SLIC and CILIPS have raised professional concerns about the Ofcom draft code of practice to accompany the Digital Economy Act 2010 (DEA2010), Online Copyright Infringement Initial Obligations Code. Welcoming the opportunity to comment on the Code, Director Elaine Fulton said: "Currently the scope of the Code is restricted to fixed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with over 400,000 subscribers but our response is drafted on the assumption that many of our members' organisations may fall under the scope of the Act in future.
"We believe public intermediary organisations, such as libraries, should be classified as communications providers under the definitions of the Communications Act (2003), making them exempt from the majority of the Act's major provisions. Failure to secure clarification and changes will result in considerable problems for our member organisations."
In their joint response, SLIC and CILIPS have pressed Ofcom to carefully consider the response, and have called for a meeting of library agencies with Ofcom to consider action to protect the interests of publicly funded organisations to enable them to deliver on government policy.
Added: 30 Jul
Four Councillors will be elected to serve on the Council of CILIPS for a period of three years commencing 1 Jan 2011. You may only stand for election, propose/second a nomination or vote in an election if you paid your CILIP subscription before 1 May 2010.
Nominations, duly proposed and seconded by members by 30 Sep 2010, should be sent to: Elaine Fulton, Director, First Floor, Building C, Brandon Gate, Leechlee Road, Hamilton, ML3 6AU. If nominations exceed places available, a postal ballot of members will take place. Candidates must be members of CILIPS and meet OSCR regulations relating to trustees.
Nominations should be accompanied by a short summary of the career of the candidate.
Participation in branch activities is an important part of professional development. Nominations for Branch committees should be sent to the Branch by 30 Sep 2010.
Each candidate must be nominated and seconded by members of the Branch for which the candidate is standing. If nominations exceed places available, a postal ballot of branch members will take place.
The Council of CILIP will appoint two Vice Presidents at the next Council meeting. The Senior Vice President will become President of CILIPS in 2012 and the Junior Vice President will become President in 2013.
All nominations for the posts are required to be signed by the nominee and supported by two members of CILIPS. Candidates must be members of CILIPS and meet OSCR regulations relating to trustees. Nominations should be sent to: Elaine Fulton, Director, First Floor, Building C, Brandon Gate, Leechlee Road, Hamilton, ML3 6AU not later than 30 Sep 2010.
Added: 30 Jul
On Wed 7 July, Shetland Library launched Scottish Book Trust’s new Early Years Programme, Bookbug (formerly known as Bookstart) together with a brand new mascot.
Following consultation with stakeholders and with the support of the Scottish Government, Scottish Book Trust has developed a new book gifting programme which firmly links into Scottish educational and parenting policies.
The core format of the programme will stay the same, although some new benefits have been introduced including bespoke packs, improved parental guidance and an overall greener programme under a brand new Scottish identity.
The new identity has been created by acclaimed Scottish author and illustrator Debi Gliori and the Bookbug will now replace the Bookstart Bear as the new face of the book gifting programme.
The bespoke packs will be especially tailored to the Scottish early year’s environment, feature more Scottish authors and illustrators, and strongly support the Scottish publishing industry.
Councillor Florence Grains said: “I am delighted with the new programme and its continued aim to get more parents sharing books with their children.”
Added: 30 Jul
The Branch and Mobile Libraries Group will be running a Scottish Mobilemeet on Sat 11 Sept at the Burns Monument Centre, Kilmarnock. The programme features the IFLA mobile library guidelines, biofuels, multipurpose vehicles and poet Rab Wilson.
The day also includes the judging of the vans and a tour of the centre.
For more information, please see events or contact Gerard Cairns t: 01563 554330 e: gerard.cairns@east-ayrshire.gov.uk.
Added: 30 Jul
There are two exciting five year fixed term jobs linked to the John Gray Centre in Haddington, East Lothian due to open autumn 2011. The John Gray Centre will house a museum, archive, local studies centre and Haddington branch library.
The posts are Heritage Resource Development Officer and John Gray Centre Development Officer. The closing date for both is Sun 8 Aug, with a salary of GBP 24,271- 27,392.
The Heritage Resource Officer will research, plan, write and create a range of integrated digital materials to encourage public access to the museum, archive and local history collections, to support learning, understanding and pleasure and to facilitate exploration of the collections and resource discovery; to produce the materials to agreed published standards; and to work with colleagues to ensure that the information provided in the materials meets the needs of users.
The John Gray Centre Development Officer will encourage use of the John Gray Centre resources through a proactive programme of outreach and community development activity. To develop and co-ordinate the programme of activity in line with the priorities and objectives detailed in the John Gray Centre Project business plan. To network with local groups, organisations and Council staff to maximise the impact and benefits of the John Gray Centre Project for a wide range of users.
For more information and to apply go to www.myjobscotland.org and search by job title or for East Lothian.
Added: 27 Jul
Nine libraries across Moray have introduced self service units for the issuing and returning of books thanks to funding from the Scottish Government’s Public Library Funding Quality Improvement Fund, which is managed by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC).
Libraries at Aberlour, Burghead, Dufftown, Elgin, Portknockie and Rothes have introduced “baby” self service units (named due to their small size) to allow staff to be able to spend more time supporting library users and. In the smaller libraries, this will also allow users to borrow materials when the libraries are unstaffed.
Libraries and Museums Manager, Alistair Campbell, said: “Our suppliers 2CQR have produced a reliable and compact product that is easy to use and that will widen access to our libraries. The self service equipment is attractive and a great advantage to our part-time libraries and our principal libraries.
“Self service has an increasing role to play in ensuring service delivery. The Libraries Service already has a high uptake of online renewals and requests via the internet and this latest initiative should encourage even more users to feel more at ease in using computer technology. Our trained staff are on immediate hand to give advice and assistance.”
Councillor Jeff Hamilton, Chair of Children and Young People’s Services welcomed this new initiative which strengthens libraries provision. He identifies that “increasingly more and more services are delivered via the internet and that includes council services.”
Photo: Courtesy of The Northern Scot newspaper
The Digital Economy Act has a number of provisions which, if infringed upon, could result in internet access being limited or suspended. This has implications for libraries as providers of internet access.
The Strategic Content Alliance have produced guidance which aims to alert public bodies, such as libraries, to the dangers that they may face. This is available to download as a pdf and further information is available on the web on the JISC website.
Added: 16 Jul
Encyclopaedia Britannica is launching a national competition this summer to celebrate Scottish history and literature. To be in with a chance of winning a prize, including iPods and Apple MacBooks, readers should visit their local public library website between the 12th July and the 15th August 2010 and complete and interactive quiz in one of three categories.
Ian Grant, Managing Director of Encyclopaedia Britannica UK comments: "Encyclopaedia Britannica is proud of its long-established relationship with Scotland’s public libraries in providing local communities with access to the latest accurate information. Our national competition has been created to raise awareness of the fantastic resources provided by local libraries and encourage people to take advantage of them."
Readers in Scotland can enter the competition by completing the quiz, available from the Britannica website between the 12 Jul and 15 Aug.
Added: 9 JulBloomsbury books have produced a range of guides for reading groups which aim to stimulate discussion around a range of their novels. The authors covered include Susanna Clarke, Khaled Hosseini and Margaret Atwood.
The full range of Reading guides is available from the Bloomsbury website.
Added: 9 JulAlison Turriff and Val Walker, The CILIP Mentor Support Officers for Scotland are looking to hold a mentor training workshop in the North of Scotland, possibly Inverness. It is hoped that this would give people interested in mentoring who are ordinarily unable to attend training sessions the opportunity to do so.
Alison and Val wish to gauge the demand for such an event. They would be grateful if you could contact Val Walker to register interest as soon as possible.
You can contact Val via email (valerie.walker@ea.edin.sch.uk) or telephone her on 0131 469 2877/2960.
Added: 6 JulCreative Scotland, the new national development body for the arts, culture and creativity industries in Scotland was launched yesterday, the 1st July. It takes over the responsibilities of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen and also has some wider objectives for developing the sector.
The new organisation led by Chief executive Andrew Dixon pledges to "assist in developing Scottish literature through our support for writers, writing and the publishing industry across Scotland".
For further information, see the Creative Scotland website and their Twitter stream @CreativeScots.
Added: 2 Jul
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 01-Dec-2011
