Monthly Archives: August 2008
Metadata and Heraclitus
I was very struck a couple of years ago by a comment made by my colleague Eric Hellman. He talked about metadata in terms of rivers and lakes. In the library cataloging model we have had lakes – accumulating stores of data that do not change frequently over time and are fed by a few … Continue reading Metadata and Heraclitus
Article history and Enid Blyton
It is nice seeing the Guardian record article history on the web version of articles – when was it originally published, what are the details of print publication, revisions. This shows that they are serious about what they publish as part of an ongoing part of the historical record. Incidentally, the article I link to … Continue reading Article history and Enid Blyton
Amplifying the meaning of the amplified conference
I have found the phrase ‘amplified conference’ useful as a way of talking about the surrounding communications techniques which accompany many recent conferences. These allow conference content to be communicated more widely, conversations about the conference to take place, and even the conference to reflexively adapt based on network input. Brian Kelly has a nice … Continue reading Amplifying the meaning of the amplified conference
QOTD: responsibly open and openly responsible
Marin Weller of the Open University has an interesting paragraph in a blog post about his new role as director of the SocialLearn project. He talks about a desire to be open in communicating the progress of the initiative and soliciting input …. which prompts this thought: … it’s easy to be a blogger when … Continue reading QOTD: responsibly open and openly responsible
Who’s on Twitter
Interesting story on TIme.com from the Hitwise folks about Twitter demographics. I figured that the service would appeal exclusively to youngsters with nothing better to do. The user data, however, tell me I’m wrong, and reveal a very specific user profile: for example, males make up 63% of Twitterers, specifically males from California, whose residents … Continue reading Who’s on Twitter
Metrics and visibility
I was interested to come across the Service Level Definitions page at the Library at the London School of Economics. Additionally, we have a number of Service Targets which we monitor on a monthly or termly basis. You can see our general service standards and the full results for our service targets for the academic … Continue reading Metrics and visibility
Library analytics
The indefatigable Tony Hirst has an interesting post about using Google Analytics to analyse library website traffic. He looks at the Open University Library website. This is in preparation for a fuller paper he is preparing with Hassan Sheikh of the Library for Internet Librarian International 2008. Something to look forward to …. Here is … Continue reading Library analytics
Data at the network level
The impact of networking on organizational evolution is interesting: how does networking impact how libraries coordinate their resources to get their work done effectively? In the ‘network age’ there have been several major shifts in how libraries coordinate resources (and by resources, I am thinking about their budgets, staff, and systems as well as collections). … Continue reading Data at the network level
Repository of Repository-related blogs
I notice that this blog is included in a useful list of repository-related blogs from the Repositories Support Group. The JISC funded Repositories Support Project has today launched a new service – The RSP Blog Directory (http://rsp.ac.uk/blogs/). It provides a list of recommended and informative blogs regarding the repository scene from around the globe. Listed … Continue reading Repository of Repository-related blogs
The collective collection and Ranganathan
Readers of this blog – or of the RLG Partnership work agenda – will be familiar with the phrase collective collection. We use it to refer to the intensification of systemwide interest in the management of collections, whether the system is at consortial, state, national or some other level. Consortial discovery to delivery systems, mass … Continue reading The collective collection and Ranganathan