Tom Roper's Weblog

Vicarious conference experiences number 2

And as well as HC2006 in Harrogate, in Washington DC there's Computers in Libraries 2006
Technorati searches for them here:

HC2006
Computers in Libraries

Beach huts: I speak out

True to the great tradition of citizen journalism that fuels blogs the world over, I shall not be silenced on the matter of Seaford's new beach huts.
Here they are, photographed in yesterday afternoon's sun:

Personally, I think they look quite nice. I hope the kiosk comes back though.

HC2006 blog

HC2006, the conference of the British Computer Society Health Informatics Forum, have set up a conference blog run by, inter alia, Rob Ward of Informaticopia.
The conference starts tomorrow.

Intellectual property explained in a comic

Tales from the Public Domain: Bound by Law? is an explanation of intellectual property and fair dealing in the form of a comic book, produced by Duke University's Center for the Study of the Public Domain.

It's an interesting way of trying to tackle complicated issues; I wonder if it will reach audiences who  resist more traditional methods.  I'm afraid I was never a comic fan and still find it hard to understand the claims some make for them as an art form.

Cui dono lepidum novum libellum

In the latest D-Lib magazine there's an article on the issues raised by the potentially huge size of digital libraries, of special interest as many of the examples are taken from the classics. Thus the author, Gregory Crane of Tufts, Editor-in-Chief of the Perseus digital library, illustrates the possibilities of recombinant texts with the Catullus poem whose first line is the title of this post.

Crane, Gregory
What Do You Do with a Million Books?
D-Lib Magazine 12 (3) March 2006

 

The fourth day of Cheltenham: Gold Cup Day

2.00 JCB Triumph Hurdle: Mister Hight
2.35 Brit Insurance Novices' Hurdle: Black Jack Ketchum
3.15 Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase: Cornish Rebel
4.00 Christie's Foxhunter Chase Challenge Cup: Foly Pleasant
4.40 Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase: Andreas
5.20 Vincent O'Brien County Handicap Hurdle: Grande Jete

So far: from eighteen selections, 2 winners, 4 placed, strike rate 11.11%

The third day of Cheltenham: Stayers' Hurdle Day

2.00 Jewson Novices' Handicap Chase: Copsale Lad
2.35 Ryanair Chase: Fondmort
3.15 Stayers Hurdle: Mighty Man
4.00 Racing Post Plate Handicap Chase: Napolitain
4.40 National Hunt Chase: Milleniare
5.20 Pertemps Final Handicap Hurdle: Oulart
So far: from twelve selections, 1 winner, 2 placed, strike rate 8.32%

Public libraries and books

Richard Morrison, the Times music critic, has been airing his views on public library book stock. His column provoked letters from Mark Field, the shadow culture minister (not the former CILIP employee) and from John Dolan of the MLA. Dolan rightly points out that modern public libraries carry a wide range of resources as well as books.
I think the public library Morrison had in mind is Hendon, where I worked in the early 1980s; the book stock in Hendon and in the London Borough of Barnet generally was savaged by a series of cuts by the philistines of the then-Tory council, so it is perhaps a little rich of Morrison and Field to shout too loudly.
According to the LISU Annual Library Statistics 2005 public library bookstock fell by 16% from 131.7 million items to 110.1 million items over the ten years from 1993-94 to 2003-2004, a period that saw a huge increase in publishing output. Of course public libraries provide all sorts of resources, and always have. When I worked at Hendon it had a music library second to none, so, properly resourced, why should they not provide an excellent book stock as well? Dolan says, "you have, as ever, a national network that delivers books from far away". Pubic libraries should make this more widely known; it's a long tail phenomenon, the ability to find an item from a network of libraries anywhere in Britain or even abroad. Recently when I asked in a local public library how I might order an item that wasn't on the catalogue I was told, "you can't". "Yes, I can," I replied, but a non-librarian user might have taken this unhelpful answer at face value.
This could be how public libraries beat the Waterstones and others who pile it high and sell it cheap. Public libraries can offer something more interesting and challenging than ephemeral best-sellers, and the national library network, up to and including the British Library, ought to be able to satisfy everyone's interests, no matter how recondite. Instead, driven by the tyranny of the popular, they have distorted their stock buying and discouraged readers from exploiting the interlibrary lending services.

The second day of Cheltenham: Queen Mother Champion Chase day

2.00 Royal & SunAlliance Novices' Hurdle: Denman
2.35 Royal & SunAlliance Chase: Bold Bishop
3.15 Queen Mother Champion Chase: Kauto Star
4.00 Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle: Phar Bleu
4.40 Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Handicap Chase: Liberthine
5.20 Champion Bumper: Wichita Lineman

So far: 6 selections, 1 winner, 0 placed. Strike rate: 16.67%

The first day of Cheltenham: Champion Hurdle Day

Oh to be there. But never mind, here are my selections. If anyone expects any sense out of me in the next four days, they will have to wait.

2.00 Supreme Novices' Hurdle: O'Muircheartaigh
2.35 Arkle Challenge Trophy Chase: Wild Passion
3.15 Champion Hurdle: Brave Inca
4.00 William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase: Alderburn
4.40 Cross Country Chase: Good Step
5.20 Fred Winter Juvenile Novices' Handicap Hurdle: Opera Mundi