Inspire - eNewsletter
July 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
Fiftieth anniversary of the Public Libraries and Museums Act
31st July of this year will be fiftieth anniversary of the Public Libraries and Museums Act
which made public libraries statutory.
The British Library
Tour de British Library! As Le Grand Départ comes to Yorkshire, a free display on the history
of cycling and the Tour de France opens at the British Library at Boston Spa. This includes
a display of archive materials, books and manuscripts relating to the history of cycling and
the Tour de France plus accounts of the early days of cycling as a mass pastime and sport,
plus an 1897 description of a ‘bicycle gymkhana’ and more recent journalistic accounts of
the legendary cycling extravaganza.
More here
Scotland
Fire at the Mackintosh Library, Glasgow School of Art - Request
Email from David Buri, Academic Liaison Librarian, Glasgow School of Art
Further to the email of 25 May regarding the loss of the Mackintosh Library, we now have a
complete tally of the items that were destroyed in the fire. We promised to keep you
updated, and I’m pleased to let you know that we have compiled an initial ‘wish list’ of
specific titles that hold particular relevance to our history, our alumni, and our learning,
teaching and research activities. The list is now publicly available here: Mackintosh Library
Collections Wants List. Any help you can offer in circulating this initial list to interested
parties would be hugely appreciated, or perhaps if you hold any duplicates and would like to
donate them to the library, please contact Duncan Chappell at d.chappell@gsa.ac.uk.
Thank you for your continued support and concern; any new updates on the situation will be
published on our website at http://lib.gsa.ac.uk/update-on-fire-affected-library-services/
Best wishes, David, d.buri@gsa.ac.uk
Wales
WHELF Shared LMS Project running to time and contract due to be awarded in August
The WHELF Shared LMS will be an interoperable, next generation system that is cloud
hosted with integrated resource management. A shared LMS will lead to greater possibilities
for shared data collection and analysis which could provide useful insights into developing
and improving library services.
Following the invitation to tender in April, the Project team have been shortlisting the top
three suppliers to take the project forward. The contract will be awarded end of August
2014 and the first institutions will be going live with the system at during the end quarter of
2015 and second tranche beginning in 2016.
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Succession planning for bilingual staff in Archives and Special Collections
Peter Keelan, Head of Special Collections and Archives and member of the WHELF Archives
and Special Collections sub-group recently had submitted a paper to WHELF on the
importance of Welsh medium language provision for sustaining knowledge of heritage
collections, maintaining the collection, providing bilingual services and ensuring that there
are the professional staff available in post to continue these essential services. The Coleg
Cymraeg Cenedlaethol suggested that the Coleg’s senior management team meet with the
Chair of WHELF in order to discuss specialist Welsh-language skills in archives and HE
libraries and to see what practical ways this can be taken forward.
England
Manchester and Birmingham Central Libraries launch Business and IP Centres
Manchester and Birmingham Central Libraries are launching their new Business and
Intellectual Property (IP) Centres dedicated to supporting local entrepreneurs to start, run
and grow their own businesses. The Centres, based on the British Library’s own Business and
IP Centre in London, will provide a dedicated space for both aspiring and established
entrepreneurs in the area to access the libraries’ valuable collections such as market
research, company and financial information, and patent and trademark specifications,
spanning both the UK and global markets.
Access to these core library collections, typically not affordable for small businesses, will be
complemented by a face-to-face service, including practical workshops, networking events,
and one-to-one advice and coaching sessions from business experts on how to protect their
ideas, grow their businesses, and become commercially successful.
Isabel Oswell, Head of Business Audiences at the British Library said: “The first Business & IP
Centre outside London opened in Newcastle City Library just over a year ago, and since that
time it has helped over 1,200 local businesses. With the volume of UK SMEs growing all the
time, it’s more important than ever to offer businesses free and trusted business and
intellectual property information and advice, and we’re thrilled that from this week
Manchester and Birmingham will now be offering this service to entrepreneurs in their city
regions.”
More here
Seighart recommends a single management system and one library card valid in all
libraries in England
Seighart recommends a new digital network for libraries "which could include a single
management system, one library card valid in all libraries in England”.
He also comments that, “Having undertaken an extensive tour of England and met with
librarians, library users and councillors, I am convinced that public libraries are vital now and
in the future – as community hubs, especially where they are part of shared services and/or
co-location arrangements … whilst not considering changing the existing library authority
structures”
See more of his comments here.
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Libraries at the heart of our communities: broadening horizons, improving lives
Brighton and Hove are opening new libraries while others fight to save theirs:
 Woodingdean Library shares a building with a doctors’ surgery and was part of a £1.6
million project. The doors opened to the public on Monday 2 June.
 Next month the new Mile Oak Library is due to open in the £13 million extension to the
Portslade Aldridge Community Academy (PACA) in Chalky Road. It is currently housed
temporarily in the neighbouring sports centre. The library has long been shared by the
school and the community.
 In Falmer the Queen opened the Keep last November. The £19 million public records
office and archive is probably the most sophisticated library building in the south east.
It houses some of the historic collections held by Sussex University.
 Brighton University intends to include a library in its new building in Circus Street.
 Even the Jubilee Library is still widely regarded as new although it opened in 2005. Since
then several of Brighton and Hove’s 14 council-run libraries have been refurbished and
renovated, including Hangleton Library, after a flood, and Hove Library which was built
in 1908.
More
General News
Access to Research in Public Libraries – update
The Access to Research service giving free, walk-in access to a wide range of academic
articles and research in public libraries across the UK was launched with ten local authorities
from September - December 2013.
This service is now being rolled out across the UK from as part of a two year pilot with
currently over 200 local authorities signed up to take part.
20 of the major journal publishers have signed up for the pilot and since its initial launch
when 1.5 million open access articles were offered, this has since been increased to 4.5
million articles available to all in public libraries.
Last month there were over 3,000 users and the range of subject terms sought by users
were varied in the extreme with the top seven including: burniston barracks scalby mills
scarborough; democratic republic congo conflict; gay men's experience of therapy;
craniosynostosis; fracking and the common cold.
You can find out more here or, if this does not answer your questions, you could contact
Irene Campbell, Assistant Director: Community and Customer Services, East Sussex, on
01273 481347
The National Public Libraries Festival - our first celebration of all-things public library
The first ever national public libraries festival will be a day-long celebration of the creativity
and innovation happening in public libraries. The one-day public libraries festival, set to
coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act, will
bring together an exciting programme of interactive workshops, engaging discussions, fun
events, live music and theatre and much more.
We aim to:
 attract a new audience into the library and inspire them to become library users
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 confound perceptions of libraries as places of limited appeal or outdated institutions
with limited lifespans
 inspire library staff and drive change in the ways libraries are presented to the nonusing public
 focus on exciting future possibilities
If you support public libraries I urge you to donate to the Crowdfunder appeal (See below)
and support the festival - a brand new event to positively promote the strength and
dynamism of public libraries at a time when many are under threat. It also has the potential
to widen our audience and convert non-users. It will also be a brilliant day out! Now who can
argue with that?
 If you are interested in becoming a Public Library Festival corporate or institutional
sponsor, please contact Sue Lawson or Richard Veevers at librarycamp@yahoo.com.
 Call for funding over at Crowdfunder: http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/National-PublicLibraries-Festival/
What are the Authors’ attitudes to open access publishing in 2014?
With open access continuing to have a high profile, is all the debate and discussion helping
to inform researchers and influence their thinking?
The results of the 2014 Taylor & Francis Open Access Survey have been released for the first
time today at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/openaccess/opensurvey/2014. The survey
asked researchers a series of questions on their perceptions of open access; their attitudes,
values and understanding of it and what they believe the future of research communication
to be. Having previously surveyed their authors in 2013, the results offer some intriguing
shifts in opinions, placing responses from both years next to each another to show how
views have changed, and to what degree.
Responses show that positivity towards open access, when discussed in general, is growing.
There were significant increases in the proportions strongly agreeing that open access
offered a wider circulation than publication in a subscription journal (from 38% to 49%), and
that it offered higher visibility (27% to 35%). 70% of respondents also disagreed or strongly
disagreed with the statement ‘There are no fundamental benefits to open access
publication’, an increase of 10% year-on-year and a strong indicator that open access
continues to be viewed as a force for good.
Licences continue to be a contentious issue, with 53% of authors showing a first or second
preference for the CC-BY-NC-ND1 licence. Despite strong advocates for CC-BY, it remained
the ‘least preferred’ option in this survey. However, there is evidence that opinions on this
are softening as understanding increases, with this proportion dropping from 52% in 2013 to
35% this year.
The full survey results and top level report is now available on Taylor & Francis Online at
http://www.tandfonline.com/page/openaccess/opensurvey/2014. Findings on open access
mandates will be published soon.
1
See https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ for translation
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Jisc response to the recommendations from the Further Education Learning Technology
Action Group (FELTAG) report
We look forward to working with the Education & Training Foundation and sector
membership partners through our experts, services and technological infrastructure to
transform the UK’s digital learning experience.
“Working together across the sector we will contribute to the developments sought by
FELTAG in particular across technology horizon scanning, investment and capital
infrastructure, relationships between the further education community and employers,
engaging learners, access and inclusion. Through this work we’ll help providers, learners and
the sector workforce improve their use and implementation of digital technologies across all
aspects of the FE and skills sector.”
Jisc is closely involved in the work with Educational Technology Advisory Group (ETAG)
working with both the Department for Education and BIS as well as HE and FE stakeholders
contributing our detailed knowledge of the higher education sector to that already provided
for FELTAG on FE and skills.
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/jisc-response-to-the-recommendations-from-the-furthereducation-learning-technology-action
Wellcome Library re-opening
As of Monday 23 June, we are open Monday-Saturday once again.
We’d like to extend a huge thanks to Library users who have been so supportive and
understanding during the recent works. We still have some works to complete, so please
bear with us for a little bit longer! Library opening hours and details of forthcoming closures
can be found on the Library website:
http://wellcomelibrary.org/using-the-library/visiting-the-library/opening-hours/
If you have any questions at all about the Wellcome Collection Development project please
don’t hesitate to get in touch. Phoebe Harkins, Communications Co-ordinator, Wellcome
Library p.harkins@WELLCOME.AC.UK
The Public Library as a therapeutic place
It has long been believed that the local library provides a form of refuge for many as well as
being a source of information and enjoyment. Some recent research by Liz Brewster from
Department of Health Sciences at the University of Leicester, based on work in Sheffield, has
provided confirmation. The research itself (The public library as therapeutic landscape: a
qualitative case study) may be accessible to you in the original Journal Health and Place, if
not, an interesting review is available to all here.
Free books given away at food banks
"Booktrust has given away 2,500 children’s books to foodbanks as part of June’s National
Book Start Week. Between 9th-15th June, the charity gave away copies of Jez Alborough’s
Super Duck (HarperCollins) to 60 foodbanks in England in partnership with Trussell Trust
Foodbank network." ... "Booktrust is now looking to supply foodbanks with free books
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during next year’s National Bookstart Week. Any interested groups can contact
nbw@booktrust.org.uk."
Can you pick out individual articles from a variety of journals and create your own themed
ejournal?
Response from Lorraine Estelle, JISC Collections: ‘We have addressed these issues in our
discussions with Browzine. The Jisc Collections negotiated Agreement can be found at:
https://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/News/Browzine-offer/ .
Pop up lending Art library
The Art Lending Library, originally commissioned by Glasgow’s Market Gallery and created
by Walker & Bromwich, is a series of crates fitted together, filled with donated works of art
from living contemporary artists around the world. Anybody who walks into one of the
libraries where the project is housed can sign out a work of art of their choosing, and the
piece is crated up and shipped to their house for up to a week.
The project was first shown at the Mitchell Library, one of Europe’s largest public reference
libraries, as part of the Glasgow International Art Festival in 2012. In early May of this year,
the library finished its second run, this time in Darlington.
The project starts with a parade, where volunteers dressed as librarians (! Ed) and movers
wheel the crates through town, gathering steam and interested attendees as they roll along
on the way to the library. Their aim is to attract the widest range of people possible to come
and see the art. At the heart of the project is the aim of bringing fine art into the lives of all
who want to experience it, and a belief that libraries make an excellent tool for doing just
that. http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2014/06/industry-news/pop-up-lending-library-letsusers-take-home-contemporary-fine-art/
OCLC Research launches multilingual bibliographic structure activity
In order to leverage the multilingual content in WorldCat and make it easier for users to
identify resources in their preferred language and script, OCLC Research has launched the
multilingual bibliographic structure activity to mine the data from translated works, with the
goal of improving work clustering, presentation, linked data representations and to
contribute generally to global knowledge. They are also generating work-translation
("expression level") records—including the translated title and translator with links to the
original work and the author—and adding them to VIAF (Virtual International Authority File),
flagged as "xR". At the same time, they are marking up these generated VIAF records using
linked data schema so that the relationship of each work with their associated translations
and translators can be shared in the Semantic Web.
7 surprises about libraries
A recent Pew survey of public libraries and their users brought up some interesting results:
 It is mainly older people who use libraries – No: Those ages 65 and older are less likely
to have visited a library in the past 12 months than those under that age.
 Although 10% of Americans have never used a library, they think libraries are good for
their communities.
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
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E-book reading is rising but just 4% of Americans are “e-book only” readers.
Those who read both e-books and printed books prefer to read in the different formats
under different circumstances.
Those who use libraries are more likely than others to be book buyers and actually
prefer to buy books, rather than borrow them.
36% said libraries should “definitely not” make changes with the ways they arrange
their books, such as moving some print books and stacks out of public locations to free
up more space for tech centers, reading rooms and cultural events, according to our
2013 survey. However, some 20% of respondents said libraries should “definitely” make
those changes and 39% said libraries should “maybe” consider moving some books and
stacks. Full details here
A Library in Your Living Room : (In case anyone missed this) Marketing Support for Public
Libraries. Oxford University Press has created an entire website for public libraries staff and
members in order to help promote and discover your digital reference resources from OUP.
From marketing materials to logos, and from quizzes to social media templates, you’ll find it
all online. From Public library News, 27-5-14
Events
Scholarly Social - Theme: "the best professional advice you've been given"
Where: London
When: July 2nd
Cost: Free
"Scholarly Social is an open and collaborative space to share ideas and make connections
with people involved in scholarly communication. You don't represent your organisation,
just your individual self, and everyone connected to scholarly communication is welcome,
including publishing staff from all departments, librarians, researchers (both established and
early career), consultants, intermediaries, lecturers and students."
You are very welcome to come along and join us for a drink at the second Scholarly Social in
London next week - Wednesday July 2nd.
Find more information and register at : http://scholarly.eventbrite.co.uk
If you can't make this one, join the
<https://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=8110592> LinkedIn group to be informed
of future events. Do spread the word. Hope to see you there!
Bernie Folan and Ginny Hendricks (Ardent Marketing <http://ardent-marketing.com/> )
ARLG West Midlands Committee Meeting
When: Tuesday July 15th
Where: The Hive, Worcester
The next meeting of ARLG West Midlands will take place on Tuesday 15th July 10.30am at
The Hive, University of Worcester. New committee members would be welcomed so please
encourage colleagues to come along. We are a friendly group and are looking for new
members from institutions not currently represented on the Committee.
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If you are interested in finding out more about the committee or would like to come along to
the meeting please contact Clare Langman, Chair ARLG West Midlands
c.langman@aston.ac.uk
The Music of War: 1914-1918
This three-day international conference is held as part of the British Library's Centenary
events programme.
Where: British Library, London
When: 29-31 August 2014
Cost: £25 / £15 (per day), £60 / £40 (3-day rate). The concessionary rate is available to
members of the Royal Musical Association, overs 60s, students and the unwaged.
Tickets include refreshments, a wine reception on Saturday evening, and free
admission to the silent film Pax Aeterna and War, Women and Song. (Saturday
evening)*
Keynote speakers:
Dr Kate McLoughlin (Birkbeck, London) and Professor Rachel Cowgill (Cardiff University)
For more information, including the programme and registration details, please visit the
conference website: www.themusicofwar.org and for conference-related enquiries, please
contact: themusicofwar@gmail.com
Generously supported by: The British Library, Royal Musical Association Music & Letters
Trust, The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities.
Happily Ever After? The 13th Annual eBooks Conference
Presented by SLIC in conjunction with SCURL and Jisc RSC Scotland
When: Friday 5th September 2014,
Where: The Graham Hills Building (1st Floor), The University of Strathclyde, 50 Richmond
Street, Glasgow, G1 1XP www.strath.ac.uk/maps/grahamhillsbuilding/
Cost: £90 per person + VAT (early bird rate until 31st July).
Please note, we will invoice your organisation.
Booking form: https://www.formstack.com/forms/?1743277-rdaczhVOcG
Speakers include: Rachel Gregory, Troubador Publishing; Gerald Leitner, EBLIDA; Alistair
McNaught, Jisc TechDis; Richard Parsons, University of Dundee; Claire Squires, Stirling
Centre for International Publishing and Communication and more to be announced.
Accommodation: The University of Strathclyde are able to offer on-campus en-suite single
rooms with breakfast, at very reasonable rates. To book or enquire about the
accommodation Tel: 0141 548 3604 or email: rescat@strath.ac.uk or
accommodationglasgow@strath.ac.uk
Alternatively, near-by hotels include: Premier Inn, Glasgow City Centre (George Square)
www.premierinn.com, The Mercure Hotel, Ingram Street www.mercure.com, The
Millennium Hotel, George Square www.millenniumhotels.co.uk.
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Questions regarding the Conference: please get in touch - Lorna Watt, Admin & Events
Officer, SLIC, 151 West George Street, Glasgow G2 2JJ Tel: 0141 228 6341
Website:www.scottishlibraries.org
Joining the Dots: Inspire, Innovate and Inform
Where: Lancaster
When: 14th and 15th October
Cost: £199.00 for the entire event
Are you innovative and ambitious?
We are delighted to be able to announce details below of a new Lancashire Libraries
national conference which has been designed for innovative, ambitious, aspiring and
dynamic library staff. We would particularly welcome middle managers, or those new to
management and we believe the reasonable cost of £199.00 for the entire event will enable
budget holders to support these delegates to attend what could potentially be their first
professional conference.
This two day conference will include keynotes by Wayne Hemingway and Paul McGee, there
are full details on our website at http://new.lancashire.gov.uk/joining-the-dots where you
will also find the programme including a choice of workshops covering topics such as
motivation, management, marketing and the arts in libraries. The event will be held at the
prestigious Lancaster House Hotel.
For further information please email JoiningtheDots@Lancashire.gov.uk
Registration is now open for the exciting two day digital preservation conference
‘Investing in Opportunity: Policy Practice and Planning for a Sustainable Digital Future’
Where: Wellcome Trust, London
When: 17th – 18th November 2014
Cost: Free
Funded by the European Commission, ‘Investing in Opportunity’ is a free conference but
places are limited so booking is essential to avoid disappointment. Register now.
Brought to you by the 4C project (Collaboration to Clarify the Costs of Curation) and the DPC
(Digital Preservation Coalition), the conference will compare the strategic economic
aspirations of funders and policy makers against the practical experience of digital
preservation, including perspectives from practitioners, vendors and users of digital
preservation services. It will identify emerging best practice and will provide a forum for
needs and practical requirements to be articulated.
Participants will be invited to review key 4C Project deliverables, considering the
implications of these resources and providing the opportunity to shape these to suit
community needs before they are submitted to the European Commission. In particular
participants will have a final chance to influence the soon to be published Digital Curation
Roadmap.
The conference also coincides with a ceremony at which the biennial Digital Preservation
Awards will be presented.
Who should come?
This conference will be beneficial to:
 Research funders
 Funders of digital infrastructure
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 Collections managers, librarians, curators and archivists in memory institutions and
higher education
 Information and records managers in regulated sectors whether in the public or
private sector CIOs and CTOs in organisations with commercial intellectual
property such as publishers or content creators
 Vendors and developers with digital preservation solutions
 Researchers who have an interest in using well curated digital content whatever its
size,
 Provenance or content type Agencies and SMEs with a commercial interest in
curated
 information
Digital content creators, curators and funders alike, across public and private sectors, will
find relevance in addresses from leaders in digital curation. Their insightful analyses of the
state of the art in digital curation will remind us all of the need to make smart investments
now, buying ourselves options for the sustainable digital future we are striving to achieve.
And the 4C project will aim to show us how.
Keep an eye on the 4C Project and DPC website for conference theme and speaker
announcements. For the latest ‘Investing in Opportunity’ Conference news
follow @4c_project on Twitter or search #IIO2014.
Sarah Middleton, sarah@dpconline.org
http://www.dpconline.org/
End Notes
A Point of View: ‘What happens when a library falls silent?’
For anyone who missed A.L. Kennedy’s Pont of View on library closures on Radio 4 earlier
this month, the transcript is here.
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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