Martin Killeen and Michele Shoebridge
The Birmingham University Library contains over 1.7 million items and has 26,000 registered borrowers. It has a staff of over 130 and serves a user population of over 10,000 full…
Abstract
The Birmingham University Library contains over 1.7 million items and has 26,000 registered borrowers. It has a staff of over 130 and serves a user population of over 10,000 full time students and 1,500 academic and research staff. Around 26,000 new volumes are added to the collection annually. Current periodical subscriptions number over 4,000.
Martin Myhill, Michele Shoebridge and Lee Snook
This paper aims to consider the potential use of Web 2.0 tools as the basis for the creation of a virtual research environment. Specific features of the Web 2.0 world are explored…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to consider the potential use of Web 2.0 tools as the basis for the creation of a virtual research environment. Specific features of the Web 2.0 world are explored because of their suitability for this purpose.
Design/methdology/approach
The concepts of virtual research environment and Web 2.0 are defined and the theoretical merits of using Web 2.0 tools are considered against the key components required for the successful implementation and operation of a VRE in the context of the UK academic sector. The most relevant Web 2.0 tools are considered on a brief, individual basis before being mixed together to construct a desktop‐based VRE based on a web browser. Final sections explore the role for the librarian in this user‐led environment and whether the approach described has global application.
Findings
A VRE based on Web 2.0 technology is not only viable but a certainty. However, some desirable features of a VRE may have to wait until Web 3.0 tools become available.
Research limitations/implications
There is very limited literature describing operational applications of a Web 2.0 approach to the development of a VRE. This study is therefore conceptual.
Practical implications
The concepts considered are capable of easy implementation by academic researchers.
Originality/value
A major impact of the “credit‐crunch” will be that research funds become harder to obtain. Systems which enhance the quality of research – as a VRE undoubtedly does – will become even more important. The paper concludes that a VRE based on Web 2.0 tools is totally viable.
Details
Keywords
Michele Shoebridge, Marie‐Pierre Détraz and Jill Evans
The purpose of this article is to summarise the outcomes of the one‐year Monograph Interlending Project jointly funded by CURL and the British Library in 2004‐2005.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to summarise the outcomes of the one‐year Monograph Interlending Project jointly funded by CURL and the British Library in 2004‐2005.
Design/methodology/approach
The article presents the main features of the BookNow model – a blueprint for a consortial monograph inter‐lending service, as developed by the Project, and discusses the issues it has brought to the fore.
Findings
The BookNow model, which was developed with a view to testing the viability of the BLDSC‐Plus option recommended by the 2003 consultancy report, Monograph Interlending for the Higher Education Research Community, is a radical and innovative customer‐focused system for the delivery of inter‐library loans (ILL) across the UK. However, initial business planning indicated a very high cost to both the British Library and higher education libraries, were the service to be developed. In addition it is unclear whether this level of investment is necessary within the context of more recent initiatives which are fundamentally transforming the library and information landscape, in particular, the Google digitisation programme and the potential for developing services based on revealing content through Amazoogle strategies. The Project has nevertheless highlighted a number of areas where CURL and the British Library could usefully work together and in cooperation with other partners within the library and information community to improve current ILL practices for the immediate future.
Originality/value
This is an original piece of research identifying ways of improving the delivery of ILL across the UK.
Details
Keywords
Campus wide information systems (CWIS) are the newest development in the electronic campus, providing information on many aspects of campus life. This article gives a brief…
Abstract
Campus wide information systems (CWIS) are the newest development in the electronic campus, providing information on many aspects of campus life. This article gives a brief overview of CWIS development in the United Kingdom as at summer 1993. As yet there is no definitive CWIS, so a range of third generation systems were looked at in detail at the Universities of Birmingham, Bradford and Stirling. Within each, attention is given to differences in organisational policy, functionality, software and information provision. An appraisal of the specific case studies was undertaken both onsite and remotely via a national gateway. A comparison of the systems draws out features that should be available on an ideal CWIS. Future developments, including the advent of standards such as X.500 and Z39.50 and the adoption of common software, will lead to greater interaction between institutions. All of this coupled with the development of hypermedia and multimedia will ensure CWISs will become a powerful tool in the provision of information.
The British Library's “most lavishly‐illustrated book to date” (better even than their Annual Report?) is Treasures of the British Library, ISBN 07123 0155 0, 290 x 219mm, £25, by…
Abstract
The British Library's “most lavishly‐illustrated book to date” (better even than their Annual Report?) is Treasures of the British Library, ISBN 07123 0155 0, 290 x 219mm, £25, by Nicolas Barker and the curatorial staff of the British Library, illustrated with 138 colour and 190 black‐and‐white photographs of outstanding items in the Library's collections. Printed books, illuminated manuscripts, papyri, autograph albums, maps, music, oriental material of all kinds, stamps, paintings, prints, photographs, ephemera, sculpture, furniture, sound recordings and newspapers are all featured so there cannot be many examples from each category, but they have been chosen as landmarks in the history of the development of the national collection and the choices made will be of great interest.
Abstract
Details
Keywords
Describes a number of experiments with electronic documentdelivery, and the copyright problems that are affecting its use.Considers the inadequacies of interlending for the user…
Abstract
Describes a number of experiments with electronic document delivery, and the copyright problems that are affecting its use. Considers the inadequacies of interlending for the user, the interlending in Eastern Europe and Australia. Outlines the impact of CD‐ROM on document supply and suggests that interlending can be a social, cultural and economic measure.