David Stoker

Should Newspaper Preservation be a Lottery

The NEWSPLAN project aims to microfilm and make more accessible thousands of fragile local and regional newspapers in UK libraries and is the first major preservation award made to libraries by the UK’s Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The grant of five million pounds was made towards a nationally co-ordinated preservation microfilming programme. Questions why this project should have been successful compared with others and whether the chosen micrographic technology is the right one, compared with digital alternatives that may soon be available. Questions also whether the parochial contents of local and regional newspapers warrant the cost of preservation, compared with other categories of literature. Concludes that the strength of NEWSPLAN lies in the involvement of a consortium of different groups rather than an individual institution. Justifies the use of microfilm on grounds of the urgency of the preservation problem, which necessitates some immediate action before more titles are lost forever; and the inadequacies of existing OCR technology to cope with the poor printing quality found in local newspapers. Local newspapers provide a detailed record of the changing social patterns of community and national life, are important for genealogical studies and are an intrinsic record of the development of the UK press. As such, they are suitable candidates for preservation.

Social Exclusion, ‘Joined-Up Government’, Public Libraries and the Internet

The degree to which access to information and communications technologies (ICT) in the UK, particularly the Internet, is likely to be a means of smoothing out the differences between the information-rich and information-poor in society is discussed. The fact that developments so far have tended to favour the middle classes and increase the social divide is noted in the context of the UK government’s setting up of a Social Exclusion Unit with a remit to help improve government action across traditional departmental boundaries to combat this problem of social exclusion and the formation of Policy Action Teams (PATs), one of which (PAT15) has focussed upon ICTs. Their report ‘Closing the digital divide: information and communication technologies in deprived areas’ was published in March 2000 and announces a £252 million initiative to create 1000 new technology training centres in local neighbourhoods, with centres based in sports clubs, pubs, schools, houses and churches. The ways in which ICTs can help people in disadvantaged communities, through the agency of public libraries are listed.

Wanted - An Innovative and Visionary Evidence Based/Knowledge Management Librarian

Points to the bewildering range of job titles that information professionals carry and which appear in job advertisements, yet identifies a current trend for the terms ‘library’ and ‘librarian’ to be returning in popularity after many years in retreat. An analysis of job advertisements reveals five factors which have brought about the various changes in library and information terminology: professionalization of modern library and information practice; growth in the range and complexity of educational qualifications, with associated competition between institutions; impact of other disciplines or professions; developments in information technology; and the developing role of information within society. Expands on these factors and weighs their relative importance in driving the perceived changes in the profession.

Information and Library Studies At a Distance

Department of Information and Library Studies, University of Wales, AberystwytYc. Prior to becoming an academic in 1987, he worked for the BBC in London. One of the minor irritations of an academic life is the belief among the world at large, that as soon as the students have left for their vacations, the lecturing staff will follow soon afterwards. Having been a library practitioner in busy public and special libraries, and only later a university teacher, I can say that I now work far longer hours for many more weeks in the year than ever before, albeit in a more flexible and less regulated manner. The vacations are the traditional time for keeping up with literature, updating lectures, and for personal research and publication, which we are constantly reminded represents one third of our time. An increasing feature of university life during vacations has been interminable meetings to plan new courses, modularize existing ones, plan for the next assessment or monitoring exercise, or else prepare applications for funding. Also, in my own institution, there are few weeks during the vacations which are not occupied by one or more short courses or study schools taken by distance learning students. During the week before Christmas I spend 16 hours teaching 35 undergraduates who visit the university only for these few days each year. Another parallel group of students spend a week during July potentially a far more attractive prospect than in the depths of winter, although in both cases the study schools are intensive, and neither group has much time for sightseeing. Study Schools are used to cover parts of the course that cannot easily be taught at a distance such as basic computer practicals, oral communications skills etc., and also to introduce students to one another, to their tutorial staff and to the resources of the library. Their subsequent contact will be by means of printed

An Eventful Decade

Presents an analysis of the articles published in the periodical, Journal of Librarianship and Information Science (JOLIS) , in the period 1991-1999. The analysis was carried out to compare JOLIS’ and was intended as a comparison with a similar survey of the periodical’s first 21 years’ existence (1969-1990), as Journal of Librarianship . Both surveys were conducted by the Editor as his first and final editorials, respectively. The initial analysis was based on coverage by type of library and by geographical area. The subject headings assigned by Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) for these articles were analyzed and the most frequently occurring headings were listed and compared to the earlier study. Results suggest that the Editor was successful in his goal of increasing the coverage of special libraries and the range of countries featured in the articles.

Filtering out Minorities

The issue of censorship, or filtering, on the Internet is under particular scrutiny in Europe, as illustrated by the Council of Europe’s publishing of the report Freedom of expression and the communication networks , prior to its discussion in November 1998 as one of the four ‘core issues’ at their international conference: ‘Libraries and Democracy’, in Strasbourg. Discusses the issues involved in Internet filtering and, while accepting that children should be protected from the grossly offensive and occasionally illegal materials on the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW), confesses a lack of certainty as to how this should be best achieved. Currently available filtering software and services are notoriously clumsy, sometimes blocking perfectly respectable sites and curtailing whole areas of legitimate enquiry for young people through the use of terms which might have sexual connotations. Acknowledges that the issue of filtering is more problematical in universities as its role does not include shielding students from the more unpleasant features of life. Concludes that the most difficult issue with respect to Web filtering is with regard to its use in public libraries, which caters for both adult and child users. Points to the strength of the Web in catering for ‘community information’, particularly for minorities, but acknowledges that the nature of certain minorities, such as the transgendered, could be regarded by some as making them candidates for filtering. The enforced extension of filtering software in public libraries could undermine its important role in catering for minorities and heighten the sense of isolation from which many such people now suffer.

A Quarter Century of Progress in Library and Information Education

Looks back over 25 years of professional library and information science education to compare the class of 1970 at Loughborough University with the class of 1996 at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. The survey is based entirely on the authors impressions, memories and recent observations. The most obvious differences were seen to be: the courses, qualifications and teaching staff involved; methods of assessment used; teaching that is still essentially vocational but is no longer as practically oriented; fundamental changes to the student body, notably in age range, ethnic and social backgrounds; a more diverse age profile for both full time and distance learning students; changes in relative performance and overall quality of library students entering the profession; increase in the ratio of men to women; increased diversity of financial support for students; increasing disparity between relatively prosperous and poverty stricken students; and a tendency for students to take a more pragmatic and far reaching view of their career objectives. Concludes that modem library students will have a harder and more challenging working life than the author and his contemporaries but, for the best and most committed, there will be many more opportunities.

A Strategy for LIS Research in the Next Century

The past 30 years have seen many changes in UK library and information science (LIS) education, and the professional working environment generally. The most far reaching of these changes is the development of a research base and research methodologies for LIS and the subsequent impact of these research findings on professional practice. Concludes that investment in research and development by governmental, educational and commercial agencies will ultimately do more to secure the long term future of the LIS profession than any amount of evangelizing on the importance of information. Nevertheless, a major problem in LIS research has been a lack of co-ordination and planning at a national level. Focuses on the work of the newly established Library and Information Commission (LIC): which aims to investigate the scale of the problem and recommend solutions. Details the work which went into the two LIC documents published in 1997: 2020 Vision (the LIC’s vision statement for the 21st century); and Prospects: a strategy for action (a consultation document outlining its strategic plan derived from the research mapping and consultation exercise carried out on behalf of the LIC).

Where does the British Library Go from St Pancras

Takes the opportunity of the official public opening of the British Library’s new building to reassess the whole project objectively. Comments on the improved environment provided for users by the new library relative to the old. Disadvantages due to the lack of restaurants and bookshops are judged to be short term as the area develops under the influence of the Library. Nevertheless, the long term prognosis is deemed fairly gloomy due to continuing growth in the rate of acquisitions, expected increased use of the collections, increasingly urgent need for preservation and the shortfall in funding. Cites extracts from BL2001: initiative for change ; the briefing paper announcing a new planning process which aims to build on the Library’s current strengths. The Strategic Review which is at the heart of the process will consider each of the British Library’s roles and consider some far reaching possibilities. Possible solutions to the funding crisis could include increased efficiency and more flexible work patterns and commercial activities, through partnerships with the commercial sector. Questions the ability of the British Library to implement its stated aim of achieving a new, broad vision of a national library. Concludes that it has moved to a new building and is standing on the threshold of a digital revolution yet is suffering from financial diffulties which threaten to undermine future achievements.

Commercial Pressures upon Electronic Publishing

Considers the tendency of individuals and companies to misuse their accreted power; with particular reference to commercial electronic publishing. Illustrates the threats posed to freedom of expression and circulation of ideas and information with three examples of recent trends. Considers the admission, by Bill Gates to a Senate Judiciary Committee enquiry, that the Microsoft Corporation imposes artificial restrictions upon computer manufacturing companies and information providers, which prevent them from promoting or preloading Netscape’s products. Considers also the pressure exerted by Rupert Murdoch on editors at HarperCollins to insist that an author, Chris Patten, tone down his comments on the Chinese government or cancel publication of his book. Considers that a more far reaching development was the proposed merger (since withdrawn) between the publishers, Reed Elsevier and Wolters Kluwer, with its potential for imposing artificially restrictive conditions upon the use of their publications. Concludes by considering possible licensing conditions which would prevent academic publishers from restricting the manner and format in which their information could be stored, which could insist that electronic document delivery be considered as an integral part of a journal subscription.