25/11/2009 – 10h19

A Biblioteca Nacional do Reino Unido irá remanejar parte de seu acervo em um novo prédio, onde a responsabilidade pelo armazenamento e coleta de 7 milhões de itens passará de um bibliotecário a uma grua –aparelho para levantar pesos, como um guindaste– robotizada.

O centro climatizado de 30 milhões de libras na cidade de Boston Spa, no norte da Inglaterra, irá abrigar o equivalente a 262 quilômetros de estantes, em um tipo de armazenamento de alta densidade que normalmente é usado mais por varejistas do que por bibliotecas.

O diretor de finanças e serviços corporativos da biblioteca, Steve Morris, afirmou que os livros serão armazenados em contêineres, que serão empilhados seguindo um algoritmo que calcula a demanda por certos títulos.

“As gruas, na verdade, são a única parte da organização agora que saberão onde está o material”, disse Morris.

“Ao longo do tempo, com o material sendo acessado, o sistema irá lembrar de quais livros são mais pesquisados e irá guardar esses livros na frente no prédio, para que sejam acessados mais facilmente”.

Já livros que são raramente procurados acabarão ficando no fundo do prédio.

Oito pessoas

A nova tecnologia significa que apenas oito pessoas serão necessárias para acessar o acervo que será mantido no centro.

“Antigamente, andávamos pelos andares e buscávamos os livros nós mesmos, mas com isso, quando estiver tudo lá, tudo o que precisamos fazer é apertar um botão e ele vem até nós”, disse a bibliotecária Alison Stephenson.

Stephenson e seus colegas estão checando os livros que chegam de Londres antes de serem colocados nos contêineres e levados para dentro do prédio pelos robôs.

“Se você colocar um livro na caixa errada nesse prédio, então, de fato, você nunca mais irá encontrá-lo”, disse Morris.

A construção do centro deve ser concluída até meados de 2011, complementando sua sede no bairro de St. Pacras, em Londres, onde os livros estarão disponíveis 48 horas após serem solicitados de Boston Spa.

Disponível em: <http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/informatica/ult124u657285.shtml>. Acesso em: 25 nov. 2009.

On this Day of Thanks (here in the U.S. in any case), it behooves one to call out– indeed, to celebrate– those things that bring warm happiness, that nourish the soul.  Your correspondent humbly nominates “The Book of the Month,” a service of the Special Collections Department of the Library of the University of Glasgow.

There’s no “negative option”– so no unwanted deliveries as a result of failing to post the refusal card– just one wonderful book showcased after another.  This month’s featured tome, appropriately to the anniversary celebrated in (R)D two days ago, is Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872).

Man, Terrified

Chimpanzee, Sulking

Visit the Book of the Month archive and enjoy!

As we browse to our heart’s content, we might recall that it was on this date in 1864 that Oxford mathematician and amateur photographer Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson– aka Lewis Carroll– delivered a handwritten and illustrated manuscript called “Alice’s Adventures Under Ground” to 10-year-old Alice Liddell.  The original (on display at the British Library) was the basis of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland…

source

Now that’s something for which to give thanks!

A few weeks back my Grandad took me on a surprise visit to the British Library in London next door to the impressive St Pancras International Station.

I currently work in a large county library, so I was very excited to see one of the worlds largest libraries.

Some facts about the British Library:

• Holds 150 million items, including books, journals, magazines, A&V, patents, stamps, prints and drawings.
• The current library is located on Euston Road, it is a large red brick building that was opened in 1997

• Every item that is published in the United Kingdom is sent to the British Library due to a 1911 Act of Parliament

In the centre of the library is the King’s Library which holds the British Royal Collection of 60,000 items. It is the only book shelves you’ll see in the library, and they are very impressive.

The Sir John Ritblat Gallery hold an amazing collection of books that would make any book fan squeal, including:

• Magna Carta
• Gutenburg Bible
• Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks
• Alice’s Adventures Underground (the original Alice in Wonderland book)
• Original Beowulf manuscript
• Shakespeare’s First Folio

It is completely free to go into the exhibition room, and I highly recommend seeing original manuscripts of classic literature  and some of the first published books in history.

You aren’t allowed to take photos in the exhibiton room, but I manage to take a sneaky few:

Gutenburg Bible

Alice’s Adventures Underground

Não, o título acima não saiu de um livro de ficção científica, embora o tema já tenha sido explorado pelo autor  estadunidense Harry Harrison no livro The Robot who wanted to know (o robô que queria saber, em tradução livre). No livro, o robô Filer 13B-445K é programado para ter curiosidade sobre todos os assuntos, e sua função é catalogar toda a informação criada pelos humanos.

O tal “bibliotecário robô” do qual falamos aqui não tem esse nível de sofisticação, mas já é um fato em uma unidade ainda em construção da British Library, a Biblioteca Nacional do Reino Unido.

A British Library está em fase de remanejamento de um acervo composto por 7 milhões de itens para um novo centro climatizado na cidade de Boston Spa, norte da Inglaterra. O novo centro irá abrigar 262 km de estantes, e os grandes responsáveis pelo armazenamento e posterior busca desse material serão gruas robotizadas, as únicas que realmente saberão onde localizar um determinado item do acervo.

De acordo com Steve Morris, diretor de finanças e serviços corporativos da biblioteca, os livros serão armazenados em contêineres e empilhados conforme um algoritmo que calcula a demanda por certos títulos. Isso permitirá que, com o tempo, o sistema possa “lembrar” quais são os livros mais pesquisados, colocando-os na frente do prédio, a fim de facilitar o acesso. Livros raramente consultados acabariam no fundo do prédio.

A construção do centro deve ser concluída em 2011, complementando a sede no bairro de St. Pacras, em Londres, onde os livros estarão disponíveis 48 horas após a solicitação para Boston Spa.

Devemos ressaltar que, no entanto, o trabalho das gruas não é necessariamente o trabalho de um bibliotecário. Enquanto máquinas são capazes de realizar atividades mecânicas como guardar e localizar um item, seu nível de desenvolvimento ainda não alcançou um patamar elevado o suficiente para determinar quais as informações relevantes no interior de um livro, e como transpor essas informações de acordo com a necessidade, as diferentes formas de linguagem e mesmo as muitas maneiras de pensar de um ser humano . O maior exemplo disso são os mecanismos de busca, que ainda patinam toda vez que precisamos de uma informação com maior nível de especificidade, principalmente quando damos o azar de precisar de algo que é interpretado como sinônimo de outra coisa, mesmo sendo um conceito diferente.

Além disso, o processo de comunicação com máquinas ainda está longe da perfeição, sobretudo quando essa comunicação não se dá apenas por botões ou pelo teclado. Quem já conversou com a secretária eletrônica de uma operadora de telefonia ou de outro serviço com certeza já se deparou com essa dificuldade.

Assim, o robô bibliotecário de Harrison continuará na ficção, ao menos por hora. No entanto, os frequentadores de bibliotecas já podem se preparar para uma presença cada vez maior de máquinas e outros equipamentos em suas consultas a um acervo. Este processo parece não ter mais volta.

Fonte: Bibliotecários da British Library são substituídos por robôs

Sobre Harry Harrison e o livro “The robot who wanted to know”: http://www.harryharrison.com/

It’s almost that time of year again when the international LIS community pays a visit to London Olympia for the annual Online conference and exhibition. This year the LIS Research Coalition will be playing a part in the proceedings. On Thursday 3rd December between 11.00 and 11.30 Hazel Hall will be presenting on the work of the Coalition in Theatre C as part of the free Information Masterclass series. If you are planning a trip to Online this year, do come along to learn more about the Coalition at the presentation next Thursday.

In addition, two of the Coalition member bodies will be at the Exhibition: the British Library on stand 628, and CILIP on stand 208.

Should you wish to find out more about the Coalition at a time other than Thursday 11.00-11.30, or meet up with Hazel in person at Online when you are there, staff at the CILIP stand will be able to point you in the right direction. Alternatively, Hazel will be picking up her e-mail while at the conference, so you may like to contact her at hazel.hall@lisresearch.org to set up a meeting.

Things are changing in the way that people interact with brands and organisations. But the advertising and communications industry is in large part stuck in the past. On Thursday, at the Battle of Big Thinking, I will make a plea for the planning community to become agents of change. The Declaration of Interdependence states some simple principles which could help to enable that change.

If others share these views then this will become a place to have some of that discussion. I am hoping that we will share examples of planners working together to bridge the gaps between disciplines. I am hoping for ideas about how we can do better. Let’s ignore the politics of agencies and work together. Let’s make a change.

If you are someone who is already doing this then please share. If planners, or thinkers, across the communications industry can work together we can get back to doing what we do best for our clients. Developing ideas which create change and transform business. If you want to know more, both the speech I gave and the Declaration can be found here.

Please join in.

Am vergangenen Wochenende hatte ich die schöne Gelegenheit, eine Freundin in Oxford zu besuchen. Obwohl sich das Wetter mit viel Regen leider eher von seiner typisch britischen Seite zeigte, habe ich doch eine Menge Sightseeing gemacht und dabei auch die ein oder andere Bibliothek besucht. Am Sonntag und Montag war noch Zeit für Tagesausflüge nach Stonehenge und London. Von dem ganzen Touristenprogramm mal abgesehen hat mich auch das Essen ziemlich begeistert, aber dazu später mehr…

Oxford – “a bookish kind of place”

Bei dem Namen “Oxford” denken die meisten wahrscheinlich als erstes an die weltbekannte Universität dort und an die Rivalität dieser zur University of Cambridge. Wenn man in Oxford unterwegs ist, merkt man alleine durch das Stadtbild tatsächlich an allen Ecken und Enden, dass man sich in einer Universitätsstadt aufhält: Denn Studieren in Oxford heißt nicht nur, an der University of Oxford eingeschrieben zu sein, sondern gleichzeitig Mitglied an einem von insgesamt 38 Colleges zu werden, die sich alle über die Stadt verteilen. Da diese Colleges in der Regel über sehr viel Geld und eine Jahrhunderte alte Geschichte verfügen, residieren sie in entsprechend prunkvollen Gebäudekomplexen mit eigenen Wohnhäusern, Bibliotheken sowie durch ihren häufig klerikalen Hintergrund auch Kirchen und Klostergängen. Verbunden mit einer starken Tradition und vielen Ritualen aus früheren Zeiten (+ Kleidungskodex, Wappen usw.) mag einem das zwar manchmal als etwas abgehoben erscheinen – oder wie der Lonely Planet an einer Stelle augenzwinkernd kommentiert:

Oxford is a conservative, bookish kind of place where intellectual ideals are the common currency and pursuit of excellence the holy grail.

Aber auf der anderen Seite macht es auch viel Spaß, diese besondere Umgebung zu erkunden und die Atmosphäre der Colleges auf sich wirken zu lassen. Normalerweise dürfen nur Studenten das Gelände und die Einrichtungen der Colleges betreten. Wenn man jedoch altersmäßig nicht ganz aus dem Rahmen fällt und sich nicht allzu touristisch verhält, kann man durchaus mal einen Blick ins Innere riskieren, ohne gleich vom Pförtner zurückgerufen zu werden…

Christ Church College – Auf den Spuren von Harry Potter und Alice im Wunderland

Eines der wohlhabendsten seiner Art ist das Christ Church College, dessen riesige Anlage man gegen Eintritt sogar ganz offiziell besuchen kann. ^^ Highlights des Rundgangs sind die Christ Church Cathedral und der Speisesaal des Colleges.

Christ Church Cathedral

Während die Kathedrale als Kirche des Bistums Oxford fungiert und das Zu Hause des berühmten Christ Church Cathedral Choir ist, kommen gerade in den letzten Jahren haufenweise Besucher, um sich die Dining Hall des Colleges anzugucken. Auf genau diese geht nämlich der Speisesaal aus Hogwarts in sämtlichen Harry Potter-Filmen zurück…

Dining Hall

Auch der Vorraum des Speisesaals samt Treppenabsatz kam in einigen Szenen zum Einsatz…

Vorraum der Dining Hall

Übrigens ist die Dining Hall auch noch für eine weitere literarische Figur von großer Bedeutung: Mehrere Details wie eines der Fenster oder die Kaminverzierungen weisen auf Alice im Wunderland hin. Der Autor des Buches, Lewis Carroll alias Charles Dodgson (1832-1898), war lange Zeit als Lehrer am Christ Church College tätig. Da ist es eigentlich kein Wunder, dass man einzelne Anekdoten und Persönlichkeiten aus dem Lehrbetrieb in den Erzählungen um Alice wiederfinden kann… Selbst die Figur der Alice besitzt mit einer der Töchter des College-Direktors ein reales Vorbild.

The Bodleian Library

Wenn ihr mal in Oxford seid, solltet ihr unbedingt an einer extended library tour durch die Bodleian Library teilnehmen. Das kostet zwar stolze 12 Pfund, man bekommt dafür aber eineinhalb Stunden lang sehr interessante Einblicke in die Hauptbibliothek der University of Oxford, welche bibliothekarisch und architektonisch eine der reizvollsten Bibliotheken der Stadt ist. Außerdem hatte es unser tour guide, ein älterer Herr um die 70, erzähl- und unterhaltungstechnisch einfach drauf.

The Divinity School, Decke mit Wappen damaliger Mäzene der Einrichtung

Die Geschichte der Bibliothek geht bis ins 15. Jahrhundert zurück. Davon zeugen noch heute die beiden Herzstücke der Bodleian Library: die Divinity School (ein alter Unterrichtsraum, übrigens ebenso Drehort für Harry Potter^^) und die darüber gelegene Duke Humfrey’s Library. Als die ursprüngliche Bibliothek aufgrund finanzieller Probleme der Universität schon vor dem Aus stand, kam Sir Thomas Bodleian (1545–1613), ein Alumnus der Uni Oxford, zu Hilfe und kümmerte sich fortan mit Zeit, seiner Privatbibliothek als Starthilfe und immensem Kapital um die Wiederherstellung und Erneuerung der Einrichtung, deren Namen sie ihm daher auch verdankt.

Bodleian war nicht nur ein großzügiger Mäzen, sondern auch ein ausgesprochener Innovator. Er arbeitete zum Beispiel 1610 eine Vereinbarung mit der Stationers’ Company of London aus, wonach die Bodleian Library ein Exemplar sämtlicher dort verzeichneter Publikationen zugesprochen bekam: Somit besitzt die Bodleian Library das Pflichtexemplarsrecht unter den momentan sechs festgelegten Bibliotheken Großbritanniens und Irlands am längsten (mehr dazu auch hier). Diese Vereinbarung hatte natürlich weitreichende Folgen für das Wachstum der Bibliotheksbestände. So mussten im Laufe der Zeit immer wieder neue Gebäude angebaut oder ergänzt werden, um dem Platzbedarf für Bücher und Leser gerecht zu werden.

Old Schools Quadrangle

Nur kurz nach Bodleians Tod wurde die Bibliothek zum Beispiel um diesen Bau erweitert. Dass das Old Schools Quadrangle auch als Unterrichtsort benutzt wurde, kann man heute noch an den Anschlägen über den Eingängen erkennen, welche auf die verschiedenen unterrichteten Fächer hinweisen…

schola musicae

Einen weiteren wichtigen Zuwachs stellte 1860 die  Radcliffe Library dar, die noch im selben Jahr in Radcliffe Camera umbenannt wurde. John Radcliffe, ein sehr erfolgreicher Arzt seiner Zeit, hatte sich mit diesem spektakulären Rundbau eines von mehreren Denkmälern gesetzt.

Radcliffe Camera

Heutzutage umfassen die Bestände der Bodleian Library mit all ihren Gebäuden und Zweigstellen über 9 Millionen Einheiten. Dabei handelt es sich um reinen Präsenzbestand. Die Standorte des Hauptkomplexes, also zum Beispiel alle bereits erwähnten Gebäude, sind nicht nur auf ebener Erde zu erreichen, sondern auch unterirdisch über ein Tunnelsystem und mehrere Etagen Magazin miteinander verbunden. Dieser Bereich der Bibliothek war natürlich auch Bestandteil der Führung. Irgendwie fühlte ich mich dabei zeitweise an einen anderen Ort zurückversetzt… Auf dem folgenden Foto gehören die Leitungen an der rechten Wand übrigens zum hauseigenen Rohrpostsystem – für den “schnellen” Transport von Bestellzetteln…

Tunnel

Im Vergleich zu den Gebäuden der Bibliothek kommt einem der Gang durch die ca. 1910 eingerichteten Magazine unter der Radcliffe Camera wie ein krasser Stilbruch vor. Andererseits ist man fasziniert, weil die stählernen Regalreihen, welche ein gewisses Bahnhofsflair aufkommen lassen, ziemlich ungewöhnlich wirken: Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts gehörten sie zu einem der ersten modernen Kompaktmagazine weltweit. Die einzelnen Regale hängen in der Decke und werden per Hand an den kreisförmigen Löchern herausgezogen…

stählernes Kompaktmagazin - leichtes Bahnhofsflair

Es stehen auch schon größere Pläne für die nahe Zukunft an. Wie uns während der Führung erzählt wurde, sollen in den nächsten Jahren mit Hilfe von Sponsorengeldern u. a. Teile des jetzigen Magazins in Freihandbereiche ungewandelt und dabei grundsaniert werden.

Wenn Studierende in Oxford also nach Literatur suchen und in ihren Colleges nicht fündig werden, bleibt ihnen mit der Bodleian Library eine wirklich gute Adresse, welche zumindest landesweit alle Publikationen vorrätig haben sollte. Und man kann sogar sicher sein, dass das gesuchte Buch (zumindest) nicht ausgeliehen ist. Was will man mehr?…

Kulinarisches

Die Tage in Oxford hatten auch Kulinarisch so einiges zu bieten. Dabei gab es eindeutig zwei Schwerpunkte: 1. deftige, rustikale Küche; 2. eine ausgeprägte Coffeeshoplandschaft mit unglaublich gute Nachspeisen. Doch erst einmal zur wichtigsten Entdeckung meiner Reise: Cornish Pasties. Dabei handelt es sich um eine Blätterteigpastete, gefüllt mit einer gut gewürzten Mischung aus kleingeschnittenen Steaks, Kartoffeln, Steckrüben und Zwiebeln. Also vom Geschmack her eigentlich wie ein guter Kohlrübeneintopf… als Fastfood in Pastetenform jedenfalls sensationell gut! Verkauft werden die Pasties an vielen Stellen, ich habe sie mir immer beim gut besuchten Stand der West Cornwall Pasty Co. geholt.

West Cornwall Pasty Co.

Es gibt dort eine große Auswahl an Füllungen, u.a. Steak & Stilton, Pork & Aple, Cheese & Mushroom oder Wholemeal Vegetable, ich bin aber immer bei der oben beschriebenen Traditional Pasty geblieben.

Traditional Pasty

Es ist jetzt fünf Tage her seit meiner letzten Pasty… langsam bekomme ich Entzugserscheinungen… sollte ich mir Gedanken machen?…

Füllung aus Steak, Kartoffeln, Steckrüben und Zwiebeln

Mitten in der Altstadt von Oxford lohnt sich ein Besuch des Covered Market, einer großen Markthalle, die komplett im Inneren eines Häuserblocks untergebracht und über mehrere eher unauffällige Eingänge zu erreichen ist. Hat man das Netz aus Marktständen, Feinkostgeschäften, Restaurants und Imbissen einmal betreten, bleiben kaum noch Wünsche offen: Man kann sich einfach treiben lassen und nach Herzenslust rumstöbern – gerade nach einem anstrengenden Sightseeingprogramm oder bei Regen eine willkommene Abwechslung.

Oxford Covered Market

In dem Bild ist auf der linken Seite Ben’s Cookies zu sehen, wo es ofenwarme Kekse mit flüssiger Schokofüllung und vielem mehr zu kaufen gibt. Ein Stück weiter sollte man bei Moo-Moo’s vorbeischauen: Der Stand im Hello-Kitty-Style bietet einen riesigen Baukasten aus gewöhnlichen bis besonderen Zutaten an, aus denen man sich seinen Wunschmilchshake selber zusammenstellt. Oder man sucht sich einen von mehreren Smoothies aus. Aber auch, wenn man nicht auf der Suche nach süßen Snacks ist, sondern für den Wocheneinkauf hergekommen ist, wird man im Covered Market bestimmt fündig. Soll es zum Beispiel ein ordentliches Stück Geflügel für den nächsten Sonntagsbraten sein? Kein Problem… ^^

frisches Geflügel gefällig?

Auch außerhalb der Markthalle lässt es sich ganz gut aushalten, zum Beispiel in einem der unzähligen kleinen Cafés und Coffeeshops, die zusätzlich zu bekannten großen Ketten in den Straßen Oxfords ansässig sind. Diese Orte sind es denn auch, wo man so leckere Sachen wie Apple Crumble, Cheesecake, Scones, Carrot Cake und viele andere mächtige Nachspeisen bekommt. Ein Wort dann doch noch zu einer Kette: Ausgerechnet auf dem Gelände des Oxford Castle (Führung lohnt sich übrigens!) stand ich auf einmal vor einer kleinen Filiale von Krispy Kreme Doughnuts – ich wusste gar nicht, dass das amerikanische Unternehmen mittlerweile in Europa zu finden ist.

Krispy Kreme im Oxford Castle

Auch nach einem halben Jahr und zwei weiteren Donuts hat sich meine Meinung nicht geändert – Krispy Kreme schmeckt immer noch viel besser als Dunkin’ Donuts.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts - schmecken immer noch besser als Dunkin' Donuts

Natürlich durften im Laufe des Wochenendes auch die obligatorischen fish & chips nicht fehlen. Außerdem waren wir u. a. noch indisch und chinesisch essen. Wenn ich dauerhaft in Oxford leben würde, würde ich wahrscheinlich rapide zunehmen. Aber ein verlängertes Wochenende hält man ja gerade so noch aus. Umso besser, dass ich so viel unterwegs war, denn der harte Sightseeingalltag verbraucht auch ganz schön Kalorien. ^^

Stonehenge

Eineinhalb Autostunden südwestlich von Oxford entfernt liegt das sagenumwobene Stonehenge.  Die Ankunft empfand ich erstmal als etwas surreal: Wenn man wie wir die Straße aus östlicher Richtung nimmt, erscheint der Steinkreis nach einer leichten Steigung der Straße auf einmal im Blickfeld. Man gelangt überraschend nah an den Steinen vorbei zum Parkplatz, wo auch schon viele andere Autos stehen und ganze Busladungen von Touristen abgeladen werden. Dann bezahlt man seinen Eintritt, läuft vorbei an Souvenirshop und Imbissstand, die sich in Baucontainer-ähnlichen Ständen befinden, greift sich noch einen der Audioguides, durchquert die Straßenunterführung… und nach der reichlich touristischen Eröffnung steht man dann plötzlich vor dem mehrere tausend Jahre alten Steinkreis…

erster Eindruck: kleiner als erwartet

Auf den ersten Blick wirkte die Steinansammlung kleiner als ich mir sie vorgestellt hatte. Na gut, man hat vielleicht auch eine eher vage Vorstellung von Stonehenge, bevor man den Ort nicht gesehen und sich damit aktiv auseinandergesetzt hat.

Fotosession

Anfangs will nicht so richtig Atmosphäre aufkommen, weil erstmal alle Anwesenden ihre Kameras zücken und viele Fotos machen. Aber das ist ja auch nur allzu verständlich, ich will uns da nicht ausnehmen. – Zumal der Beginn der abgesteckten Runde um den Steinkreis am nächsten an der Formation vorbeiführt. Doch spätestens, wenn sich der Besucherstrom so langsam verstreut und der Weg mehr Abstand vom Objekt gewinnt, wird einem klar, dass die besondere Atmosphäre von Stonehenge erst durch die Weite der Umgebung richtig wirken kann.

die Weite macht's

Denn die Formation als solche wird am besten erst aus einer gewissen Entfernung sichtbar. Außerdem bildet sie in dieser sonst leeren Gegend einen auffälligen Fixpunkt.

Station für den Audioguide

Am Rande des Weges befinden sich immer wieder Stationen für den Audioguide, die unterschiedliche Aspekte rund um Stonehenge beleuchten. Dabei geht es um den möglichen Zweck des Ortes (kultisch, astronomisch usw.), die genaue Anordnung der Steine, Bautechniken oder auch Mythen, die sich um Stonehenge ranken. So existieren nicht nur Legenden, nach denen der Teufel höchstpersönlich für den Steinkreis verantwortlich ist, sondern auch Verschwörungstheoretiker haben natürlich schon ihre Meinung zum Ursprung der Formation abgegeben, sie sei angeblich das Werk von Außerirdischen (die Kornkreise lassen grüßen^^).

Der Ort ist auf jeden Fall sehenswert. Wenn man genügend Zeit mitbringt, geht man nach dem Umrunden des Steinkreises vielleicht noch auf Erkundungstour: Es gibt nämlich in der weiteren Umgebung noch andere Relikte aus alter Zeit, die allerdings nicht immer so einfach zu erkennen sein sollen. Ein Blick auf das Satellitenbild verschafft einem einen gewissen Eindruck von der Anlage. Doch da das Wetter an diesem Tag ausnahmsweise richtig schön war, haben wir uns am frühen Nachmittag wieder auf den Weg nach Oxford gemacht, damit ich die Altstadt an meinem letzten Abend auch mal mit untergehender Sonne genießen konnte.

London – zwei außergewöhnliche Bibliotheken auf der Durchfahrt

Am Abreisetag ging es für mich mit dem Bus nicht sofort zum Flughafen (London-Stansted), sondern erstmal nach London, wo ich noch einen halben Tag Zeit für Sightseeing zur Verfügung hatte. Da ich bei meinem ersten kurzen Besuch der Stadt an der Themse vor sechs Jahren noch nicht einmal wusste, dass ich irgendwann einmal Bibliothekswissenschaft studieren würde, standen damals verständlicherweise noch andere Sehenswürdigkeiten auf dem Programm. Doch mittlerweile sah die Sachlage ja anders aus, so dass ich bei zwei sehr interessanten Bibliothekstandorten vorbeischauen konnte. Dabei hatte ich jedoch nicht sehr viel Zeit, weshalb ich mich im Folgenden jeweils nur auf einige Aspekte beschränke, die mir bei meinen Besuchen aufgefallen sind.

The British Library – The world’s knowledge

Von Außen macht das Haupthaus der British Library nicht gerade den Eindruck, als ob man vor einer Nationalbibliothek stünde. Man würde hinter der modernen Fassade des 1998 eröffneten Gebäudes vielleicht eher ein Museum für zeitgenössische Kunst oder gänzlich anderes vermuten…

ungewöhnliches Erscheinungsbild

Auch durch das Foyer zieht sich das robuste Design mit einfachen Formen und dem etwas kühlen Backstein fort…

Foyer

Doch weiter hinten geht die Eingangshalle in einen weitaus gemütlicheren Bereich mit vielen allgemeinen Arbeitsplätzen auf mehreren Etagen über…

allgemeine Arbeitsplätze

Besonders gefallen haben mir die Möbel, auf denen man scheinbar alles von Laptop bis Kaffee abstellen kann, ohne dass der Sitzkomfort irgendwie beeinträchtigt würde…

Sitzkomfort ohne Platzprobleme

Habe ich eben von Kaffee gesprochen – in der Bibliothek?! Ganz genau: Hinter dem King’s Library Tower, dem architektonischen Herzstück des Raums, wartet nämlich ein großes Café auf die Leser… sehr sympathisch, finde ich…

Café in der British Library

Doch nach dem äußeren Erscheinungsbild jetzt noch ein bisschen Inhalt: Die British Library ist neben der Library of Congress sicherlich eine der bekanntestesten und bedeutendsten Nationalbibliotheken weltweit. Dementsprechend prestigeträchtig ist ihre Sammlung. Die Highlights daraus sind besucherfreundlich in der Dauerausstellung Treasures of the British Library präsentiert. So erhält man bei einem Rundgang durch die abgedunkelten Räume Einblicke in besonders wertvolle Exponate verschiedenster Themenbereiche wie den Codex Sinaiticus, die Magna Carta, zwei Gutenberg-Bibeln, aber auch Autografe von Leonardo da Vinci, Jane Austen und Georg Friedrich Händel bis hin zu Songtexten von den Beatles. Was in diesen Vitrinen wohl für ein Geldwert schlummert? … wahrscheinlich kaum zu beziffern.

The British Library - The world's knowledge

Neben den dauerhaften gibt es auch wechselnde Ausstellungen im Angebot, momentan zum Beispiel die beiden wirklich ansprechend konzipierten Points of View – Capturing the 19th Century in Photographs und In a Bloomsbury Square: T.S. Eliot the Publisher. Man kann also alleine auf diesem Gebiet wirklich viel in der British Library entdecken. Und sollte es einem irgendwann einmal zu viel werden, holt man sich einfach einen großen Latte Macchiato und lässt es sich im Café bei guter Aussicht auf das Bibliotheksgeschehen gut gehen… ^^

Idea Stores – Library Learning Information

Die sogenannten Idea Stores existieren erst seit wenigen Jahren: Der erste Store wurde 2002 eröffnet, mittlerweile gibt es vier Einrichtungen dieser Art. Grundidee des vor rund 10 Jahren vorgelegten Konzepts war es, traditionelle Bibliotheksdienstleistungen aufzugreifen sowie zu modernisieren (“library renewal”) und diese mit lebenslangem Lernen (“lifelong learning”) und einer ausgeprägten Arbeit in den lokalen Communities (“community renewal”) zu verbinden. Im Strategiepapier liest sich das so:

The Idea Store proposals are designed to draw all three themes together in a way that captures the best traditions of the library movement and the education sector but presents them in an exciting way, one that draws in new users and retains existing users. The Idea Stores will also be located in a different way – at the heart of our neighbourhood shopping centres, near or beside supermarkets wherever possible. We want a visit to the library and lifelong learning centres to become a regular part of people’s lives – to act as a focus as well as a resource for the whole community. The Idea Stores will engage people our current facilities don’t reach.

Damit erinnert mich das Konzept übrigens sehr an die Erfahrungen, die ich in diversen Public Libraries in New York, vor allem in Queens gemacht habe, wo ebenfalls ein besonderer Akzent auf die Communityarbeit und ein starkes Fortbildungsangebot gesetzt wird. Doch was die Idea Stores angeht, spielt in der Tat die Präsentation eine ganz besondere Rolle, wie ich bei meinem kurzen Besuch der großen Filiale Whitechapel selbst erleben konnte.

Idea Store Whitechapel

Das markante Gebäude steht nicht für sich alleine, sondern ist in einer wirklich stark frequentierten Gegend erbaut worden. Nicht nur befindet sich direkt hinter dem Idea Store eine riesige Sainsbury’s-Filiale, auch vor dem Gebäude waren zumindest am letzten Montag richtig viele Leute unterwegs: Die gesamte Whitechapel Road war nämlich mit Ständen eines Wochenmarkts gepflastert.

Wochenmarkt geht direkt am Idea Store vorbei

Im Gebäude angekommen, dominieren freundliche Farben und ein frisches Design. Hier sehr ihr zum Beispiel das Regal mit den Neuerscheinungen im Eingangsbereich des Idea Stores…

Neuerscheinungen im Eingangsbereich

Überall gibt es Sessel und andere bequeme Sitzgelegenheiten, so dass man sich dort wirklich gerne aufhalten möchte. Die fünf Etagen sind dementsprechend gut besucht. Darüber hinaus fallen immer wieder Details in der Präsentation auf, welche denke ich zur innovativ-verspielten Grundatmosphäre im Idea Store beitragen sollen. Zum Beispiel kommt man in der Nähe der Ausleihtheke an den Quick Picks vorbei…

Quick picks

An anderer Stelle wird einem ausgesuchte Literatur zu Themenschwerpunkten in der Rubrik “Idea choice” vorgeschlagen…

Idea choice

Weitere Fotos zum Haus gibt es übrigens hier. Nebenbei bemerkt würde mich mal interessieren, ob der Name “Idea Store” auch bei den Nutzern der Einrichtung im aktiven Sprachgebrauch angekommen ist und wie hoch der Anteil der Leute ist, die trotzdem von der “library” um die Ecke sprechen. Der Begriff “library” taucht zwar auf der Webseite der Idea Stores auf, vor Ort habe ich ihn aber an keiner Stelle erwähnt gesehen.

idea store ohne "library"

Dass die vielen Gruppenarbeitsräume auf den verschiedenen Stockwerken häufig benutzt werden, kann man sich bei einem Blick auf das Kursangebot des Idea Stores wirklich gut vorstellen. Falls man auf der Suche nach einem Kurs zu einem speziellen Thema ist, hilft auch die sogenannte Learning Ladder weiter, die sämtliche Veranstaltungen an allen Standorten auflistet. Allerdings zeigten dabei einige Stichproben, dass viele der Kurse kostenpflichtig sind und nur einige ohne Teilnahmegebühr auskommen, wie man es eigentlich erwarten würde. Zusätzlich zu diesen eher volkshochschulartigen Kursen bieten die einzelnen Idea Stores aber noch eine ganze Reihe von Veranstaltungen an, die sich eher mit ihren Beständen auseinandersetzen und scheinbar auch durchweg kostenfrei sind. So gehören zu den regelmäßigen Events in der Filiale Whitechapel u. a. Film- und Buchklubs, Videospielsessions, aber auch politische Diskussionen und Jobtrainings.

Insgesamt fand ich das Konzept in der Kürze der Zeit sehr anregend. Ist mal ein ganz anderer Ansatz mit der neuen Verpackung der “Idea Stores”. Ich hätte gerne noch einen Blick in die anderen Filialen geworfen, aber das muss ich mir fürs nächste Mal aufheben…

Big Ben

Nach den beiden Bibliotheksbesuchen blieb noch ein bisschen Zeit, um an der Themse, Big Ben und Westminster Abbey entlangzuspazieren. Dann ging es auch schon zurück zur Victoria Station. Doch bevor mein Bus Richtung Flughafen abfuhr, habe ich mir zum Abschied – was sonst – noch eine extra große Cornish Pasty gegönnt. Was für ein schönes Wochenende!

Today I attended an excellent workshop on Sustainable Supply Chains. It was presented by Stephen Taiwo, who was the sustainable policy adviser and architect of the Government Office for London and Defra’s Sustainable Food Procurement project. He now works for Supply London – an LDA and European funded initiative, provides advice and support. http://www.supplylondon.com/

Here are my notes from the workshop:

Definition of sustainability – Bruntland 1987 – “Meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brundtland_Commission 

1. Resources consumed in line with nature’s patterns
2. Consider long term impact
3. Minimise risk and cost
4. Not just about environmental impacts, includes social and economic.

Current practice

Figures from One World – currently consume the equivalent of 1.3 planets to provide the resource we use and absorb our waste. 

At current trends UN predicts 2030 will require equivalent of 2 earths.

Supply Chain

A linked set of resources and processes that begins with the sourcing of raw materials and extends through to delivery of end items to the consumer. 

Cradle to grave for products.

Development – identification & buying – manufacturing – sale & dist – consumption – end of life & disposal

Sustainability Issues

• impact on air quality
• water consumption & pollution
• loss of biodiversity e.g. land clearance – mono-crops
• impact on limited resources – is it resource intensive
• impact on greenhouse gases – climate
• waste production
• health & safety
• quality of life – wages for producers

 Examples of cotton production in India with negative impact on the soil and water supply. Intensive tomato production in southern Portugal.

 Why a sustainable Supply Chain

• reduce costs and improve productivity
• reduce risk – includes brand damage resulting from negative press
• reduce absenteeism through better staff welfare
• creates healthier environments
• to be a market leader – public sector suppliers now ask questions related to sustainability

Drawbacks to Sustainable Supply Chains (less true than in the past)

• no motivation other than complying with the law.
• Consumers often go for cheapest option rather than sustainable products.
• Short term focus of government, business and consumers – relates to 12 month business budgeting – government departments have individual targets which weren’t linked up.

Help from:

Soil association – http://www.soilassociation.org/

Sustain – http://www.sustain.co.uk/

Ten Ten Campaign – http://www.1010uk.org/

Greenworks – http://www.green-works.co.uk/

How to implement a sustainable supply chain

1. Analyse your internal process & impacts
2. Identify your supply chain and at which point you sit. Also the suppliers of your suppliers.
3. Make sustainability part of your organisational strategy – must have top level buy-in – need to develop KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) – develop an action plan for delivery.
4. Implement practical measures suited to your organisation – SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely).
   1. Written policies
   2. Communication materials
   3. Evaluate suppliers.
   4. Purchasing guidelines
   5. Supplier partnerships
5. Get all internal and external stakeholders involved
   1. Driven from the top, but must involve everyone.
   2. Supplier engagement
   3. Use relationships with customer.

Support from Supply London

-          ISO 9001 help and support which can save consultants fees.

The workshop ended first with the quote below from Mahatma Gandhi, and then a screening of the Story of Stuff (a 20-minute animation of the consumerist society, narrated by Anne Leonard).

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed” Mahatma Gandhi

The Josephine Hart poetry hour screening room: Robert Browning

Tue 1 Dec 2009, 18:30 – 20:00

Conference Centre, British Library

Price: £2

Book now for 01 Dec 2009, 18.30 – 20.00

Readers Announced- Dominic West and Jeremy Irons to join Josephine Hart.

New tickets have been released to see the Josephine Hart poetry hour: Robert Browning in the live screening room, you may even be upgraded to the main auditorium on the night, subject to availability.

Robert Browning (1812-1889) was one of the most confident and interesting men of his age; the gallant suitor of Elizabeth Barrett at Wimpole Street, the child-frightening author of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and the great pioneer of the dramatic monologue. His verse is technically brilliant, alive and thoughtful and made to be heard aloud.

Drawing on literary and theatrical friends, novelist Josephine Hart matches readers with poets, and prefaces each reading with her own insightful commentary.

The just launched Shakespeare Quartos Archive (www.quartos.org) seems like a promising resource.  I’ve frequently used its predecessor on the British Library’s website. (It will be interesting to see if there is improved functionality on the new site.) Only Hamlet is up now, but more plays in quarto are promised.  The collection I work with has a few quartos.  Tools like these provide an excellent reference resource for users of the collection and serve as practical pedagogical tools. (See the article on JISC.)

I wonder if Sir John Oldcastle will be included? Oldcastle is a play misdated 1600 and misattributed to Shakespeare in quarto. (And to the Shakespeare purists, yes, I know this image is from the First Folio and not a quarto.)

UPDATE: There is a good review of the site’s functionality over at diaplsalmata.  It’s worth the read, as always:

http://blog.whitneyannetrettien.com/2009/11/shakespeare-quartos-shifting-digital.html

An interview I recorded a couple of weeks ago has now made it onto the Guardian’s Small is Beautiful website.

The aim of the recently launched section is to show why growing firms are the economy’s best hope.  And to highlight the potential for small business to lead Britain out of recession, by focussing on the issues facing small and medium sized companies.

They have used a comment I picked up from one of our earliest supporters Mandy Haberman, who believes that the Business & IP Centre is a ’safe haven’ for inventors and entrepreneurs.

Hazel Hall at the podium at the British Library

Hazel’s presentation focused on two aspects of the work of the LIS Research Coalition as relevant to the student experience agenda. These were (1) the Coalition’s mission to promote LIS practitioner research and the translation of research outcomes into practice and (2) the Coalition’s efforts in creating resources to bring together information about LIS research opportunities and results. Hazel’s starting point was the pressing need for an evidence base on which library and information services may draw, not least to prove their worth. She quoted Peter Griffiths, the current President of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), who highlighted in his October 2009 presidential address that “We must prove the value we provide with hard evidence. Start thinking what evidence you offer”. Hazel shares Peter’s view that practitioner research is important, but also recognises a number of challenges that face (potential) practitioner researchers. Hazel referred first to the barriers that LIS practitioner researchers may encounter. These include:

• Navigating current funding infrastructures, for example due to the number of funding bodies and differing requirements as far as proposal writing and submission are concerned;
• Negotiating working practices with mentors and partners;
• Lack of confidence in research skills, especially when this is unfounded;
• Fitting research work into a demanding job role that includes other competing, and often more obviously pressing, service priorities.

Hazel also pointed out that often individuals carry out work that is, in effect, practitioner research, but fail to recognise it as such.

The focus of the presentation then moved on to barriers associated with the dissemination of practitioner research. Hazel mentioned how research output often becomes trapped within an institution or sector, and thus has limited dissemination channels. This minimises the opportunity for others to take advantage of the research findings, and key messages do not reach the level of strategy development. As a result, individual institutions tend to focus on local research output in their planning activities.

Hazel took the opportunity to suggest a number of research themes related to student experience. She argued that we should look beyond the more “visible” issues related to facilities, such as upgrading library space and extending opening hours. LIS research effort in academic settings should also relate to broader institutional concerns such as student retention and international student fee income. There are also a number of research themes that interest library and information services staff regardless of sector. For example, community engagement, the relationship between library services and learning, and evidence-based practice are worth pursuing. Specifically, Hazel suggested a range of student experience related research questions ripe for consideration:

• How can library provision be better aligned to broad institutional student experience initiatives?
• How can we measure the contribution of academic library services to the overall student experience?
• What are the roles of academic librarians in the learning processes of students?
• How can we better engage teaching staff with library services?
• How will scholarly communication develop in the future, and what will be the impact of this on library provision for students?
• What is the best way to integrate information literacy provision into the curriculum?

Hazel noted that one question that was of particular relevance to her work with the Library and Information Science Research Coalition could be framed as “What is the relationship between awareness of LIS research within the academic community and good practice for the benefit of students?”

Hazel then turned her attention to the second theme of her presentation, i.e. the means by which the LIS Research Coalition is working to bring together information about LIS research opportunities and results. The Coalition has a web presence at http://lisresearch.org, as well as a Twitter feed at @LISResearch. The Twitter feed postings cover a range of topics of relevance to the LIS research community, as Hazel illustrated by displaying some Twitter screen shots. Amongst these she showed a page of alerts that included news of: a research funding opportunity; PhD studentships on offer; an invitation to join in a research-related consultation exercise; two newly published research reports; a link to a web page on a topical debate; a report on an on-going research project; a training event; conference registration opening; the publication of a new journal issue; and a US conference offering funded places. Hazel strongly encouraged audience members to start following @LISResearch, or at least arrange for members of staff in their organisations to take responsibility for keeping up to date with the postings on behalf of others at their home institutions.

Hazel concluded her presentation by reiterating the support that the LIS Research Coalition can offer for practitioner research. First she noted that the agile information provision on LIS research related news through the dedicated Twitter feed saves time of practitioner researchers. Then she spoke about the efforts to raise the profile of practitioner research, making reference to the LIS Research Coalition conference. This will take place on Monday 28th June 2010 at the British Library with the intention of “liberating” of research output that may be trapped within institutions and/or sectors. Hazel explained that in the longer term the Coalition hopes to provide opportunities for research methods training that will extend current UK provision in this area. Hazel’s final point was that she looked forward to the LIS Research Coalition working in partnership with other LIS stakeholders, including SCONUL, in building the evidence base that will contribute to future LIS research strategy, as well as policy development.

The stage is set for presentations at the SCONUL Autumn Conference 2009

The conference was opened by Jane Core, the current Chair of SCONUL. The British Library’s Associate Director of Operations and Services Caroline Brazier also welcomed the delegates to the Conference Centre. Thereafter the speakers took their turns at the podium to tackle the conference theme of “The Student Experience”. Each was expertly chaired by a member of the SCONUL Executive Board.

David Sadler, Director of Networks at the Higher Education Academy was first on stage to set the strategic context for the student experience agenda. His presentation took into account a range of government and sector reports and proposals, as relevant to the interests of the academic library community. He pointed to a number of issues that he believes merit attention. These included the untapped expertise of external examiners, and the need for genuine engagement in Web 2.0 for services delivery across the sector. David concluded his presentation by highlighting a number of challenges of specific interest to the SCONUL audience. These included prioritising service delivery; securing funding; making the most of support from external bodies such as the HEA; and fostering further collaborative activity across the academic library community.

Next up was Michelle Verity who spoke of work in her new post of Head of Student Enterprise and Development at York St John University. Michelle’s explanation of the “learning reconsidered” approach as adopted at York St John raised some interesting questions related to the discourse of student experience. The question as to whether or not students are “customers”, and the deployment of the word “services” in academic settings were picked up later in the day in informal discussions and by later guest speakers.

The last session of the morning was presented by two student officers of Queen Mary Students’ Union: (1) President Nasir Tarmann and (2) Anna Hiscocks, Vice President – Education, Welfare and Representation. This was a very positive, upbeat presentation that drew on a small-scale research project completed at Queen Mary’s, as well the presenters’ input to proposed changes in information services provision at their University. This session stimulated further conversation over lunch as to how academic libraries meet the needs of their varied student populations, with much interest in the concept of “library-hopping” as introduced by Nasir.

The session immediately after lunch provided an opportunity for representatives of three organisations to present their perspectives on the student experience agenda. These were: (1) Simon Wright, Chair of the Association of Managers of Student Services in Higher Education; (2) Maureen Skinner, Chair of the Association of University Administrators; and (3) Hazel Hall, Executive Secretary of the Library and Information Science Research Coalition. The first two presentations revealed just how much the work of professional staff in UK universities has grown in recent years as student needs have changed and as some of the work previously undertaken by academic staff in schools has been moved to the centre. All three speakers highlighted shared interests which pointed to the potential for their bodies to develop closer relationships with SCONUL. The discussion that followed the panel members’ presentations focussed on job boundaries, the hybridisation of professional roles in academia, and the question of staff willingness to adapt to new work practices. (The detail of Hazel’s presentation is elaborated in a separate blog posting.)

The last main set of presentations provided case studies that demonstrated how three universities have made changes to their services delivery in response to factors related to the student experience agenda. Tricia King, who is Pro Vice Master for Student Experience and Director of External Relations at Birkbeck, University of London, focused on My Birkbeck, a major change initiative at her institution implemented in a tight timescale for one of the most diverse student populations in the UK (where students range in age from 18 to 100!) In Brendan Casey’s case, the challenges of managing super-convergence emerged as a strong theme with regards to the role of Director of Academic Services at the University of Birmingham. Graham Bulpitt, Director of Information Services at Kingston University, brought this session to a close with an illustrated timeline of developments at his institution that highlighted the changing role of library and information services staff. As well as outlining the type of frontline activities in which the Kingston staff are involved, Graham illustrated the support mechanisms available to them by showing the audience screen-shots from online staff resources.

The final presentation was delivered by Ewart Wooldridge, Chief Executive of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education. This widened the debate to the theme of higher education leadership, and gave delegates the opportunity to discuss the opportunities for professional staff to reach the highest levels of management in their institutions, and the means of supporting such ambition.

(There is a Twitter back-channel for this the event, accessible by searching #sconul. As well as commentary on each of the presentations, there is a short debate on the engagement of higher education leaders with microblogging. This was prompted following a question to the audience from Hazel Hall regarding Twitter. A show of hands revealed that a large number of UK academic library leaders are indeed Twitter users.)

I’ve just read Karen Blakeman’s latest blog post which mentions our new business essentials wiki in glowing terms.

This is high praise indeed given Karen’s legendary knowledge and experience of all things related to business information. And the fact her website Business Information on the Internet has consistently come up first on Google, when searching for the term business information.

We have certainly noticed a great deal of additional content appearing since we launched it on 5 November.

Peter Jones and Priya Lakhani from Masala Masala discuss enterprise education

I spent Monday morning at the launch of GEW from the comfort of The British Library conference centre.

The event was well chaired by Simon Jack from the BBC, and included some light-hearted banter between him and Peter Jones (of BBC’s Dragon’s Den fame). Peter persuaded Simon to spend a day with him in order to experience the world of the entrepreneur from the inside. He also got him to agree to give a plug for GEW one morning during the BBC Breakfast Show this week, so watch this space.

1. Our Chief Executive Lynne Brindley gave the welcome speech and included the intriguing concept that The British Library has more good ideas inside it than any other building in the world. I think it is a line I can see myself using in future.

2. The opening words were from Miles Templeman Director General at the Institute of Directors. Who felt that talent is not enough to ensure success in business – inspiration is necessary to start things off. But what unless potential talent is developed and nurtured business survival and growth is unlikely.

3. Next we watched a short video from Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

4. Then we had a fascinating panel session with Carl Schramm the Chief Executive of the Kauffman Foundation and Jim O’Neill the Head of Global Economic Research at Goldman Sachs.

Schramm acknowledged Prime Minister Gordon Brown as the key driver behind turning the original UK Enterprise Week into Global Entrepreneurship Week, which now includes 88 countries. In order to learn how to teach people to become entrepreneurs to start high growth businesses they have created the Kauffman Laboratories for Enterprise Creation – http://www.kauffman.org/entrepreneurship/kauffman-laboratories-for-innovation-and-entrepreneurship.aspx

Their research shows that entrepreneurship has been the key to recovery of the last seven economic declines. In recessions economists and governments turn back to Keynesian economics and decide that government intervention is the key to economic recovery. Schramm believes government industrial policy is antithetical to entrepreneurship. Instead what we need is government policy and pragmatic coaching skills to support creation of new entrepreneurs. He believes there is a  sea-change occurring, so we now see enterprise as the key to economic growth, and gave the economies of China and India as proof of this.

Libraries and support – Andrew Carnegie created the US public library system – the Kauffman Foundation are looking very closely at libraries as incubators for business.

5. O’Neill who’s claim to fame is having coined the term BRIC nations (Brazil, India and China), stated that entrepreneurship is the future of our and the world economy.

• He thought it unfortunate that economists have proved why they are known at the miserable profession.
• The consensus forecast for world economy is 3.7%, down from 5% over the last five years. This is due to continued progress in BRIC economies. The assumption that our recession is reflected elsewhere is not true.
• Economically speaking China has created the equivalent of 2 UK’s in the last eight years.
• Brazil is due to overtake Italy in terms of GDP (gross domestic product).
• In China 13 million a month taking mobile phone contracts
• Twice as many cars will be sold in China this year than the United States.
• The expansion of BRIC economies provides opportunities for British entrepreneurs. He gave example of UK football league as an example of world business success.

6. Question time:

The British know how to invent, but not how to market themselves.

Rod Aldrich Foundation – http://www.aldridgefoundation.com/

What is the secret to growing economies entrepreneurship success. Awareness that they have been given the chance to become wealthy. People in Britain like to be regarded as creative, but following it through to economic wealth is a cultural issue.

Over half of the US fasted growing 500 companies never wrote a business plan.

Business academies can’t spark entrepreneurial attitudes, although they can help with best practice.

7. Video from Karen Kanaan the Global Entrepreneurship Week host in Brazil. Their goal was for 1% of the population to become involved (2 million people), but actually ended up with 4.5 million people registered.

8. Panel Session:

Matt Brittin the Managing the Director of Google UK.

• Google perspective – The Internet allows business to be global. The world has gone digital, so there is a big opportunity for entrepreneurs.
• Example of purely gadgets digital business. Example of dustbag.co.uk, used internet searching keyword targeting to bring their service to their intention.

David Wei the Chief Executive of Alibaba.com, China’s biggest internet business.

• Entrepreneurship cannot be educated, trained or supported by Government, it can be inspired. We need to take away comfortable safety net to create a culture of entrepreneurship.
• Who is the new idol for entrepreneurship, why do we still see a video of Richard Branson twenty years on.
• PowerPoint leaves your power and point on the screen. You end up with no power and no point.
• The internet is the equivalent of the railways and highways of the last century.

Emma Harrison the founder A4E

• Started an illegal tuck-shop at school.
• Elected as a school governor at 15, but was still truanting from school.
• Failed her A –levels, so went back to college to get engineering qualifications, put learner plates on a motorbike and drove to Universities to get places.
• Joined her dad in business who left after 18 days and learnt how to survive in business.
• Advice – find your own path, find a mentor, every day find four ways to market your business.

9. Panel discussion

• Intro from Lord Davies, Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Small Business.
• 4.8 million SME’s – we are a nation of entrepreneurs – appealed to the press to celebrate our success, not to concentrate on failures.
• Peter Jones wants to introduce entrepreneurship into every school in the UK. He believes entrepreneurship can be taught.
• Julie Meyer – entrepreneur country . net – We need to become a nation of believers (not a religious belief). A surprising lack given this country produced Winston Churchill. Business success is a like a drug, once successful they will want to help others build their success.

Happy happy days i get a new camera for xmas!

For the deep space project we were meant to firstly create a world ‘on our desk’.

I got the idea for mine from places like container city, buildings stacked up and fitted into a small space.

We were also meant to ‘populate’ the world and put it into context so i did this…

I guess its about escaping from the city? Something like that…

We also went to the british library last week, where I didnt take any photos but I would recommend it, especially the treasuries exhibition, there was some  interesting stuff in there.

Tonight was definitely one of the highlights of Global Entrepreneurship Week for me. Our event in the British Library conference centre In conversation with Lord Sugar was full to bursting.

As time is short and it is now after midnight, I am going to post my notes of his gems and leave it at that.

Is now a good time to be setting up a new business?
Lord Sugar’s route into business was by learning business skills by working in a company and then applying these to his new business.

He is concerned that people wake up one day and decide to start a business, but don’t have the relevant skills or experience to make a go of it.

Opportunities currently exist in the property market if you have the money, but the banks will not be interested in lending.

His move into computers was a natural development of his business selling transistor radios, rather than a revolutionary move.

What is the best piece of business advice he has ever taken?
He used his bank as a barometer in his early days in the 1960’s to find out how fast he could and should develop. This is in contrast to more recent times when the banks give too easily and freely.

He encourages youngsters to start small with their own money and grow from there.

I have not been very successful in investing in the property market. I took all the money I earned from technology and put it into safe and boring properties. There was no rocket science in what I did.

What do you think about MBA’s in entrepreneurship
You can’t train entrepreneurs, you either have the spirit or you don’t. Business training is important but not a substitute for an entrepreneurial spirit.

Has reading business books been useful?
No, not really, I last used one for a wobbly table.

How important is a business plan?
The key point is the business idea any good. For instance if it is a service it is all about the quality of the person providing the service. No excel spreadsheet is magically going to make it work.

There is no point of any business support unless the idea is any good.

How important are work teams?
The team found Lord Sugar rather than vice versa.

Tell us about challenging periods and mistakes made.
Over 40 years in business made less mistakes than good decisions. You learn by your mistakes. He encourages young business to do a weekly health check. What has gone right this week and what has gone wrong?

How do you use sweat equity?
I’m a thick bloke from Hackney, so keep it simple. I don’t understand what you are talking about.

Advice on partnerships
When you need to add a level of expertise to your business you can either add a partner or find a suitable employee.

Can government employees give help to small business when they read them from a computer screen?
Business Links centres have the tools to take some of the burden away from business people with practical advice on employment law, tax regulations etc. They are not giving business advice, but practical help.

Common attributes for entrepreneurial spirit?
(Exasperated) I wish someone would give me an answer to this one.

Have you had a mentor?
Yes. In my business career my mentors were people I aspired to. In my family there was only my uncle. Later on my supplier of electrical equipment became my mentor. Grew beyond them on to the likes of Lord Weinstock at GEC and Rupert Murdoch. Looked, listened and tried to replicate what they were doing.

The role of PR
Differentiates the role of business PR and personal PR. Editorial on a product or service is worth more than advertising. Has a lot to do with connections with media. PR companies who don’t specialise are not as successful as the ones that don’t.

Selling and the art of closing a deal
I the person running the business is not a good sales person then why are they in business. This is another art that can’t really be taught. If you can’t do it, employ someone who is.

How do you like people to communicate in Business?
Very openly in my place, everybody shares the story and knows what is going on.

I admire people who have reached contentment with their lives and know how to enjoy themselves.

How challenging have you found this new Business Champion role?
This is not a challenge, I’m not looking for a headache. I won’t don’t it if I didn’t enjoy it. I wanted to give something back to young people

Do you invest outside of the UK?
We have in the past with electronics. I don’t have any at the moment. There are problems with investing in Africa. It is a difficult market. It needs some African entrepreneurs to create the new markets and some business traffic.

What is the main cause of the 95% of business start-up failures.
Should do a weekly health check. Immediately you know where you business is going. Do not lose track of the basics. Do the simple maths every week.

How do we encourage an enterprise culture in the UK? Rachel Elnaugh – ex Dragons Den
Programmes like Dragons Den and The Apprentice have provided a great service to this country to spread the message that there are no free gifts or free lunches. That you actually have to do it yourself. There is too much of a culture that expects to be spoon fed.

If someone could invent a positive journalist then this would encourage people. Get away from this blame culture.

I don’t like the way we have changed to a knocking culture in recent years.

What could schools do to improve things for business?
We need to make plumbing cool again.

Do you set yourself goals?
Right at the beginning it was just to earn more money than in the job I had just left. If by Wednesday I had achieve £60 of net profit then I had achieved my goal.

I never had a five year plan. In the electronics business this is bullshit. You can’t see that far ahead.

Ideas have to be endorsed by a third party, it is no good getting your friends and family to say how great it is. You need a wake call.

You make people believe in your potential by your past successes.

This morning Global Entrepreneurship Week, a celebration of starting and growing in business, was launched at the British Library.

Get free access to premium information resources on our Libraries mean business! web site – and help turn your ideas into reality.

I have to say I was somewhat nervous about being interviewed for Business Bytes. This our new monthly podcast narrated by business journalist Jamie Oliver, and designed to give inspiration and practical advice with the challenges in setting up and growing your own business.

Actually, I just do the inroduction and the really interesting content comes from designer Sebastian Conran of Conran & Partners, business expert Jane Khedair from Business Plan Services, and Dee Wright  founder of The Hair Force.

Each month, Jamie will be interviewing entrepreneurs, business experts and some of the Library’s success stories, who are just at the start of their entrepreneurial journeys. But we have hit he ground running with a mention on the Telegraph newspaper website.

EThOS is the British Library’s thesis digitisation service which launched in January 2009 and has so far made over 24,000 theses available for immediate download. Some of the theses from the University of Bradford are also included and more get added gradually.

As the British Library say “the service allows researchers to access theses online, most for the first time, and showcases the quality of UK postgraduate research on a global scale”. The service has been very popular with researchers and the BL have announced that the digitisation times for theses not already available electronically have been reduced. It is also worth noting that the ETHoS service is able to harvest thesis entries from the University of Bradford research archive – Bradford Scholars.

Start searching EThOS

Although this has to be one of the most culturally embarassing references I have used in this blog, I couldn’t resist – now that we are advertising on London buses (see my YouTube link below if you are in need of a cringefest).

This is part of our promotional activities around Global Entrepreneurship Week, for which we have lots of exciting events, including In conversation with Lord Sugar (the event is now sold out, but you can watch online at www.inspiringentrepreneurswebcast.co.uk).

We have had great success in the past with our posters in and around a selection of London Underground stations, so we are both excited and nervous about our experiment with London buses.

Please let me know if you happen to spot one around town.

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And no! I am not the only one to say so! The British Library agrees. In fact it organised a whole day of activities around the theme  to coincide with their exhibition ‘Points of View‘ (though it focusses on the 19th century rather than the 20th century period I am looking into)! Of course, having these events on my doorstep I couldn’t just let them go by, so I booked tickets for a number of events, and off I went.

First up was a talk on ‘Photographic History without Photographs’ by Michael Pritchard. It was really interesting to hear how he is looking at the history of photography by looking through patents, trade books, corporate documents etc. Hearing him talk inspired me to get back on a previous mini-focus of my research to find the patents related to photographic dyes and to organise them into a database (yes, I am also doing the ECDL exam at uni [they offered it for free, so why not] so this could be a way of getting back to grips with MS Access). We’ll see how that mini-project will go :).

After this there was a Magic Lantern Show by Professor Heard. I have never seen a magic lantern show…but it was so entertaining! The ‘Professor’ really had a way with the show, and he definitely knew how to bring it to life, both by his act, and definitely by the moving slides . It was good!

The last event I went to was a lecture on ‘New light through an old hole’ about pinhole cameras – another  entertaining lecture to say the least. The presenter was a character…but I think he omitted one major thing: what is a pin hole camera, and how does it work? He said he didn’t want to bore us, but it would have helped if we knew a bit about these cameras (yes, I KNOW we did it in physics classes in secondary school…but a bit of a refresher would not have harmed anyone ). I think this would have allowed us to appreciate even more what has been achieved by these cameras.

By now I was quite exhausted, so it was off home for me.

Jag fick en väldigt svår fråga för ett tag sedan, om vilket land som har de tjockaste dialekterna;  Sverige eller Storbritannien? Och vilket land som har flest svårbegripliga dialektala ord?

Det här är inget jag är expert på. Visst har jag mycket kunskap om svenska dialekter från min utbildning, och om engelska dialekter eftersom jag är halvbritt. Men vilket land som har de grövsta dialekterna och de mest svårförstådda orden…? Den kan man sitta och klura länge på. Å ena sidan finns det skotska ord och brytningar som är helt obegripliga för en utomstående. Å andra sidan har vi älvdalska här i Sverige, en dialekt som många anser vara ett eget språk. Själv är jag med i gruppen jamska är ett språk på Facebook, för i sina grova former är den rätt obegriplig för mig som invandrad jämte.

Så jag ska inte försöka reda ut den här frågan på egen hand. Istället ska jag låta dig få ta del av några spännande länkar där du själv kan lyssna på olika dialekter från de två länderna.

Accents and dialects of the UK

En sida från British Library, som samlat ihop inspelningar från 1900-talet och placerat ut dem på en pedagogisk karta. Det går därför att välja nya eller gamla inspelningar, och det går också att lyssna på hur olika minoriteter pratar i olika delar av landet, till exempel indier i London. Till de flesta inspelningarna finns en utförlig kommentar om vad man ska lyssna efter och lägga märke till hos den intervjuade personens dialekt. Det går att lära sig väldigt mycket på det här sättet. Det finns också mycket information om dialekter i stort, om man klarar av att läsa all engelska. Tyvärr är inte dialektkartan heltäckande, det finns exempelvis många tomrum i Skottland.

Lyssna på dialekter och folkminnen

SOFI:s (Institutet för språk och folkminnen) dialektarkiv innehåller gamla inspelningar från alla svenska landskap. För många, men inte alla, av inspelningarna finns en transkription, och ibland också en översättning till rikssvenska. Oftast står det lite om när klippet är inspelat och vem som medverkar. För en del av landskapen, till exempel Västerbotten, finns en hel del bakgrundsinformation om dialekten, men om exempelvis Upplands dialekter får vi ingen information alls, inte ens inspelningsår.

100 svenska dialekter idag!

Till sist en länk till dialektprojektet Swedia 2000. Inspelningarna är från 1998-2000, så här kan du lyssna på hur dialekterna låter i Sverige idag. Även de svenska dialekterna i Finland finns med, och det är ett tips! Svenska har samma juridiska ställning som finskan i Finland, och det finns många unika svenska dialekter där. Swedia har dessutom varit väldigt grundläggande i sina inspelningar. Istället för att spela in en person från varje område, som de andra dialektarkiven har gjort, har de spelat in en äldre och en yngre person av varje kön. På så sätt kan man själv lyssna sig fram till hur dialekterna utvecklas, och hur individuell en dialekt kan vara.

Hoppas att detta kommer till både nytta och nöje!

Die British Library widmet ihre große Herbstausstellung Points of View den Anfängen der Fotografie:

Die Ausstellung zeigt eine Auswahl aus dem rund eine halbe Million Bilder umfassenden Fotoarchiv, wie Künsterporträts von Charles Dickens,  Oscar Wildes oder Naturaufnahmen des Fotografen Henry Fox Talbot.