News > Mar 2008

New issue of TACIT

The latest issue of TACIT, produced by ELISA (Edinburgh Libraries & Information Services Agency) is now available. It includes an extended article on the Intute Engineering Online Library.

Scottish Screen Archive online

As part of a lottery funded project, the Scottish Screen Archive has restored over a million feet of film capturing a range of subjects from 20th century Scottish life. The content will be available through the website which enables users to search the archive's catalogues easily and provides the facility to view more than 1000 film clips online. During the course of the project, the archive merged with the National Library of Scotland (NLS) and archive materials have been featured in many areas of NLS activity.

Capital Collections

The City of Edinburgh's public library service has launched an online image archive. Capital Collections will include thousands of images depicting Scotland's capital and organisers hope this will eventually be extended to include images of the rest of the country. A selection of images chosen by prominent Edinburgh citizens past and present is on display at the city's Central Library until 11 Apr to coincide with the website launch.

NLS displays world's largest book

The National Library of Scotland (NLS) is displaying the largest book ever published as part of World Book Day celebrations. The book, Bhutan: a visual odyssey across the last Himalayan kingdom, contains full-colour photographs of Bhutan, also known as 'Shangri-La'. Each copy is printed only on demand and measures 5x7 feet when open, weighing 133 lbs. The book will be on display at the NLS from Tues 4 - 11 Mar and increased display time in under consideration.

First Minister launches PLQIM project

The First Minister, Alex Salmond, launched Shetland Libraries’ Welcome project on Mon 3 Mar. The project was funded through the Public Libraries Quality Improvement Matrix (PLQIM), which is managed by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC). Welcome focuses on improving library services for priority groups such as emergent readers and migrant workers. As part of the project, a self-issue machine has been installed in Shetland Library to give staff more time to develop services. Speaking at the launch in Shetland Library, the First Minister said: “As a hub of Shetland life, it is vital that this library reaches out to the entire community - of all ages and all backgrounds. New facilities will benefit those just beginning to discover the joys of reading and the many people from outside Scotland who’ve made Shetland their home in recent years.” He spoke to a number of library users about their reading habits and their use of the free internet access and stated how pleased the Scottish Government was to be able to support such projects.

Inverclyde Library launches reading initiative

In celebration of World Book Day on Thu 6 March 2008, Greenock Central Library is launching a special initiative to get children reading. 'Read for the Stars' aims to encourage 5-12 year olds to visit the library and take books home. For younger readers there will also be a Bookstart Rhymetime in Port Glasgow Library from 10-11am on Thu 6 March. All Inverclyde libraries are running the Bookstart BookCrawl, a scheme to encourage kids to have a love of books from as young an age as possible.

New SUNCAT search application

SUNCAT has created a new search application which makes it possible to search in Facebook for journals held in over 60 UK research libraries. The application can be added to any Facebook user profile, with search results returning within the SUNCAT interface, thereby allowing for more sophisticated searches.

SUNCAT Updates

SUNCAT have set up an updates page detailing how frequently contributing libraries update their serials' records and the date of their most recent update. The SUNCAT Blog also gives details on updates.