:
"This will be an unconference for anyone who works in, researches, uses or is interested in libraries, following the principles that session topics are set on the day and that everyone contributes in some way. It is being organised by volunteers and so far is being supported by our generous sponsors the State Library of Western Australia and Public Libraries Western Australia.
There's also a competition to design a logo for Library Camp Australia. Check out this librariesinteract blog post.
The Twitter hashtag for Library Camp Australia is #libcampoz
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