The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) has recently completed a project to digitise Charles Rennie Mackintosh's sketchbook of Northern Italy. The sketchbook relates to part of a tour of Italy undertaken by the Scottish architect in 1891. The project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and GSA. The project website also includes up to date photographs of the buildings sketched by Mackintosh .
A Scottish Libraries channel has been launched on video sharing website YouTube. A short film depicting libraries and librarianship through the years is currently hosted on the new channel. The video is based on images from the Scottish Library Association (SLA) News archive and includes images from the 1957 journal to the present day. The film was first shown at CILIPS Centenary Conference, during the presidential address on Branch and Group Day (Thu 5 June). The video can also be viewed on SLAINTE. The YouTube channel will be maintained and developed by CILIPS and SLIC.
Scottish cultural organisations are for the first time eligible to participate in the Jodi Awards. The awards are for libraries, museums, archives and heritage venues that use technology to provide access to collections and learning for disabled people. SLIC has joined with Museums Galleries Scotland and the Scottish Archives Network to support the introduction of the initiative in Scotland. The award categories are: excellence for people with a learning difficulty, web accessibility: excellence with a low budget , web accessibility: excellence, accessible ICT: excellence with low budget and accessible ICT: excellence. Nominations are now open and the deadline is Fri 3 Oct 2008. The award winners will be announced at a high profile event on Fri 5 Dec 2008 at the British Museum. Museums, Libraries and Archives launched the awards in England during the European Year of Disabled People in 2003. The Welsh Assembly Government joined the initiative in 2006.
Glasgow Caledonian University's Spoken Word initiative has proved such a success that it has now become embedded within the university. The Spoken Word is an innovative Web 2.0 digital library scheme that aims to supplement learning with a wide selection of audio and visual media, including content from the BBC. The project was developed from the Digital Libraries in the Classroom initiative which was funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Spoken Word services, including the BBC content, are available free of charge for educational use only.
Applications are now being accepted for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations' annual Access to Learning Award, which recognises the innovative efforts of public libraries outside the United States. Applicants must provide free public access to information through the Internet and computers, with preference given to organisations that work with under served or disadvantaged groups. The recipient will receive US $1 million and the closing date is 31 Oct 2008. The application and brochure are available for download. The 2008 recipient will be announced at the International Federation of Library Associations' (IFLA) annual conference in August.
Aberdeen City Libraries launched its Migrant Communities Information Point in the Central Library on 20 May during Adult Learners Week. Lord Provost Peter Stephen officiated and Grazyna Jeffreys, President of the Aberdeen Polish Association responded on behalf of the many migrant communities in the City. The point provides one central source of information for people in Aberdeen for whom English is not their first language. A wide range of literature on living, working and studying in Scotland in several European languages is available along with information specific to the local area. Satellite points have also been established at five Branch locations across the City. The Library has produced a leaflet "Services for Migrant Communities" in Polish and Russian with other languages to follow. Migrant communities are also able to access dedicated Library web pages.
As part of the CILIPS Centenary Conference 2008 celebrating 100 years of a professional library association in Scotland, a number of individuals were awarded centenary medals in recognition of their support and development of library and information services in Scotland. Honorary Membership of CILIPS and Honorary Vice Presidencies were also awarded. Information on these awards and the recipients can be found on the SLAINTE Conference 2008 page.
The memorial service for Brian Osborne, who died of a heart attack while on holiday in Samarkand, was held on Sat 14 Jun at St. Columba's Church in Kirkintilloch. Brian was Chief Librarian at Midlothian and Strathkelvin and also worked for Dumbarton Public Library Service. He served as Scottish Library Association President in 1992 and after he retired continued to work for SLIC and CILIPS as a consultant, author and columnist for Information Scotland. He contributed hugely to the profession in Scotland and will be sadly missed.
Google's system of keyword advertising faces a challenge in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) according to OUT-LAW News. The ECJ will review the part of the Google system which offers advertising buyers alternative choices of keywords and judge whether this is in breach of trade mark laws. According to OUT-LAW, most of Google's income comes from placing sponsored links beside the natural search results for a given term. The ECJ ruling could influence how all search engines operate within the 27 European Union states. OUT-LAW News service is provided by international law firm Pinsent Masons, tracking the latest legal stories in IT and e-commerce.
The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) funded Comparative Study of e-Journal Archiving Solutions has just been published and is now available to download as a pdf from the JISC Collections website. The report contains chapters covering Approaches to e-journal preservation, Publisher licensing and legal deposit, Comparisons of Six Current e-Journal Archiving Programmes, Practical experience of e-journal archiving solutions, Evaluation of four common scenarios/trigger events, and Criteria for judging relevance and value of new archiving initiatives.
Information Scotland is the journal of CILIPS, which is published six times a year. The online version is usually made available around three weeks after the printed publication.
Coming soon: CILIPS Conference issue June 2008
A selection of Brian's articles from the Endpiece column in Information Scotland. Brian died of a heart attack while on holiday in Samarkand in early June.
The School Library Association (SLA) weekend training course took place at Strathclyde University, Glasgow Fri 13 - Sun 15 Jun. Rhona Arthur, Assistant Director of CILIPS and SLIC, delivered a presentation on the role of school libraries in delivering a Curriculum for Excellence. The presentation is also available on the Scottish Libraries SlideSpace.
The HMIe report for Springburn Academy in Glasgow provides acknowledgement of the contribution which school libraries can make. Inspectors commented on the library several times within the report, noting: "The librarian provided very effective support to aid pupils' learning. Many pupils valued the library as an after-school study resource." The library's contribution to personal and social development was finally picked up when Inspectors noted: "The quality of pupils' personal and social development was good ... Senior pupils benefited from taking on various leadership roles. This included ... acting as library assistants."
The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland (CILIPS) has announced the autumn/winter CPD programme for which booking will open shortly. Courses include Webquests (12 Sep), Time management (19 Sep), Communicating with confidence (7 Oct) Setting service targets and standards (8 Oct) and Marc and metadata for beginners (Nov, date to be confirmed). Booking details will soon be added to SLAINTE events.
Facet, the publishing arm of CILIP, has introduced a new website covering all aspects of information law. Keeping Within the Law (KWtL) aims to help library and information professionals to minimize the risk of legal infringement and manage their compliance strategies. Developed by Paul Pedley, KWtL sets out the relevant legislation and case law together with best practice guidance.
RDA (Resource Description and Access), the next generation cataloguing code designed for the digital environment, is under development. The Library of Congress has made available a presentation by Dr. Barbara Tillett, providing background on the development of RDA and a general overview of the conceptual models, international principles and structure of this new code. Dr. Tillett is chief of the Cataloging Policy and Support Office at the Library of Congress. The presentation was delivered on 14 May and lasts 67 minutes. RealPlayer (the free, basic version) is required to access the presentation.
The latest newsletter from JISC Legal has now been published, featuring a round-up of ICT related legal developments which took place during May. The current edition features the publication of a JISC Legal Data Protection Code of Practice for further and higher education as well as details of the Government information repository survey. JISC Legal works to ensure the adoption and use of new technologies in further and higher education is not hindered by legal issues.
Librarians in Scotland's colleges are invited to a free consultation event to explore the potential for collaborative procurement. The event will take place at Glasgow Metropolitan College on Wed 25 Jun from 9.30am to 1pm. The event is being organised by Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges (APUC) and it is hoped that all of Scotland's colleges will be represented. Full programme and booking information for this FREE event, is available on the SFEU website.
SLIC is partnering the JISC Regional Support Centres in Scotland to host a major one day seminar on 17 Sep at the Lighthouse, Glasgow. Book your free place to learn more about tagging technology and its applications, meet suppliers, hear about RFID in use across the sectors and network with others over lunch. A full programme for the event will be published shortly but as it is likely to be a 'sell out' you should book your place early. Email cilips@slainte.org.uk for further details or check SLAINTE events, where booking details will soon appear.
The School Libraries Group (Scotland) has launched its own website within SLAINTE. The website contains details of SLG (Scotland) committee members, events and newsletters. All pages of SLAINTE now contain a bookmark and share button which allows users save details of favourite pages. The SLG (Scotland) website is still under development and new features will be added soon. All comments or suggestions should be sent to Wendy Pieroni e: WPieroni@blairgowrie.pkc.sch.uk.
Scotland's Information
Research Collections Online
Scottish Library and Information Resources
Scottish Distributed Digital Library
Scottish Collections Network
Co-operative Information Retrieval Network for Scotland
© Send comments, suggestions and queries about SLAINTE to Gillian Hanlon. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 UK: Scotland License 11-May-2011
