Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: New Library World, Volume 111, Issue 5/6
A taskforce on online learning is looking at topics which include the current level of online provision, the international market for online learning, student demand levels and student perceptions of online learning in UK higher education. The task force will make recommendations to the Higher Education Funding Council for England. In their article, Somerville and Brar present a case study within the context of the North American higher education environment, which illustrates the shift from a teaching to a learning orientation and the transformation of an information commons into a learning commons, integrating ideas from both stakeholders and beneficiaries.
The volume of UK government information available online has steadily increased. Parliament, government departments and agencies publish a wide range of documents, services and information online in a variety of formats. This volume of information multiplies if taking a European rather than country approach. The article from Terra presents research results from a study into the information behaviour of European Documentation Centre (EDC) users. It reflects on the practices of some users of 55 EDCs covering 21 member states of the European Union in accessing European information, and notes that information behaviour is influenced by the multilingual and multicultural context.
A seminar on “Information security, data, social networking risks and knowledge capability” from the Aerospace & Defence Librarians Group provided advice on keeping data safe online together with knowledge management tips. One of the valuable warnings was that a piece of software (costing only£370) is all that is needed to read other people’s emails on the web. Another example given was that the BBC’s Watchdog once randomly sought to “friend” 100 people on Facebook – 37 agreed, and the programme makers managed to open two online bank accounts with information obtained from Facebook profiles. In his article, Zimerman describes how malware can harm a library’s computers and also how technology can be used to protect them. Despite some complex issues, Zimerman’s article is presented in a way that can be easily understood by the non-technical.
In the UK in 2009, almost 9,000 adults took part in the Reading Agency’s Six Book Challenge – 25 per cent more than in 2008. This challenge encourages people to get into reading by choosing, reading and discussing books,and participants aim to read six books and to keep a reading diary. The Six Book Challenge is being launched in 2010 with a new blog www.sixbookchallenge.org.uk,new materials, training and a prize draw. The article from Dali considers on readers’ advisory services in North American public libraries, with focus readers advisory for immigrant readers. It is argued that personal interactions with immigrant readers, in the context of the readers’ advisory interview,can be an efficient way to engage immigrant readers in the life of the host society. Such interactions can help to extend the bond and partnership between immigrant readers and public libraries beyond basic information needs.
A small survey on the use of Twitter in health libraries, medical schools and related organisations, has found that the organisations which joined Twitter have done so out of curiosity rather than user demand and use it for tasks such as sharing links, networking and keeping current. The survey also found that most of those surveyed had a positive experience (Library & Information Update, 2010). Social tagging forms the basis of the article from Thomas,Caudle and Schmitz. They consider social tags in folksonomies, which they find suffer from a certain degree of messiness and inconsistency because there are no rules governing the way people tag. Their paper provides support for giving users guidance for creating tags in a library catalogue, but points out that part of the attraction of social tagging is its open and self-created environment – and too many rules and regulations may discourage participation.
The British Library has added half a million items to its long-term digital library, which holds many types of materials. A digitised copy of a newspaper originally published in 1864 was recently added to more than 2 million pages of historic newspapers http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs/. A major challenge is to deal with the huge range of digital formats. Another important tool for sharing information is the wiki, and the focus of Sveum’s article is the Norwegian local history wiki. He presents the results of a study and comments that members of the public may contribute with their memories and general articles on local history and that the competence and expertise of librarians would enhance the value of the wiki – in particular with bibliographic data.
Linda Ashcroft
