Tom Roper's Weblog

Brighton Jubilee library's first birthday

Hot on the heels of Ariadne's 10th comes news that the prize winning Brighton Jubilee library is to celebrate its first birthday with a programme of birthday events.
They are compiling a public scrap book and you can send birthday greetings to be included by e-mail to: [email protected]

Smart lad wanted

I'm looking for a job. My current one comes to an end on 3 March. Some of the more interesting jobs I've done in the past have been found not by conventional means but par hasard.
So I'm posting my curriculum vitae here as a pdf. Do get in touch if you could use a highly experienced librarian, who's worked in most types of library and sectors, and who has a strong interest in technical things, classical Greek and more or less everything else. If you want to pay me handsomely to blog, so much the better, but, as they used to say in the personals in the good old days of the Times when they appeared on the front page rather than anything so vulgar as news, anything legal considered.

Download my cv.

Decennial issue of Ariadne

A happy tenth birthday to Ariadne. When the first issues appeared, I was employed at the North Thames Regional Library & Information Unit. Even now when I see the masthead (in those days it appeared both in print and online) I am taken back to my office in a basement in Millman Street, then still the headquarters of the British Postgraduate Medical Federation.
It is worth reading, especially for John Kirriemuir's reflections on Bright Young Things and cuckoos and monkeys. It was John who memorably introduced an audience of animal health information specialists to the pleasures of squirrel hazing. I think he was illustrating a point about search engines.

Plumpton

I went to Plumpton today, as half-term entertainment for the children, and had a satisfactory day. We each had at least one winner, and I achieved two, Alright Now M'lad in the Evening Standard Commemorates Chris Poole Handicap Hurdle and Cockspur in the concluding bumper. Both were ridden by Tony McCoy, owned by J P McManus and trained by Jonjo O'Neill.
Some photographs may be seen on my Flickr site

Leopardstown: Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup

2:20 Glenfinn Captain
2:50 Our Ben
3:20 Don't Be Bitin
3:55 Beef Or Salmon

Newbury: Aon Chase and Totesport Trophy Hurdle

235: Take the stand
310: Al Eile
345: Kauto Star

Tender process for UK PubMed Central announced

The Wellcome Trust have annouced the procurement process for UK PubMed Central

Leicester handhelds article in HILJ

Honeybourne Claire, Sutton Sarah, Ward, Linda Knowledge in the Palm of your hands: PDAs in the clinical setting Health Information & Libraries Journal 2006 23(1):51-59 doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2006.00621.x http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2006.00621.x

2006 Horizon Report

The 2006 Horizon Report, jointly produced by the Educause Learning Initiative  and the New Media Consortium, is out and available as a PDF.
It identifies four trends, five challenges and six technologies to watch

Four trends

1. Dynamic knowledge creation and social computing tools and processes are becoming more widespread and accepted
2. Mobile and personal technology is increasingly being viewed as a delivery platform for services of all kinds
3. Consumers are increasingly expecting individualized services, tools, and experiences, and open access to media, knowledge, information, and learning.
4. Collaboration is increasingly seen as critical across the range of educational activities, including intra- and inter-institutional activities of any size or scope

Five challenges:

1. Peer review and other academic processes, such as promotion and tenure reviews increasingly do not reflect the ways scholarship actually is conducted.
2. Information literacy should not be considered a given, even among “net-gen” students.
3. Intellectual property concerns and the management of digital rights and assets continue to loom as largely unaddressed issues.
4. The typical approach of experimentally deploying new technologies on campuses does not include processes to quickly scale them up to broad usage when they work, and often creates its own obstacles to full deployment.
5. The phenomenon of technological “churn” is bringing new kinds of support challenges.

 Six technologies to watch

1. Social Computing.
2. Personal Broadcasting.
3. The Phones in Their Pockets.
4. Educational Gaming.
5. Augmented Reality and Enhanced Visual­ization
6. Context-Aware Environments and Devices

International Information Literacy Resources Directory

IFLA have developed an International Information Literacy Resources Directory: anyone can contribute resources. I don't see many British resources there yet, but it will doubtless grow.