|
|
|
Deadline |
. |
December 2004
Editorial Another Deadline, another list. Well, Christmas is a time for making lists so we decided to ask various AUKML members to name their favourite websites and books of the year. The respondents may have been reluctant to do it, but their answers show an interesting array of sources - some more obvious than others. Also answering questions is Brian Hanrahan, the veteran BBC foreign correspondent who does the My internet questionnaire. Older readers of Deadline may remember Dave Webb's reminiscences about the old days of Fleet Street. Dave has now left the media but is still a librarian and in this editon of Deadline writes about his new life behind the wheel of a mobile library. Instead of the Day in the life diary, Astrid Lange tells us about the information department at the Toronto Star and we also have a review of the highly succesful AUKML Christmas quiz. Deadline is produced by Richard Nelsson, Alan Power, Katy Heslop and Linda MacDonald from the Guardian Research Department. Please send news, reviews and letters to: richard.nelsson@guardian.co.uk. The opinions expressed in Deadline are not necessarily those of the AUKML.
The Best of 2004 Deadline asked AUKML members to list their favourite websites and books of the year. Mick Brunton Getrud Erbach Alexandra Erskine Richard Nelsson Paul Pedley Katharine Schopflin Jill Tulip Ian Watson
UK News The British Library recently became the biggest hotspot in central London. The St Pancras repository has been equipped with Wi-Fi access. The library's 3,000 or so daily visitors - 86 percent of whom bring their laptops with them - can make use of the facility at a cost of £4.50 per hour or £3 for thirty minutes. The WiFi zone extends to all of the library's 11 reading rooms as well as the auditorium, cafe, restaurant and outside seating. Further details at: http://www.bl.uk/cgi-bin/press.cgi?story=1454. This month the Guardian reported that many public libraries do not advertise their online resources to users because they are too costly. The problem is due to restrictive and expensive licence agreements with vendors, where for example it can cost a library £5,000 a year for a two-user licence for a year's access to the Times digital archive. Full story http://society.guardian.co.uk/e-public/story/0,,1362873,00.html. This story comes at a time when UK information vendors are experiencing a continued downturn in sales. According to a survey in Information World, vendors saw average year-on-year change in sales falling from -0.2% in 2002 to -3.6% in 2003. http://www.iwr.co.uk/IWR/1159713. If you can't afford the Times archive then you can always log on to the new Scottish equivalent. The Scotsman archive has been put online for the first time. Searching is free, while subscribers can access every article published in Scotland's leading newspaper between 1817 and 1900 at: http://tinyurl.com/6dtbj for around £100 a year for an annual subscription, or buy a 24-hour pass for £5.95. The newspaper is hoping to complete the project by adding all editions to 1950 in the near future. US NEWS Iran and America are again making headlines, but not all of them are about the Islamic Republic's alleged possession of WMDs. The two nations have signed an agreement to share library materials with one another. The cooperation is the first of its kind since the US broke diplomatic relations with Iran following the US embassy hostage crisis in Tehran in 1979. The agreement authorises an information exchange between the Library of Congress with Iran's National Library and Archives of the Islamic Republic of Iran, includes materials such as books, periodicals and information on research technology and allows for cooperation on preserving old manuscripts, exploring invitations to one another to take part in fairs, exhibitions and cultural programs including films and music http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2004/04-199.html. While American Democrats get over their recent election drubbing they can at least celebrate the inauguration of former Democratic president Bill Clinton's memorial library. The William J Clinton Presidential Center became the twelfth repository for presidential papers - following in the footsteps of Reagan, Bush senior et al - giving public access to the archives of the highest office in the land. The $165m library contains a far fuller record of his presidency than any other leader, holding 80m pieces of paper, 21m electronic documents, 2m photographs and 79,000 objects. Over 20,000 documents are searchable at the website: http://www.clintonpresidentialcenter.org/.
Did you know? DID YOU KNOW? When is a fact not a fact? When it's a factoid. Contrary to popular wisdom factoids are not facts, they are, er, in fact, something resembling a fact and are usually unverified information that is given credibility because it has appeared in print. This needs to be remembered the next time the news desk asks for a panel of factoids to accompany an article in the next day's paper.
Brian Hanrahan has been a BBC foreign correspondent for 20 years. He was the BBC correspondent during the Falklands war. In 1989 he was present in Tiananmen Square, in Poland for the installation of the first non-communist government in Eastern Europe, at the fall of the Berlin wall and the Romanian revolution. Since then he has been a diplomatic correspondent and one of the presenters of The World, BBC Four's daily current affairs programme. He also presents special programmes on major national and international events and provides live commentary for state occasions. CAN YOU REMEMBER WHEN YOU FIRST USED THE INTERNET? HOW OFTEN DO YOU GO ONLINE? WHICH SEARCH ENGINE DO YOU USUALLY USE? CAN YOU NAME ANY OTHER SEARCH ENGINES? NOW THAT YOU CAN SEARCH THE INTERNET YOURSELF, DO YOU THINK THERE IS STILL A ROLE FOR LIBRARIANS/INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS? NAME YOUR THREE FAVOURITE SITES ARE THERE ANY SITES THAT YOU FIND REALLY IRRITATING? HAVE YOU EVEN BEEN SO BORED THAT YOU'VE 'GOOGLED' YOURSELF? DO YOU STILL USE OLD MEDIA? WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST PLEASURABLE EXPERIENCE WHILST SEARCHING ONLINE?
Inspired by the recent film "Calendar Girls", members of the Library Directors of Dallas County have released a 2005 calendar. However, unlike the Women's Institute members in the film, the librarians will be keeping all their clothes firmly on. So nothing like the film at all really. http://tinyurl.com/5nspt.
Astrid Lange, Library and Research Specialist at the Toronto Star, writes about her love of research and how a wealth of trivial facts provides perfect cocktail party fodder. In 2002, the Toronto Star launched a bold redesign, which happened to coincide with the 110th anniversary of the newspaper. While 110 is not an anniversary of particular note, editors thought the paper was entering a new era with the redesign, and this anniversary would give them the opportunity to celebrate the rich history of The Star and to recognize all the departments and individuals who work behind the scenes at this Toronto institution. Our staff of 13 library and research specialists, which usually fields up to 50 questions from reporters daily, found themselves working at an even more hectic pace in the weeks before the launch, digging through 110 years of history for material for The Star's 110th anniversary sections. It was perhaps the biggest history research project we'd ever tackled. Library staff worked long hours on the anniversary project and amid it all, the news didn't stop. During our history quest, a sniper was terrorising Washington, D.C., the Canadian census was released and The Star broke a story on racial profiling among Toronto police. And, of course, we were asked for background research for all these news stories. Needless to say, we were busy.But it was worth it. The anniversary sections really showcased our work. Our Saturday editor said, "It wouldn't have been possible to do this project without librarians. They were the backbone of it." The special sections even featured an article that paid tribute to our department and the work we do. It concluded with a laudatory comment from our foreign editor: "It's absolutely unthinkable now to conceive of an important story in The Star that could possibly reach its full potential without the library's input. Simply put, they make us a better paper." Our situation probably sounds familiar to many news librarians. Working in a news environment can be stimulating, but frantic at the same time. We cannot anticipate busy times of the day, week or even the year. News - and the work that comes with it - just happens. But library and research specialists at the Toronto Star not only provide research services to reporters and editors in the newsroom. We also maintain an electronic archive of Toronto Star content (including text and photographs); we have designed and maintain a research intranet for newsroom use; we train editorial staff on library resources; and like most research libraries we maintain a collection of reference books, magazines and government documents. But the research aspect is one thing I really love about my job. I'm curious by nature and the work we do does provide endless cocktail fodder. I can always fill a lull in conversation at any gathering! Because of the wide variety of topics I research on a daily basis, I maintain a wealth of:
- useless facts: Did you know in Australia, the number one topping for pizza is eggs? OK, sometimes my trivial knowledge doesn't make me the hit of the party.When my trivia fails, the habits and idiosyncrasies of journalists can also be endlessly entertaining:
- I was asked to summarise the Yugoslav crisis in two sentences today! I often think, 'What would I do in social situations if I were not a librarian at The Star?' (I would probably still rattle off useless facts, but without the excuse of it being my job.) With knowledge like this, how could I not love my job? It's the perfect environment for a news and trivia junkie like me. I'll take the hectic pace, the daily frustrations because I really like what I do for a living and I really like the people I work with. It really is rewarding being the "backbone" of a Toronto institution. Astrid Lange
Who named it? MIPT Terrorism Database Book Collector Search Engine Top Search
AUKML Christmas quiz and party presented with the Oxford University Press University of Westminster, 14th December 2004. The quiz was held in the University of Westminster's Cavendish Campus. Quizmaster was OUP's Anne Kail and Machteld de Waard took down the scores. There were four rounds plus the tie-breaker question. The Pink Pearls could have taken a year's subscription to any OUP product each but as three were from the BBC, they took one subscription to American Biography Online and the other team member, from IPC, claimed the DNB online itself. Canapes were served after the quiz. The general consensus was that the quiz was extremely well thought-out, with some quite challenging questions. After each round Anne went through the answers demonstrating the flexible different ways the DNB online can be searched and also the depth and range of the content. Trevor Dunmore commented that, "Biography is good 'fodder' for quizzes I must say...inside every demure librarian is surely a raging competitive spirit", while Mary Bone enjoyed the evening and thought that "it was a fun way of demonstrating a product". Finally, Peter Chapman said, "Many thanks (Katharine Schopflin) for organising such an entertaining evening, and thanks too to OUP for making the online DNB so interesting without being over-pushy on the sales pitch!" Professionals and Neophytes: Librarians, End Users and online information IPC, 24th November 2004. AUKML/ICLG Open Day for Graduate Trainees and Students, 4th October 2004.
After nearly forty years as a news librarian, Dave Webb felt it was time for a change. Here the former Deadline columnist describes his new role as a homebound librarian in Lewisham - a job that includes being asked to play Jesus in the nativity play. Is there life after Wapping? Yes there is. Since my escape over the wire life couldn't be better. After thirty-three years (thirty-eight if you include the period on the Daily Herald and broadsheet Sun) my Fleet Street and Wapping days were behind me. I left Wapping over two years ago with a reasonable pension and redundancy. Work was not imperative. However it soon became apparent that I needed something to stimulate me. I thought it was time I started to put something back in life and do something a little worthwhile. Scanning the local newspapers I spotted an advertisement for Centaur Travel. This entailed collecting children with learning difficulties from their homes and delivering them to their school in Belvedere and taking them home again in the afternoon. Two days after the interview a minibus was delivered to my door with the route pinned to the dashboard. The pay was not a lot but I thoroughly enjoyed the work. The kids were noisy, mischievous and very funny. One lad Brian would sing at the top of his voice, "Who Let The Dogs Out?" over and over again. Eventually the whole bus would scream "Shut Up!". On another occasion I was amazed how quiet all my passengers were. When I got home I discovered they had removed every headrest. Another day I was driving them home and wondered why I had this cold blast of air on my back. Looking in the mirror to my horror I could see Brian with the emergency door open pretending he was riding shotgun for Wells Fargo standing on the running board. A few weeks later I saw another advertisement for a Homebound Librarian with Lewisham Council. I applied and was invited to an interview at Lewisham Central Library. The job was for three days a week, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, operating in the Grove Park area. I was later telephoned at home and offered the post pending police checks and a council driving test. I felt proud of myself as there were a lot of applicants. Working in a library for many years and the job with Centaur Travel proved an advantage. I was asked when I could start. Bit of a problem here as I had booked a flight to Australia and would be away for over a month. I was told I could start training for the job prior to my leave. There was a lot to learn. I had my leave and on my return had forgotten most of what I had been taught. My driving test was arranged. A homebound librarian was to meet me at the depot with her van and introduce me to the examiner. This she did - minus a van. The examiner shook my hand and said, "OK, where have you parked the van?" Shuffling my feet I replied, "I don't have one." "Well neither do I. All I have is a minibus." Looking pleased I said, "That's OK. I can drive a minibus." "Fine" said the instructor. "Lets go." Walking round the yard my mouth dropped as the minibus came into view. When I told him I could drive a minibus I should have emphasised the word MINI. I mean nine seater Mini. This beast carried 19 passengers. I gulped as I climbed aboard. As I started the big Mercedes diesel I could hear the opening bars of Summer Holiday with Cliff Richard and The Shadows with Una Stubbs dancing and singing in the background. At the end of the test the instructor asked me to park between two vehicles. After much to'oing and fro'ing he said, "Well you made heavy weather of that." "Sorry," I said, "but I haven't parked anything this big before." I passed the test. Taking it in a minibus proved advantageous as I was now qualified to drive more than just the council van. Often events are laid on for homebound borrowers, such as local history and introductory courses on the internet. It is a nice day out for people who are homebound. I usually have the task of collecting them in the minibus and taking them to the library where they have the opportunity to select items. If the talk is on local history the local historian will have done his homework and found out where the people live and show them pictures and slides accordingly. Tea and biscuits will then be provided before being taken home to their door. There are six homebound librarians, three full time and the others part time. Initially I was employed to work a 21 hour week, but this has now increased to 23 and a half and covering Wednesday on overtime. Two homebound librarians operate from Catford, and two from Lewisham (including myself), one from Wavelengths in Deptford and another from Grove Park Library. I have around 120 clients - excluding the Wednesday rounds covered on overtime. They are visited on a monthly basis and can have as many items as they wish. This includes books, talking books, CDs, tapes, jigsaws and now a limited stock of videos. Items can be borrowed for three months. There are no fines for overdue items. I start work at 9am. The first task is to make up the round for the afternoon. Logging into Dynix I access the Homebound module and print off the round. I then pull up each name on that round which tells me the borrowers' preferances. For example M Morgan. 9 Talking Books. Tapes Only. Travel. Biogs. Classics. No Romance. M Ogley. 4 ordinary print. Audrey Howard. Mary Staples. Josephine Cox. Lesley Pearse. After a short time the borrower will read all the books by their preferred authors. A useful reference book is Who Else Writes Like? Dynix will also tell me when and if an item has been issued before and also marks out of ten of what they thought of the item. A lot of the borrowers will ask for specific titles. Dynix will tell me where the item is held. If not in Lewisham I will have to place a hold accordingly. Occasionally a request is asked for which is not in stock and will have to be purchased. London Libraries is a useful site to find the location of certain items. I have also used Laser on one or two occasions. At 1pm I load the van and do my deliveries. On my return around 3.30pm I unload and check items back in. Any additional time is used tracing items and ordering. We carry useful leaflets such as Shopmobility schemes, How to claim benefits and videos such as Feel Safe In Your Home issued by Careline. The reading capacity of some borrowers amazes me. A mother and son have 40 books a month. They assure me that they read them all. We find that we do a lot more than deliver. I have changed light bulbs, moved fridges, put out the rubbish, posted letters and collected prescriptions. On one occasion I rang a lady's intercom. No answer. I rang again. Eventually a voice asked, "Who is it?" "It's David - Library." "Who?" "Library!" I shouted. "Laundry? I don't want no bleedin' laundry." An assessment has to be made before a new borrower is added to the Homebound service. A librarian returned to the library after visiting a borrower and told us he was invited to sit down. After the interview the lady informed him her husband was incontinent and asked him if he would like a cup of tea. Standing up to leave he felt a damp patch on the back of his trousers. He refused. After telling us this story a librarian told him he looked a little downcast. "So would you.", I said, "He's been on the piss all morning." It's amazing what people use as bookmarks. Someone told me they once found a rasher of bacon. I have just glanced at the minutes from a Reader Development Meeting. The opening lines are as follows: "It was reported that the Management Team were having meetings about meetings and that some changes were likely." Looking forward to this one. Someone today asked me if I remembered Boney M. I had to admit that I had. "Good, you can play Mary's Boy Child at the Christmas concert." So you see the job does have its unpleasant tasks as well.
In September we announced the "exciting news" that ER's Noah Wyle was to star in an action adventure set in the hidden vaults of the New York Public Library. The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (http://www.tnt.tv/Title/Display/0,5918,543783,00.html) aired on TNT in the US a few weeks ago and rumour has it that a series is in the offing. Sounds great, but we at Deadline prefer the spoof: http://homepage.mac.com/cg6025/tnt_thelibrarian.jpg. New York's finest librarians also popped up in the recent blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow (http://www.thedayaftertomorrowmovie.com). According to one Newslibber, the librarians are the only characters sensible enough to stay indoors (everyone else freezes to death), and save the life of a little girl by using a reference book to diagnose her illness. They also burn government documents rather than books to keep warm. Go librarians! Speaking of books, watch out for Woodstock author Larry Beinhart's latest political thriller The Librarian (http://tinyurl.com/657a5), about David Goldberg, a hard-up college librarian who gets a moonlighting job cataloguing files for a prominent real estate magnate in Washington, D.C. He uncovers a secret Republican plot to undermine the campaign of the Democratic challenger on the eve of the election and all hell breaks loose. Also released recently, and somehow missed by the pages of Deadline, is Read 'Til You Rock, by Barbara Bush. This children's book features a librarian-turned-superhero. Get the digital download here: http://tinyurl.com/4zb2u. While we're on a political note, the Librarians Against Bush (http://www.librariansagainstbush.org) can't be happy with the recent election result in the States, but they'd like us to know that they're "Still here and Still Against Bush!" Their blog is a great source for political web content. The award for Best Slogan of the Month goes to Librarian.net (http://www.librarian.net), "Putting the rarin' back in librarian since 1993". Nominations on a postcard to the usual address. Finally, as a late halloween offering, we invite you to join Bunny and Jeanne at Spooky Librarians (http://www.spookylibrarians.com/about.html). Thanks to them for highlighting this Johns Hopkins article (http://www.jhu.edu/gazette/2004/06dec04/06brody.html); have you hugged your librarian today? Hang on - here's yet another piece about our favourite topic; What the hell does a librarian look like these days? In a new Deadline feature, Alan Power will trawl the newspapers to see if they have any idea, so the next time we see a librarian, we know what she (it's usually a she) looks like. In this edition: Wearing huge Deirdre Barlow glasses and with a dowdy haircut, she [Sharon Osborne] looked like a mousy librarian - not an ambitious young lawyer - Caroline Jones in The Mirror 11/11/2004. Craig Levein may be a softly spoken sort with the bespectacled, studious look of a librarian, but the fire within was highlighted when he once knocked a team mate unconscious during a pre-season friendly - Rick Broadbent in The Times 9/11/2004. She could see it was no good bringing out all sorts of dead-plain classy classics - I'd only look like a librarian, and nothing like Prada's sexy millennium version - Lucia van der Post in The Times 5/11/2004. For those similarly obsessed with what librarians look like, see: http://www.librarian-image.net/.
|
