New research published recently by the Scottish Arts Council reports declining income in more than 40% of the organisations it supports.
The report says reduced support from a range of public, private and charitable sources affects 61% of surveyed organisations. Many organisations anticipate that their income from local authorities will remain the same or improve slightly (58%). However, 21% of organisations describe themselves as pessimistic about the future. One of the indirect impacts of reduced public expenditure is expected to be falling orders for new books from schools and libraries.
The complete report is available from the Scottish Arts Council website.
Added: 14 DecNational surveys of Primary and of Secondary/Middle/Special/Independent School Libraries. Please help us to build up a full UK picture of school libraries by completing a questionnaire.
This work was instigated by the School Libraries Group of CILIP (the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) and supported by the School Library Association and CILIP Scotland, with funds provided by the Wendy Drewett Bequest. The survey is being managed by Information Management Associates.
If you have any questions about this survey please contact David Streatfield at Streatfield@blueyonder.co.uk.
The surveys can be found at the following locations: Primary and Secondary, Special, Middle, Independent.
Added: 14 DecResource Description and Access (RDA) will be published in June 2010. While we regret this delay in release of RDA, the transition from publication of AACR2 as a printed manual to release of RDA as a web based toolkit is a complex process with many interdependencies.
The updated text of RDA incorporates recommendations from constituencies and other stakeholders approved at the Joint Steering Committee meeting earlier this year. The revised text has been successfully loaded into the RDA database. The product is currently undergoing thorough quality review and testing in preparation for release.
We recognise that customers and prospective users of RDA need reliable and timely information for planning and budgeting. We are confident that this revised deadline is a realistic target for publication of RDA.
Pricing and purchasing information will be introduced at the time of the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting, 15-18 January 2010.
Added: 7 DecSLIC and CILIPS staff are delighted to invite members to join them to mark the retirement of Ann Steele in early 2010. We've organised a buffet-style meal at The Millennium Hotel, George Square, Glasgow on the evening of Friday 29th January 2010.
If you would like to join us, tickets cost GBP24. Ann has been with the organisations for a long number of years and if you would like to contribute to a gift or book a ticket, please contact Rhona Arthur at r.arthur@slainte.org.uk or call 01698 458888.
Added: 7 Dec
Margaret Forrest, president of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland (CILIPS), took time off from her busy schedule to pay a visit to East Renfrewshire Council’s libraries and information service on St Andrew’s Day.
Margaret spent the day touring libraries, meeting staff and finding out about the wide range of services East Renfrewshire’s library and information service provides.
After a lively start with the toddlers at a Neilston Library rhymetime session, the president went on to a children’s author event, was briefed on the council’s health information service and then met adult learners, volunteers and tutors.
Margaret’s day culminated in visits to Barrhead, Mearns and Giffnock libraries and a “most impressive” introduction to the heritage service and the Portal to the Past website.
Margaret said: “I would like to thank the libraries staff for the wonderful welcome I received and for showing me around. I was so inspired with what I saw and most impressed with the obvious enthusiasm and dedication of everyone I met and their commitment to providing an excellent service. Well done.”
As well as her one year CILIPS presidential tenure, Margaret is the Academic Liaison Librarian for the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh.
Added: 7 Dec
The Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) launched two new guidance toolkits at the annual SLIC FE Conference, which was this year held at Scotland’s Colleges in Stirling on 3 Dec.
The first was a new service development and self-evaluation framework for library and information services in Scottish Further Education (FE) colleges, to replace the previously published toolkit Resources and Services to Support Learners.
The joint SLIC and CILIP in Scotland (CILIPS) publication, A Guide to Using Web2.0 in Libraries was then launched in the afternoon. This document was created as a cross sector promotional tool for using Web2.0 in libraries and is supporting by a range of webpages offering practical support.
The FE self-evaluation guidelines form part of a planned suite of tools being developed by SLIC and the JISC Regional Support Centres to assist college libraries with service development and self evaluation.
SLIC’s new guidance for FE college libraries has been produced in collaboration with HMIe, JISC Regional Support Centres and the FE Librarians’ Community of Practice. Anticipating the major curricular change triggered by Curriculum for Excellence (now part of the learning and teaching strategy in every college) the guidance identifies good library practice and maps it to the current HMIe Quality Framework for Scotland’s Colleges.
Encouragingly, SFC advice to colleges on quality review includes, for the first time, an explicit requirement to report on support services making SLIC’s new advice both timely and relevant.
Photo: courtesy of Glasgow Metropolitan College Added: 4 Dec
Improving libraries for learners, the latest guide to self-evaluation for school libraries to be created by SLIC, was launched at Falkirk High School on Tue 1 Dec.
Improving libraries for learners has been produced in consultation with colleagues from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, who welcome its positive messages about the important role of school library resource centres and staff in helping children and young people develop the four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence.
The guide is intended for all who teach, support and improve the learning experiences of children and young people in schools. It seeks to help teaching and library resource centre staff in schools and central support services to meet pupils’ needs and improve learning.
Welcoming the new publication, Christine May, Chair of SLIC Board said: “Effective school library resource centres are central to the learning and teaching taking place in the school. They promote the development of independent learning skills, supporting lifelong learning and encouraging children and young people to grow as responsible citizens and make an effective contribution to society.
“This guide will help staff to assess the effectiveness of their provision and make improvements for children and young people.” Added: 2 Dec
The UK is at risk of losing its world-leading reputation for education unless it continues to invest in digital technologies to meet the ever-changing needs of modern learners, researchers and the academic community says JISC in its three-year strategy which launches today.
The strategy outlines a vision of the future whereby a robust technological infrastructure is required to meet the shifting needs of the 21st century education community. JISC believes it is crucial that the UK’s education system continues to compete on the international stage by investing in innovation, research and increasing the availability of online resources.
JISC Chair Professor Sir Tim O’Shea commented: "The UK's learner base is changing at great speed. Students are increasingly demanding that universities and colleges provide flexible and personalised learning which makes full use of the internet and IT applications. Such demands and expectations are set to increase as we move through this decade and into the next.
"If we fail to sustain the required research and investment to assist universities and colleges in their drive to improve their efficiency, effectiveness and to manage their costs, the UK risks losing its reputation for world-class education."
Added: 2 Dec
The Williamwood High School learning community has come out top in HMIE (Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education) inspections using the new model framework.
Of the 51 inspections undertaken since September last year using the new model, which uses the same four core indicators for everyone, the Williamwood evaluation was shown to be the best in the country, so far.
East Renfrewshire is the first to receive an Excellent for indicator 5.10 Improving Services - and there have only been two Very Goods awarded for this - and are the first to get a Very Good for 1.1 Improvements in Performance.
The contribution of the Library and Information Service team is recognised in the report, which has been welcomed by library staff who are often omitted from such publications.
The Library service has worked hard to adopt a new project planning framework to improve self-evaluation and reflective practice. This has included staff time and resources being dedicated to LEAP training, as well as outcome focused planning.
Photo from flickr by Lord Mayhem. Added: 1 Dec
The Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL) has received funding for a pioneering public art project which aims to put women firmly on the civic map.
According to the GWL’s Lifelong Learning and Creative Development Manager, Adele Patrick, there are only three statues of women in Glasgow – and only one of those is a Glaswegian woman, the 19th Century benefactor Isabella Elder.
Inspired by the GWL’s planned move to the prestigious Mitchell Library, funding from the Scottish Arts Council’s Public Art Fund has enabled the appointment of three new team members to GWL, to begin work on the Making Space project.
The team comprises internationally renowned artists, Nicky Bird and Shauna McMullan, and Project Co-ordinator and Adviser Fiona Dean. Over the next 6 months, these women will work with GWL staff, volunteers, Library users and learners to research the possibilities of a new public artwork.
After this initial phase of Making Space goes public in May 2010, further funding will be sought to make public art work, for both the Women’s Library and for Glasgow, a reality.
Added: 1 DecIn the Scottish Household Survey, released Tue 24 Nov, reading and buying books came out top again as the most popular cultural activities. The statistics are drawn from the combined 2007 and 2008 Scottish Household Survey, Culture (and Sport) and was a random survey of nearly 7000 over 16s.
The combined results show that 78% of adults took part in some kind of cultural activity in the last 12 months and 69% took part in reading or buying books. This was over three times more popular than the next category of any type of performance at 21%.
The figure for library use showed a drop and Elaine Fulton, Director of SLIC commented: "SLIC has been monitoring the actual level of activity in libraries since the start of the recession , in terms of footfall, issues and computer sessions, and these figures simply do not reflect our current feedback from public libraries.
"Scots are well aware of the value of their libraries and know how to make the most of saving money every time they log in for free at a library or borrow a book/CD/DVD from a library rather than buying it.
The report backs up findings from the Scottish Arts Council’s Taking Part surveys, run since 1999, which have consistently found that readers form the largest group of participators in the Arts. Added: 1 Dec
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.
June edition now online.
Read the main features from the last edition of Information Scotland:
Coming soon: October 2009 edition
Information Scotland is published bi-monthly and distributed to over 2300 CILIPS members as well as an international subscription base. Download a copy of our media pack to find out more about advertising opportunities.
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 27-Jul-2010
