Inspire - eNewsletter
May 2014
Inspire supports libraries from all sectors in working together to enable members of
communities across the UK engaged in lifelong learning or research to find and access their
information needs.
News
Scotland
Midlothian Libraries was ‘Library of the Year’ at the Bookseller Awards
Philip Wark, Library Services Manager for Midlothian Libraries said:
‘I am so proud that Midlothian Libraries was voted Library of the Year at the Bookseller
Awards on Monday evening.
I didn’t think we had a hope of winning given the exceptionally strong shortlist. The Library
of Birmingham – the largest public library in Europe! The Hive the only combined
university/public library in Europe, Surrey Libraries which on the Libraries Change Lives
Award last year when I was chair of the judging panel; Dudley which was shortlisted last year
and Sandwell. An impressive shortlist which I really didn’t think we had a chance of beating.
When the blurb of the winner was announced I was shaking my head saying to Karen that
we hadn’t won and then they said Midlothian I couldn’t believe it – also a shock as I hadn’t
prepared a speech!’
The judges said: “What libraries have had to put up with recently is appalling. Midlothian
shows them at their very best – every one of its libraries is engaged and making a difference.
All people deserve a service like this.”
Reading for Wellbeing in Orkney
The Orkney Library’s revamped “Books on Prescription” service was launched recently.
The original service was set up in 2007 and centred around a list of self-help books that GPs
and other health professionals could recommend to people experiencing depression,
anxiety, eating disorders, alcoholism and whole range of other mental health problems.
The revamped service, which will go under the name of Reading for Wellbeing, includes the
original titles but now includes novels and poetry. More here .
Wales
Libraries making a difference: the fifth quality framework of Welsh Public Library
Standards 2014-2017
The new framework includes 18 core entitlements and 16 quality indicators and is divided
into four areas: customers and communities; access for all; learning for life and leadership
and development. The new framework was prepared by LISU in consultation with local
authorities in Wales, CILIP Wales, the Welsh Local Government Association, and the Welsh
Government. Full details here.
Ireland
Introducing the Health Well website and its interactive tools
The Health Well website www.healthwell.info managed by the Institute of Public Health in
Ireland (IPH) is a unique all-island heath information website that promotes health and
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wellbeing by supporting evidence-informed policy and practice. The Health Well provides
access to health information with a focus on data at local level to effectively inform local
policy and practice. Information resources on the Health Well are grouped into structured
catalogues such as Interventions, Policy, and Evidence. You can also keep up-to-date with
latest developments in your area via the News section on the Health Well and our Twitter
account (@TheHealthWell).
The Health Well also provides a range of online interactive tools to help people understand
and use the information effectively which we believe may be of benefit to your organisation
and its users. In addition, we can provide computer based training on the Health Well and its
tools.
England
Open Doors Project: SWRLS’ University / Public Library Reciprocal Borrowing
The University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol – in line with other HE establishments –
has offered an external borrower scheme for many years. Initially UWE charged for this
service, but in January 2013 charges were removed and external borrowing was opened up
to the public free of charge. The previous year a Guest Access scheme was introduced,
offering members of the public access to online resources free of charge within any of
UWE’s campus libraries.
In December 2013, supported by funding from SWRLS, the South Western Regional Library
Service, the Open Doors project was launched, which extended the free external borrower
scheme to allow members of the LibrariesWest1 public library consortium to use their public
library card in UWE libraries rather than being required to sign up for an additional external
borrower library card. As part of this project UWE ID cards could also be used in
LibrariesWest public libraries.
The intention of the project was to extend the reach and usage of public libraries and to
encourage members of the public, in particular school students and others considering
further or higher education, to use academic libraries and to do so in the simplest way for
the user.
Before the launch could take place, both UWE and LibrariesWest(LW) needed to ensure that
all sets of existing cards would work in all libraries’ electronic kiosks; all relevant staff
needed to know that the scheme was happening and how it would run and publicity of the
scheme needed to happen.
It was agreed to hold a soft launch rather than a big launch with lots of publicity as there
was concern that it would take longer to roll the scheme out fully, staff in all the
participating libraries needed to be made aware of the scheme and all the machines needed
to be adjusted to accept the variety of cards; as a pilot this would pick up glitches and issues
without it being deemed a failure.
1
LibrariesWest is a consortium of five local authority library services covering the four West of
England unitary authorities of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath & NE Somerset, North Somerset
and also Somerset.
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The scheme operates in a relatively simple way: a member of the public visiting UWE only
has to produce their LW library card and provide basic personal information to be registered
for the scheme; as personal ID and home address will have been verified by the public library
staff, there is no further need to provide personal ID or proof of name and address.
Similarly, UWE staff and students need only to take their UWE ID card to a public library to
be added to the electronic system to be given the same borrowing rights as any other
LibrariesWest card holder.
As part of the project other HE/FE establishments in the South West have been surveyed
about their external borrower schemes, UWE’s Library Services staff have fed back their
views and all borrowers using the scheme have been surveyed to find out how it is working.
A report of the project will be published and will be made available through SWRLS.
Lead officers for this project are Geoff Cole, Community Engagement and Schools Support
Librarian, UWE Bristol and Martin Burton, Community Cultural Services Manager, South
Gloucestershire Council. For more information you can visit the Project website:
http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/library/visitingthelibrary/notbasedatuwe/jointhelibrary/uweandpu
bliclibrariespartn.aspx .
Newcastle - the first Business & IP Centre update
Newcastle was the first Business & IP Centre to be set up outside London. It launched as a
pilot of the British Library’s regional roll-out in September 2011. In January 2013, Newcastle
City Council, in partnership with Northumbria University and Newcastle Science City,
secured funding from the European Regional Development Fund to expand the services
available in the Centre, including an enhanced programme of support for SMEs in the North
East.
By May 2013, the Centre had helped over 1270 individuals and businesses since it was first
launched. A study conducted by Adroit Economics at that time found that for every £1 of
City Council investment in the Newcastle Business & IP Centre, businesses using the service
had seen an average increase in turnover of £6.23.
Since expanding its services last year, the Centre has more than doubled the number of
enquiries it dealt with, reaching an average of 214 per month.
For further information please contact: Luke Burton, Manager of the Business & IP Centre
Newcastle. bipcnewcastle@newcastle.gov.uk
WW1 events in Libraries
Westminster Music Libraries’ Music Behind the Lines programme: The Music and
composers of the First World War: a Grants for the Arts Libraries Fund project
Westminster Libraries’ Music Behind the Lines programme used the music of Ravel, Gustav
Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams, some of the composers most affected by the First World
War, to work with a very wide range of people: adults, children and members of a range of
groups with links the library.
As well as sessions in the library itself, the programme delivered six creative projects in
schools across Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington. Musicians from the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) worked with the groups to investigate the work of these
musicians of the period and pupils went to see the RPO rehearsing some of the pieces as
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well as visiting the library’s music collection and then taking part in workshops using a
combination of instrumental composition, poetry readings, and vocal exercises.
And at one stage the Westminster Music Library was transformed into ‘outer space’ for the
study of Gustav Holst’s The Planet Suite working with first Early Years and later older
children.
By the end of the series of workshops, staff reported that a huge variety of people had
attend these music events; adults and children, musicians, composers, former military band
members, students, researchers, and plenty of people who said they ‘had nothing to
contribute to music’, ‘never played an instrument before’, but ‘loved listening to it all day,
every day’ .
This imaginative and hugely successful series of events was supported by Grants for the Arts
Libraries Fund. You can read more about these fascinating sessions here.
The Quaker Library
The Quaker Library has announced the launch of their new online catalogue of Archive and
Library collections. For the first time, records of their archival and manuscript collections are
available to search online, alongside their growing catalogue of printed materials.
The new catalogue currently holds records for:
 over half of the printed material in the Library: books, pamphlets, broadsides,
periodicals
 archives of most Britain Yearly Meeting committees going back to the 17th century
 archives of London & Middlesex Quaker meetings
 archives of other Quaker and Quaker associated organisations, such as Friends
Ambulance Unit and Friends Temperance and Moral Welfare Union
 over 1,000 manuscript collections and personal papers of Quakers and Quaker
families, such as the diaries of Elizabeth Fry
You can search across Quaker collections at www.quaker.org.uk/cat.
Other News
Early European Books Collections 1-4 and The Vogue Archive now available to UK HE
A new agreement for a national licence between Jisc and ProQuest will enable access for the
UK higher education community to two major digital archives: Early European Books
Collections 1-4 and The Vogue Archive.
Early European Books: Providing access to almost 25,000 rare and often unique books, Early
European Books is a key resource for those with a strong research interest in the period
from 1450 – 1700, delivering a wide variety of primary sources from one of the most
fascinating and influential periods in Western history and has been developed in
collaboration with a range of major European libraries. Very few libraries have access to
such a large corpus of works as Early European Books offers and researchers and students
will now be able to view this material wherever and whenever they choose.
The Vogue Archive: Updated monthly with the most recent edition of the magazine, The
Vogue Archive gives researchers of fashion, photography, advertising and history access to
the entire publication run of the US edition of Vogue magazine, back to its first issue in
1892. Fashion marketing students will be able to research the history of a brand identity by
viewing every advertisement featured, whilst researchers in cultural and gender studies can
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explore themes such as body image, gender roles and social tastes from the late nineteenth
century to the present day. The collection contains over 400,000 pages, reproduced as high
resolution full colour images, along with very rich indexing and metadata.
Jisc champions the use of digital services and solutions in UK colleges and universities and
working with ProQuest to make these archives available to researchers will help us achieve
this aim. Having both of these products available on the one ProQuest platform will
enhance efficiency in accessibility which will benefit both the students and those teaching
them. More information here.
IOP Publishing and UK university libraries collaborate on open access offsetting pilot
The scientific publishers IOP Publishing (IOP), has today announced the launch of a threeyear pilot project under which participating universities will be able to offset the majority of
their expenditure on hybrid article publication charges (APCs) in IOP journals against their
subscription and licence fees. The agreement follows discussions between IOP, Research
Libraries UK (RLUK) and the Russell Group of leading universities.
IOP has developed a sliding scale for its offsetting model, under which its income from APCs
for open access publication in subscription-based journals is offset against the licensing costs
of universities paying the APCs and is also used to reduce subscription prices for all
customers. More details here.
CERN openlab whitepaper on future IT challenges in scientific research
CERN openlab, the public-private partnership between CERN, leading IT companies and
research institutes, has released a whitepaper on future IT challenges in scientific research
to shape its upcoming three-year phase starting in 2015.
96% of our universe is still unknown and the challenges ahead for the scientific community
are striking. More than ever, computing plays a critical role in helping uncover our universe’s
mysteries. Scientific research has seen a dramatic rise in the amount and rate of production
of data collected by instruments, detectors and sensors in the recent years.
In this context, CERN openlab together with a number of European laboratories, such as
EMBL-EBI, ESA, ESRF, ILL and researchers from the Human Brain Project, as well as input
from leading IT companies, have published a whitepaper defining the ambitious challenges
covering the most crucial needs of IT infrastructures in domains such as data acquisition,
computing platforms, data storage architectures, compute provisioning and management,
networks and communication, and data analytics.
This whitepaper, which results from six months of reflection among IT experts and scientists,
represents an exciting context for the CERN openlab public-private partnership in the years
to come. It sets the goals, the technical expertise and identifies educational programmes
required, providing opportunities for future collaboration among CERN, other European
laboratories, international scientific projects and leading IT companies to push the limits
even further in support of many more years of outstanding scientific discoveries. Full
announcement here.
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''Librarians are sifters, guides and co-creators of human connection. Most of all they are
cultural curators, not only of paper, but of human history and ideas.….”
Many people confuse the future of public libraries with that of books, but innovations will
maintain their relevance. This Quadraphene article: ‘Novel spaces: the future of UK public
libraries’ is available here.
Work with volunteers at Merton to Digitise Photographic History
New on the TWA blog this week we have an in depth interview with Service Manager for
Heritage and Local Studies at Merton Libraries, Sarah Gould, who managed the ground
breaking Merton Memories digital archiving project.
The project involved utilising almost 30 local volunteers, as well as our own services, to
catalogue and digitise over 15,000 photos charting the history of the London Borough of
Merton from the Victorian period to the present day. In the interview Sarah discusses the
aims behind the project, sourcing funding from HLF, the benefits of publishing the historic
archive online and more... To
Watch the full interview now - just click here.
The Higher Education Empirical Research Database
The Higher Education Empirical Research (HEER) comprises summaries of the latest
published research on a range of topics related to higher education and used by academics
and researchers in higher education. It is fully searchable by theme, publisher and date.
Registration is free. There are also associated alert and Twitter accounts that enable
registered users to be kept updated with the latest news and additions to the database.
There is a monthly subscribers’ newsletter, HEER Today. As you can see from the link to a
sample issue, it highlights the current top five summaries, the most popular themes and also
recommends summaries. For more information please contact the HEER team at
heer@qaa.ac.uk or via @QAA_HEER.
Free access to more than 400,000 digital images
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, has announced that more than 400,000 high-resolution
digital images of public domain works in the Museum’s world-renowned collection may be
downloaded directly from the Museum’s website for non-commercial use—including in
scholarly publications in any media—without permission from the Museum and without a
fee. The number of available images will increase as new digital files are added on a regular
basis. More here
Events
Simply Connect! Libraries breaking social isolation
Where: The REC Centre, Towcester Road, Far Cotton, Northampton NN4 8LG – a superb
community facility, 5’ from J15 of the M1 (with access to free parking on-site), 1 mile from
Northampton railway station and home to our Far Cotton library.
When: June 10th, 9.45 for 10.00 – 15.45
Cost: £90 (including lunch and refreshments).
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Public libraries’ role as safe, stigma-free places at the heart of communities is welldocumented and often mentioned – but what opportunities does this offer to tackle social
isolation? There are other assets libraries bring to the table: these include project
management and engagement expertise; a track record of community involvement; and
deep, ongoing customer insight.
This one day conference will set the framework and showcase examples of innovative
practice – around social isolation and the role public libraries can play. Our line-up of
speakers combines a range of perspectives, from policy at a national level to local safety and
volunteering agendas to case studies featuring award-winning library services and national
initiatives. To book: contact Jorge Solis, Principal Librarian – Transformation 01604 366162
email: jsolis@northamptonshire.gov.uk
Training, help and advice on aspects of working in FE and HE libraries for recent library
school graduates or others early in their professional career
When: Friday 13th June 2014, 10am-4pm,
Where: University of York
Cost: £25 + VAT students/unemployed, £40 + VAT CILIP members, £50 + VAT non-CILIP
members
There will be five taught sessions:
• "And your job role here is….?": Tips for teaching • The continually developing professional
• Liaison lessons learned • Refreshing the reference interview: coping with enquiries
• Behind the scenes: working with resources.
There will also be a chance for networking over lunch, and-action planning at the end of the
day.
To book a place on this event, please go to the ARLG event page on the CILIP website for a
booking form: http://www.cilip.org.uk/academic-and-research-libraries-group/events/newprofessionals-training-day. If you have any questions about bookings or the location, please
contact Kirstyn Radford (kirstyn.radford@york.ac.uk)
Snap, crackle and flop: crafting a better message
When: Wednesday, 11 June 2014 - 9:30am
Where: New Business School, Manchester Metropolitan University, Room 3.20 Oxford Road
Manchester M15 6BH Manchester, GTM United Kingdom
Cost: £30
Have you ever said "I’m rubbish at design"? If so, this interactive workshop is for you!
The workshop will give attendees a basic grounding in some of the underlying principles
behind copywriting and graphic design, so that they can produce fantastic copy. There are a
maximum of 12 places available at this workshop, so book early to avoid disappointment.
Book a place: http://www.cilip.org.uk/publicity-and-public-relations-group/events/snapcrackle-and-flop-crafting-better-message
By the end of the day attendees should have a good understanding of:
 What is copywriting and why it’s important in visual communications?
 What makes good copy
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

Understanding and writing your brief
The importance of space and form in design Text and typography Using colour
effectively It will also provide an opportunity for attendees to share and discuss their
own good practices with fellow participants.
Who should attend: This course is aimed at those involved in the creation of publicity or
promotional materials, particularly those new to the Library and Information profession or
those with an interest in visual/graphic design who want to learn the basics. If you need
help getting started, this course will provide the grounding you need to get going and be
confident producing more stimulating and enticing copy.
Contact Details: Davina Omar D.Omar@kingston.ac.uk
Making metadata work
When: Monday 23rd June 2014
Where: BCS Office, 5 Southampton Street, London WC2E 7HA.
Cost: Registration fee and booking - Afternoon only: £60 (or £25 for members of ISKO,
IRSG or DCMI and for full-time students).
Booking is open at http://www.iskouk.org/events/metadata_June_2014.htm#introduction>
If you have not already made a booking for this event, please don't delay as it is proving very
popular - the morning workshop and tutorial are already full booked but there are still places
for the afternoon session.
This event will be a showcase for the latest developments in the evolution of the Semantic
Web, exploitation of Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS), metadata annotation to aid
workflow automation, information retrieval in networks of diverse media assets, Linked
Data, and other opportunities for using metadata. It is a Joint Meeting of ISKO UK, IRSG
(Information Retrieval Special Interest Group of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT) and
DCMI (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative).
Afternoon meeting (Plenary, 14.00 – 18.00) Martin White: The importance of metadata for
high quality Search Sean Bechhofer: Wf4Ever: metadata for “Research Objects”
Mark Sandler: Semantic Media: a new paradigm for navigable content for the 21st century
Richard Ranft: Enhancing discovery of the British Library's audio collections Antoine Isaac: A
portrait of Europeana as a Linked Open Data case (in progress) Andrew MacFarlane:
Analysing creative image search queries to determine important facets.
The speakers and presentations are described in more detail on our website at
<http://www.iskouk.org/events/metadata_June_2014_pm.htm>.
As usual there will be more networking, wine and nibbles from 18.00.
ARLG North East Summer Visit - The Nicholas Wood Library at the North of England
Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers (NEIMME)
Where: Please meet at the NEIMME in Neville Hall, as located on the map in the brochure.
Neville Hall is approximately 5 minutes’ walk from Newcastle Central Station.
Please note that unfortunately the building is not wheelchair accessible and the tour of
the library will involve stairs.
When: Wednesday 9th July, 2.00pm – 4.00pm.
Cost: Free. Refreshments (Tea, Coffee and biscuits) provided by NEIMME and paid for by
the ARLG NE Committee.
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Established 150 years ago, the NEIMME continues to play a pivotal role in the dissemination
of the information and upholding its international reputation and status as the world centre
of mining - long after coals have stopped being carried from Newcastle. Its mission is to
endeavour to preserve and ensure a future for the important historical achievements of
engineering in the mining industry.
The Nicholas Wood Library is housed in Neville Hall, a Grade II* listed building in the centre
of Newcastle, 5 minutes’ walk from the central railway station. It contains a variety of
materials, mostly published pre-1920, which includes transactions from various institutes,
journals, geological surveys and books relating to mining, metallurgy railways and geology.
Join us for an introductory talk and Q&A on the history of the building, followed by
refreshments and a tour and talk on the Nicholas Wood Library itself.
Booking: To reserve a place, please book with Patricia Crosier, Senior Assistant Subject
Librarian, Library & Information Services, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BA 01642 342702. This event is limited to 20 places, so bookings will be taken on a first-come,
first-served basis. Bookings must be made by 1st July to enable refreshments to be
arranged.
Keeping up to date with new research: Skills and tools for library staff and users
Where: CILIP HQ, Ridgmount Street, London, WC1E 7AE,
http://www.cilip.org.uk/cilip/contact-us
When: Wednesday 9th July, 1.30-6pm (registration from 1pm)
Cost: £30 + VAT (£36) for CILIP members, £40 + VAT (£48) for non CILIP members, £20 +
VAT (£24)
for unemployed/students. Tea/coffee included
Course outline: Information sources are getting more varied and the sheer volume of
accessible new research is huge, but it is vital that staff and customers undertaking research
keep up to date with the latest literature in their subject. The aim of this half day course is to
give attendees a good understanding of the main free tools library and information staff can
use, either in their own research or when helping customers, with keeping up to date with
new research or searching for recent academic journal articles.
Information covered will include:
 free internet search tools, including Google Advanced Search and Google Scholar,
as well as RSS, email and social media such as twitter, blogs, discussion groups, and
LinkedIn.
 using social media and current awareness
 JournalTOCs (Table of Contents) service: www.journaltocs.ac.uk
 the Access to Research project, which, launched this year, provides access to 1.5
million academic journal articles in public libraries free of charge.
To request more details or reserve a place please email Anne Hayward
hayward.anne@gmail.com
and provide: Name, Position, Address, Telephone Number, Email Address, Course fee
(please state which fee) Method of payment:
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Invoice – please invoice my organisation, Name of organisation:Invoice address (postal or
email address where invoice to be sent):Contact person (name, email and telephone number
of person to receive invoice):Purchase order number:Cheque: Send a cheque payable to
CILIP-ARLG-London and SE to: Anne Hayward, 38 Bunces Close, Eton Wick, Windsor,
Berkshire’
End Notes
1.
Library of Mistakes - Changing the World One Mistake at a Time
Library of Mistakes and is a collection of over 2000 volumes exploring tales of
mismanagement and financial disasters. It was opened by Norman Lamont (former
Chancellor of the Exchequer who presided over Black Wednesday!). A press report
stated, “the resource is said to be an unparalleled reference centre of financial mishaps
and disasters”.
There is a Keeper of the Library of Mistakes whose role is to ensure that the library
grows to become the world’s best business and finance library. If you would like to
contribute to meeting this goal, please contact the Keeper. You can also read more
here
2.
WW1: Buttons for Comforts for Soldiers
Libraries and other organisations in Australia are also involved in remembering WW1 at
this time.
The National Library of Australia has dug up somefascinating contemporary reports
about the part the Buttons for Comforts for Soldiers and the part these buttons played
in fundraising plus the early appearance of collectors of this ephemeral material.
http://www.ephemerasociety.org.au/2014/04/buttons-for-collectors-comforts-forsoldiers/
3.
Note from Sally: If your library has or is developing a display/collection etc. related to
WW1, please get in touch so I can add it to our record of your library’s details.
inspire2011@hotmail.co.uk
Reminder: this newsletter is about collaborative activities, ideas and proposals throughout the
UK – and beyond. If you would like to contribute information on events or developments in your
area, whether they are large or small, or offer any other items which might be of interest to
Inspire members –please send them to me at inspire2011@hotmail.co.uk. Any other
comments or feedback on the Inspire e-newsletter also welcome. Thank you
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