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Seminar series in demand |
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There has been a very high level of interest in a new series of one-day regional seminars for senior librarians that launch in January and run throughout the UK until June. Their focus on how trends in technology are allowing library services to improve the customer experience, save costs and increase efficiency is clearly seen as critical to today's services.
The seminars bring together leading representatives from the library supply industry to illustrate how innovation is changing the face of libraries through the adoption of online services, RFID technology, evidence based stock management, integrated management systems and enhanced product information.
Participating are Intellident, Civica, smartsm, Bowker and OverDrive, as well as guest speakers from the library profession. Together they will explore some of the challenges facing the modern public library service, and how these are being met by leading practitioners. The seminars will be free to attend. For more information, click here.
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Be at the Edge |
If so much is going to be published digitally only in the future, how does this affect the way we should design our libraries? What difference will the virtual library make to the way we use spaces?
The Edge 2010 conference will be held in Edinburgh Castle in February as the premier event to showcase how libraries and information services have modernised and improved, and how they are now key to local authorities, e-government, learning, the regeneration of cities and digital inclusion. Edge will showcase the latest thinking, tools and technologies available to the public sector. Learn about innovative practices, hear the latest ideas, share success stories and meet colleagues from around the globe. For more information, click here. |
The Internet Public Library - take a second look |
This month sees the launch of ipl2, the revamped online guide to 'information you can trust' on the web - edited by librarians and volunteers, hosted by a consortium of colleges and universities in the US with library science programmes.
It's such a great collaborative venture that we have to ask the question: Why can't this be the future shape of public libraries? If I want my public library to be on MY virtual shelf - well, all the ingredients are there. Why can't I have, side by side, freely available out of copyright books, e-books from publishers, e-books I can read in large print or download as audio if I want to, and web resources organised by subject - by librarians? I just need someone to filter the dross, understand the profile of my interests, and point me to MY shelf of EVERYTHING. If the traditional role of the librarian is to help people find the books and information they need, what will 'virtual' librarians be doing for the library users they will never meet? Collaborating and co-operating, we hope, as 'locality' increasingly gives way to 'universality' and the attempt to stake out an individual library territory for online content simply becomes duplication of effort. |
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Services 